All eyes were on Katie, and she was well aware of it. She was sweating as her dress appeared to squeeze her chest tighter. The heat was raising up her neck and into her cheeks.
She took a deep breath and stared at the words she had written. Her eyes searched the crowd before they landed on the woman's face. Her fiancé's confession was in her mind as she stared at his ex, and then she began reading.
Katie Hild could never forget the day she met Jeremy. It was the day that changed her life forever.
They hit it off immediately and Katie was giddy. It was love at first sight. But she had no idea that just a short while later, Jemery would drop a bombshell that would consume her mind.
At first, their relationship seemed beyond perfect. Katie felt like she had found her prince charming.
Every time she would receive a text or call, her stomach would flutter at the thought of it being him, and if it wasn't, her heart would drop. She thought that Jeremy was quite a catch, but soon, she would learn that other women thought so too.
Jeremy was all she ever thought about. Whenever she wasn't in his presence, she would think about their time together, reliving some of her favorite moments in her head. She carefully stored away every detail about him. She thought about the way his lower eyelashes rested on his cheek while he looked down at his phone, the way he smelt of walnut wood and honey.
She was so in love with him. Eventually, he proposed, and she was beside herself with joy. But soon, her heart would break into a million pieces.
Katie was feeling sorry for herself as she wondered how she'd gotten to this point in her life. She had been so far removed from the dizzying height of her love for Jeremy, and now, she was suffering one of the worst lows of her life.She was laying on her bed, her eyes shut tightly as dread washed over her in waves.
Her phone was in her hand, still open on the heartbreaking messages that changed everything.
When Jeremy's message popped up on Katie's phone, she was in the middle of writing her vows. When she heard the notification, she quickly stopped what she was doing and checked her phone. She re-read the message carefully, suddenly feeling like her heart was being ripped from her chest.It was a late-night confession from the love of her life.
He had been hiding something from Katie since they had first met. She couldn't believe this. In just a few hours, it would be the day of their wedding.
What was she supposed to do now? Could she really go through with the wedding now that she knew what kind of a man he truly was? Everything had already been paid for, there was no way of getting the money back.
But by the time she'd made her decision, it was too late. She had to walk down the aisle, but all she wanted was to lay in her bed and cry her eyes out. She couldn't go through with this, could she?
Everything was all set for their big day. Caterers were already serving food, and all the guests had already arrived, but Katie had no idea what she was supposed to do now. She couldn't stop thinking about the text.
Was she doing the right thing? She felt so very anxious. Then, out of nowhere, she felt a sudden wave of calmness wash over her. She knew exactly what she had to do.
She now knew what Jeremy had done during the beginning phase of their relationship, and she couldn't just forgive and forget all about it. It was the day of the wedding, and she knew she had to do the only thing she could think of. She would go on with the nuptials as expected, but she had a plan up her sleeve.
She got into her white gown, got her bouquet, and made her way to the aisle.
Her closest friends and family sat with smiles on their faces as they waited for her to come out. Jeremy's mother and father looked beyond proud of their son who was standing at the altar, beaming down at them.No one even seemed to notice Katie’s tear-stained face and stony expression when she came out.
But when they finally realized what she was doing, it was too late.
As her fiancé looked at her, puzzled, his face fell as he saw hers. He knew immediately that she was not an ecstatic bride-to-be.
But he had no idea what was coming.As the time came for them to say their vows and their “I Do’s,” Katie waited for Jeremy to finish before she went wildly off-script. She pointed out Jeremy’s ex and asked her to stand.
Jeremy had revealed to Katie that he had a child. When she had asked him how old the child was, he had replied that he had been born on April 28th. The date hit Katie like a sledgehammer as she tried to grasp what Jeremy was trying to tell her.
Surely there was some sort of mistake?
Katie was appalled that her husband-to-be would keep such a big secret from her. When she asked who the mother of his child was, she recognized the name instantly. She checked the wedding guest list, and sure enough, her name was there.Now that she knew, there was no going back.
Then, Katie suddenly stopped herself from crying. She knew what she had to do.
