Forgot your anniversary? - There’s an app for that, made by a man who’s done it

Friday, 26 June 2026

After one too many forgotten wedding anniversaries landed him in hot water with his wife, Sandor Egyed set out to make sure he never missed a special occasion again.

A year ago, the Hamilton-based IT contractor set to work coding Cherish - an app which not only reminds people about important upcoming events, but suggests gift ideas and helps draft personalised messages.

“I can remember passwords and servers and everything else, and numbers I'm really good with,” he said, “but my anniversary, it was always a problem.”

After building the site as a pet project during his spare time, Egyed decided to make it available free for New Zealand and Australian users. It launched online and on the Google Play store earlier this month.

“The idea is you have people that you cherish, who are important to you,” Egyed said, adding it could be anyone from friends, family, or even pets.

“It just takes away the pressure of finding the perfect gift [and] not being on the last minute like myself.”

While many people used calenders to remember special occasions, he thought there had to be “a better way”.

“You hardly ever go into the calendar and it doesn't say ‘oh, have you bought this or have you done this’…it doesn't have that personal touch that I'm hoping this app will give people.”

Cherish users could mark down important dates such as anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays alongside their loved ones likes, dislikes, hobbies, and star signs. As the occasion approaches, the app sends reminders and suggests gift ideas.

So far, the app has been well received - including by his wife.

“She likes it, she's got the whole of her family into it,” he said.

Others have told him they liked how personalised the app was alongside being able to share gift buying plans with friends and families to avoid double-ups.

Asked why remembering special dates like anniversaries was important, Egyed replied for himself, it showed how much that person meant to him.

“It's about putting that effort in,” he said. “It comes down to you want to make someone feel special and that's something you can't buy.”

It was a sentiment shared by counsellor Karen McCurry, who runs Hamilton-based Relate Counselling.

“I think people want to think that the date means something to other people, not just themselves - particularly with anniversaries and birthdays,” she said.

She added special dates gave people an opportunity to reflect on the past and remember occasions which were important to them.

While men were typically thought of as being the usual culprits forgetting anniversaries, McCurry said it often wasn’t the case.

“You get very thoughtful men as much as you get thoughtless women,” she said, “so, I don’t know, it might be a bit of a stereotype.”

She said if a loved one forgot an important date, that person could feel like they weren’t a priority or be upset others didn’t recognise how meaningful the day was to them.

For Egyed, his days of forgetting important dates are over - he’s already got his wife’s anniversary gift sorted.

But he’s not done with Cherish, and is planning plenty of new features and an international roll-out sometime in the future.

“I'm quite excited to get it out there and say, ‘hey guys, here we go, have something fun,’ and hopefully it makes [those memories] special.”