As our first wedding anniversary approaches, I’ve been thinking about the little details from our wedding day that have taken on even more meaning with time. Among them are a pair of cufflinks I made for my husband, featuring two landscapes that, to me, tell the story of the life we were building together.

One is our home in west Sheffield, the other is the Sheffield Botanical Gardens, where we tied the knot in September of 2025.

They are two places that represent two different sides of our life together: the everyday and the extraordinary, the place we come home to and the place where we promised to keep coming home to each other.

Home

I chose out little suburb because it is the place where we spend most of our time together. It is where we grow vegetables in the garden, cook up unnecessarily elaborate feasts at the weekend and slowly turn our house into a home. It is also where many of our adventures begin, often by simply stepping out of the front door.

Our pre-work runs along the Rivelin Valley have become one of those small rituals of our life together. Getting out early, usually before either of us particularly wants to, and running from our doorstep whatever the weather. There is always that initial feeling of why are we doing this?, followed by the familiar reward of being out among the water, trees and birds.

These aren't necessarily the moments that would make it into a wedding album, but they are the moments that make up a life.

That's why I wanted a map of home on the cufflinks. It represents the ordinary days - the place where our life together actually happens.

Sheffield Botanical Gardens

The second landscape is somewhere that had already become special to us long before our wedding day: Sheffield Botanical Gardens.

We chose it as our wedding venue because we both love being outdoors, and the gardens have that wonderful feeling of being somewhere completely green and peaceful while still being right in the city.

I have always been slightly obsessed with glasshouses, so the beautiful pavilions where we held our ceremony were a particularly big draw for me. There was something about the combination of the glass, greenery and light that felt completely right.

We also loved the idea of getting married somewhere that we could continue to visit afterwards.

Rather than a wedding venue that would only ever exist in our memories, the Botanical Gardens could remain part of our life together. We could return for walks, bring a picnic and sit on the same lawn where we had our post-ceremony drinks, watching the seasons change around us.

A summer afternoon

One of my favourite memories of the Botanical Gardens actually happened several years before we got married.

It must have been 2020, when many businesses were still closed, and Mark and I decided to finish work early one summer afternoon as a little treat to ourselves.

We cycled to the gardens from our respective ‘offices’, took our books and found somewhere to lie in the sunshine. We spent the afternoon simply reading & picnicking together - nothing particularly remarkable, but one of those wonderfully uncomplicated days that stays with you.

On the way home, we decided to detour along the Porter Brook trail. We bumped our way along the dry dirt track on our bikes, laughing and enjoying ourselves, before having to work a little harder on the climbs up the valley. It was a great end to the day.

Looking back, I love that this memory is connected to the same place where we would eventually get married. It wasn't a grand occasion. We weren't celebrating anything in particular, we were simply two people who enjoyed spending time together, making an ordinary summer afternoon into a little adventure.

A place to return to

Now, nearly a year on, the Botanical Gardens feel even more special.

We love that we can simply go back whenever we want. On our anniversaries, we can return to the place where we said our vows, walk through the trees & shrubbery, sit on the same lawn where we celebrated with our friends and family.

The cufflinks have become a small reminder of all of this.

When I look at the contours of home and the Botanical Gardens, I don't just see two places on a map. I see our life - our routines, our favourite runs, a summer afternoon spent reading in the sunshine, a wedding day when the rain stopped at exactly the right moment - and the beginning of whatever comes next.

A year after our wedding, I think that's what makes them feel so poignant to me.