The date on which Jeremy’s secret son, Landon, had been born was just 11 days after they had met. Katie’s heart filled with anger and disappointment. Jeremy had lied to her for the entire duration of their relationship.Why hadn’t he told her?
And what else was he keeping from her? Could she trust anything he had ever said? But it was only at their wedding that Katie decided to speak up.
Now, with the difficult confession behind them… or so Jeremy had thought, Katie was standing at the altar with Jeremy and was preparing to recite her vows. And she had planned this moment carefully.Now was finally the time to speak her mind.
She started shaking as she picked the mother of Jeremy’s child out from the crowd and asked her to stand up.
Katie started to recite her vows, and the onlookers were mesmerized by her words. She looked pointedly at Jeremy’s ex, Casey, and began to speak.
Then, she addressed Landon. But her speech wasn’t anything like anybody had expected.After a moment of uncertainty, another wave of surprise went through the crowd as everyone fell silent.
“First, I want to thank you for accepting me as your friend and allowing me to be a part of Landon’s life…” Katie read, her voice breaking.Casey was so moved by Katie’s heartfelt words that her eyes started to fill.
Then Katie kneeled in front of Landon and continued her speech.
When Katie had heard about Casey, she had been filled with resentment. But, as time went on, she softened.In a gesture of maturity and compassion, she decided to include the two in her vows.
She started to reach out to Casey, and the two formed an unusual bond. She even grew to love Landon as if he were her own.
Katie had decided to write a special piece in her vows to include Casey and Landon in her wedding ceremony. “I promise to be an amazing mother to your son…” she said. “I will guide, teach and love him every single day.”“I promise to respect, work, listen and communicate together as co-parents,” she continued.
“I will love you guys no matter what comes our way. We are one family, always…” The guests were in complete awe.
Katie then turned to her stepson, who was standing there by her mother’s side: “Landon, I love you more than you will ever know,” Katie said. Then, she paused and wiped a tear away.Then, she added something more that filled everyone with emotion.
“I’m so happy that I now officially get to be your bonus mommy.”
Katie had written and rewritten her vows until they were perfect. “I knew I was missing something,” Katie told Global News.
“I was missing what made mine and [my husband’s] relationship work.”Speaking of her husband’s ex and child, “I wanted to include them, but I never knew how,” she explained. “I wanted people to see how important they were to me.”
There wasn’t a dry eye at the ceremony, and Katie’s amazing message about co-parenting quickly went viral.
The video of her heartfelt vows has since garnered over 2000,000 views — and strikes a chord with many.“This was absolutely beautiful,” one woman wrote on Facebook, “Kudos to this wonderful and special family, and as for the bride, she’s one of a kind!”
“It felt like nobody was in the room,” Katie says. “I practiced so much so I wouldn’t cry … I didn’t even hear anyone cry, it was just a bittersweet moment.”“All four of you are so amazing.
This is absolutely inspiring, and I wish everyone involved in co-parenting situations matures enough to follow your example,” another Facebook user wrote.
“I wasn’t just going into a marriage with Jeremy and needed his trust and respect, but I needed Casey’s and Tyler’s, too,” Katie explained to the media.“One thing I promised was to be ONE family, always. I know without hesitation, we will never break that promise,” she also said.
However, things would be more difficult than she expected.
But things didn’t always go so smoothly between the two women: “The one thing we had in common though was Landon. Landon was and is the beat to our hearts,” Katie says. “The little guy who not only changed our routines and norms, but he changed us,” Katie explained.
But would that be enough to make sure the unconventional family got along well?
“So many stories, rumors, and judgment, but what would you expect? That’s all we ever saw.
That’s the norm. You don’t like the ‘other person,’” she said.Katie has shown that she has come a long way in four years and was able to embrace her stepson and more surprisingly, her husband’s ex as an important part of her family.
What could be the worst thing that could happen on your wedding day? Is it an unruly guest, or the possibility that the band might not show up?Nicole was familiar with all of the things that could go wrong on her wedding day.
