Can I include the kids?

Yes, in the photos. The magazine has no video, but you can ask the kids for a line each and put them in the letter or the story page, which tends to land harder than a clip.

Do I need to finish it in one go?

No. The editor saves your draft as you go in that browser. When you publish, we email you an edit link so you can keep changing it, and her link never changes.

We have been married a long time. Is this too young a thing to do?

No. A long marriage has the most to put in it. It opens on a phone with a tap, which is simpler than most things she already uses.

For them

Make a website for your wife

A website for your wife is not a birthday card with more pixels. It is a keepsake that holds the years: the story of how it started, the photos from before the kids and after, the reasons that are still true, and the letter you meant to write at the tenth anniversary and did not.

The Magazine template is built for that. It is a flip-through magazine with her on the cover, your letter, your story, nine reasons that flip over, up to twenty photos and your songs on a spinning vinyl. It opens on her phone, and you can keep editing it for as long as you like.

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Build it as an archive, not a card

The difference between a card and an archive is that an archive is allowed to be long. The magazine has room for ten pages, and the link never expires, so you can come back each anniversary, swap in this year's photos and add a line to the story. Start with what you have. A cover, a story page and a letter is already a gift. Everything you add later makes it more hers, and her link does not change.

The story page: your years in a paragraph

Write the story as a short paragraph, in order: where you met, the first place you lived together, the year it got hard, the year it got easy, the day the kids arrived if they have. Keep it factual and kind. This is the page your children will read someday, so write it for them as well as for her. It also tells you which photos to pick: one for each sentence is a good rule, and the rest can go on the film strips.

Photos from before and after

You can add up to twenty photos. A wife who has spent years being the photographer of the family is often missing from the photos, so this is a good excuse to put her in them. Use the photobooth strip for a recent, silly set, film strips for a trip or a year, and one full-page photo with a big line across it. Mix the old and the new. Put her on the cover in a photo where she is not looking at the camera. Candid wins.

Reasons from this month, and the letter you owe her

The nine hearts that flip over are best written from the last few weeks, not from the vows: the thing she did that you noticed on a Wednesday, the way she handles a bad day. Specific small things prove you are still paying attention. Then the letter. Say the thing you stopped saying. Keep it to 150 to 300 words and write it as if you were talking to her in the kitchen, not giving a speech. Cherry suits most wives; Blush is gentler; Noir is for one who likes a little drama.

Keeping it up, and handing it over

Once you publish, the link works forever, and the edit link in your email lets you change the words and photos whenever you like. Send her the link on the day with one line and get an email when she opens it. Some people write the link on a card, so there is something to hand over as well as something to open. At the end of the magazine is a reply box, and what she writes back might be the best part.

Questions

Start with The Magazine

Starts as The Magazine, filled in for you. Add your photos and words, preview it for free.

Start with this template