This month my husband Leo and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. Nine doesn’t seem like a super significant number. I mean, next year will be ten years and that feels like the big one. But, this was a significant year in our marriage, as we had to weather the loss of our son Lachlan . Shortly after Lachlan’s death one of my closest friends gifted me with a star map to commemorate the day he was born. It was such a lovely gesture, and such an attractive print. So when Modern Map Art reached out to me, offering me one of their beautiful creations, I knew a custom star map would make for a great anniversary gift.

If you are not familiar with a star map, they are a one-of-a-kind print that shows off a special moment in your life — when a child was born, when you said “I Do”, when you got engaged, or any other memorable time. So I asked for a custom star map from the evening and location where Leo and I were married – July 25, 2009 in Vancouver, B.C.

Leo is not someone who shows his emotions all that much, but I think he was pretty moved when he unwrapped the lovely constellation print from our wedding date.

I loved how easy it was to customize the print. You just input your date and place into the Modern Map Art website, and from there you can choose what colours you want to include, the size of print you want, as well as what you would like to title the print and what font you want to use. I decided to go with a simple black and white print, which would go well with the rest of our decor. Then I chose the title ‘The Story of Us’ , below which is displayed the place and date of our wedding.

Modern Map Art uses astronomical software to generate the actual night sky at any time and place. It looks exactly what you would see with your eyes, binoculars, or a telescope. It’s so simple and beautiful and carries so much meaning. I’m already thinking this could be a great wedding gift for other friends and family (hmmm my little brother gets married in a few weeks…). It takes no time to order, and it was shipped to my door in a matter of days. I highly recommend checking out their website if you’re looking for gift ideas!