But she never expected her own wedding to take a strange turn when her dad decided to speak…
Weddings are a special time. Nicole had spent months looking forward to having her family and friends get together to celebrate.
Everyone had been supportive, yet her dad seemed like a different person throughout the engagement.When they saw each other, it was just the two of them, with her fiancé notably absent. It wouldn’t be until the wedding that he revealed the reasons behind his actions.
The bride-to-be, Nicole, was living in California and teaching in elementary schools. Her fiancé, James, worked as an air conditioning engineer.
Together, they shared a love of motorbikes, sports, and films.It seemed like the perfect relationship, supported by both their families. Little did they know, Nicole’s father had been plotting his move for a whole year.
There were nights when Nicole’s dad would announce himself uninvited. “We saw each other yesterday”, Nicole would say.Her patience was thin, worn down by the weight of work and wedding planning, but she had to tolerate her father’s uncharacteristic attitude – he was family, after all.
So why did she find his behavior so off?
Everyone was as excited as they could be for the wedding. Kids from Nicole’s school were getting involved: “Are you married?” asked one, “I will be next week!” she replied.
Others gave her pictures of her and her fiancé.These little gestures kept her emotions rising. She had no idea just how emotional her day would be.
Coming from a close-knit family, Nicole would spend time knitting with her mother or chatting with her father in the evenings. There seemed to be no secrets between them.When they heard she was to get married, they were there to help.
With so much time spent together, her dad’s hidden agenda became all the more unbelievable.
As with every bride, Nicole had been counting down the days for months. Excitement grew with every passing day, and she subscribed to online wedding planners to make sure she had covered all the bases.By the time the day came, she was calm but full of butterflies.
She didn’t expect to be crying that night.
Working demanding jobs, the financial stress of a wedding had been taking its toll. Nicole also interpreted sign language while James was out fixing vents in 100-degree weather.
There was little time to relax, and the countdown was dragging.
Nicole’s big day came. The weather was perfect, there were no unexpected delays, and everything had been arranged as she wanted it.
As she walked up the aisle, she dreaded tripping on her dress but remained calm.After a short, emotional ceremony, the couple walked proudly out as husband and wife. They left for the reception, still smiling for now.
Sitting down for speeches, the atmosphere was merry. The couple sat together, facing where the speakers would be.
When Nicole’s dad got up, he mouthed some words at her. The crowd expected a heartfelt speech, but the music started playing – it was her favorite song. There seemed to be something off about what Nicole’s dad was doing.
As he began making gestures along with the lyrics, it took some time for her to realize what was going on. Nicole’s father had learned sign language to show how much he appreciated her.
While she was not deaf, she worked as an interpreter.Her dad had been practicing for a year since he heard his daughter was to marry, catching her completely off-guard.
Both Nicole and James reacted in shock, completely overwhelmed with emotion. With her hands to her face, she cried uncontrollably, incredibly touched by her dad’s gift.
Choosing the song “I Loved Her First”, his message reached both of them, leaving them in tears.The room was hooked on this father pledging his support for the couple.
Anyone who has been to a wedding will know that it rarely goes to plan.
Dozens of films have drawn from the fact that surprises should be expected, both welcome and not.For Nicole and her groom, however, there was nothing to indicate the amazing display of love which would be awaiting them at the reception.
Immediately after the wedding, the couple left for a honeymoon in Cancun. Reliving the moments of her father’s performance, she reflected on it with adoration for her father.She posted the video on her social media, attracting thousands of comments from viewers about how touched they were.
Their relationship was off to a great start.
Nicole and James continue to look back fondly on their wedding day.
Taking trips across the world, from cruises in the Bahamas to journeys across Europe, the moment Nicole’s dad stood up to sing a song for her is still one of their most memorable.It showed her how much he was willing to work to make her day even more special.
Many people will spend years planning their perfect wedding, trying to craft a memorable experience they can look back on for years to come. Some weddings are made memorable for other reasons – while everyone faces problems along the way, it is important to not let the pressure take away from enjoying the event.Nicole’s father gave her a more touching moment than she could ever have expected, and the memory will stay with them forever.
