Couple Open Wedding Gift After Nine Years After Marriage

A couple who forgot about a wedding gift they received finally opened it nine years after they got married - and what they found inside blew them away.

The couple, from Michigan, US, tied the knot in September 2007, and one of the gifts they received was from the wife's great auntie.

With the gift came strict instructions, and the newly-weds were told not to open the present until after their first disagreement.

Love What Matters/Facebook

The pair got on with their lives and the parcel went forgotten and unopened for years. That's not to say they didn't have a disagreement, the wife said they had 'plenty of disagreements, arguments and slammed doors'.

But years on, when they were trying to think of what they should get their own friends for their upcoming wedding - they remembered the gift.

They shared their findings on Facebook page Love What Matters.

The wife wrote: "I thought back to our wedding day (nearly 9 years ago) and tried to recall the gifts that had meant the most to me.

"The funny thing? The gift that meant the very most was still sitting in a closet... unopened.

"All along, we assumed that the contents of that box held the key to saving a marriage - an age old trick - unbeknownst to us rookies.

Love What Matters/Facebook

"After all, my Great Aunt and Uncle had been married for nearly half a century."

It wasn't until 30 August last year that the couple finally took the plunge and opened their mysterious parcel.

Inside it there were two notes. One was addressed to the wife, and one to the husband. They were wrapped around notes of money.

In the letter to the wife, it told her to 'go get a pizza, shrimp, or something you both like'. It was signed off by her auntie.

It ended: "Get a bath ready."

Her husband's note told him to 'go get flowers and a bottle of wine'.

The wife said: "For nine years that box sat high on a shelf in various closets gathering dust, yet it somehow taught us about tolerance, understanding, compromise and patience.

"Today, we decided to open that box, because I finally had a realisation.

"I realised that the tools for creating and maintaining a strong, healthy marriage were never within that box - they were within us."

Amelia Ward

Amelia is a journalist at LADbible. After studying journalism at Liverpool John Moores and Salford Uni (don't ask), she went into PR and then the world of music. She spent a few years working on festivals and events before joining LADbible. In her spare time, Amelia likes music and spending good, quality time with her cat, Paul. You can contact Amelia at [email protected].

@ameliasward