However, things do not always go that way.
Sherif Fayed, 30, and Becky Jefferies, 36, are a couple residing in Dubai. Becky is a marketing director and brand builder, and Sherif is a TV host and social media content creator.The two of them have been together since 2017 and recently married in Greece.
However, their wedding was close to going under due to one unexpected circumstance.
Most people go out of their way to make sure everything turns out perfectly on the day of their wedding. However, sometimes unexpected things can happen. Just one minor detail you failed to consider can make your whole vision come crumbling down.
That was what nearly happened to Sherif and Becky on the most important day of their lives.
It's not like the couple were control freaks. As a matter of fact, one of the things that brought them together was their common sense of adventure and their affinity for all that is novel and different."We travel frequently to remote places and share the same spirit of adventure," Becky says.
They wanted some unique destination to be the scene of their wedding ceremony. Still, fate would make sure to make that difficult for them.
"Because of the pandemic, we had to postpone the wedding celebration several times," Becky says. "But eventually, we made it happen in September 2021 in Spata, Greece,"However, that wouldn't be the last of the problems they would have to face.
The biggest one would hit them in the face right on the day of the ceremony.
It all started when Becky was thinking about the dress she would wear on her big day. She went through countless catalogs and visited countless specialized shops but couldn't find what she was looking for.Until one day.
"Nothing wowed me until I tried on several Galia Lahav styles," she says. And that's when, unbeknownst to her, the string of mistakes began.
The gown she ultimately chose had a sweetheart neckline and was covered in lace. It also came with a plunging neckline and fitted skirt. She fell in love with the dress at first sight.
"The detail was incredible," Becky says. Little did she know the problems that were about to come with it, exploding in her face on the wedding day.
"I had the attached overskirt custom-made by a seamstress in Dubai, as I wanted a more dramatic train for the ceremony," Jefferies says.The tulle skirt framed the dress, showing off the lace but also adding a fuller look. But it wasn't easy to realize her vision.
"Making the skirt was a bit of a painful process," she admits.
"The first tailor I went to in Dubai totally missed the mark, so I had to scrap it and start from scratch with another tailor," says Becky.However, this one would do the job right. "She nailed it, and it got finished just in time for the wedding," she says.
"I liked that it gave me two different looks for the ceremony and reception. I picked it up one day before we traveled to Greece." And that's when the problems started.
Becky didn't want the skirt to wrinkle, so she didn't wear it in the vehicle taking her to the wedding.
Instead, one of her friends gave it to a venue attendant. The man, unaware that Becky intended to wear it during the ceremony, took it to a storage room with the rest of the guests' belongings.
"The rest of the girls in the car with me rushed inside to take their seats, so I was left alone in the final moments before walking down the aisle," Becky says. "As soon as I got out of the car behind them and entered the venue, I already heard the song playing that I was walking down the aisle to, so I didn't even have time to think." And that's when she realized.
She hadn't picked up the skirt. Half of her dress was missing! "The officiant was saying his first few lines when it dawned on me, and I absolutely panicked.
I kept thinking, 'This cannot be real. This is not happening,'" she recalls.And suddenly, she remembered something. Months ago, something had happened to her that was like a prophecy of what was going on.
"One of my recurring nightmares was forgetting something important on the wedding day, whether it was putting makeup on, my veil, or the overskirt," she says. "I was so excited to finally get the overskirt right, but I also had this fear of something not working out with it."As it turned out, her fears ended up becoming true.
So right then, in the middle of the ceremony, right after the officiant told Sherif and Becky to exchange their votes, she did the only thing she could do.
"Um, pause for a moment. I just realized when I got up to the end of the aisle that I'm missing half my dress," Becky says. "Maybe I could put it on now?""It was such a genuine moment and gave us something to look back on with laughter," she says, calling it one of the day's highlights.
In less than 5 minutes, one of the venue's employees brought back the skirt. "And even though I didn't enter the ceremony with it on, I at least got to exit with the full look."