Two Years

Two years ago today I married my best friend.

It seems like an absolute lifetime ago, so much has happened since then. We were different people, only just two short years ago. Yet we’re the same. We’re best mates, we’re partners and team mates, we finish each others sentences and predict each others movements, we’re a well oiled machine. Ten years together will do that, a lot of time spent just me and him, him and me. I’m so, so, so glad we did that, and continue to do that. During our honeymoon we spent months and months together, with barely ten minutes apart. People ask us how we did that, but that is the stuff marriages are made of. When we came home I missed Matt terribly if he went to the shops without me. Now we live far, far away from friends and family. It’s just us a whole lot of the time. I love it. As much as I miss living close to our loved ones, there is something to be said for being here doing our thing, living in our bubble. I like it a lot.

Of course, our wedding day was perfection, everything we dreamed it would be. But it’s fleeting, gone now, memories remain. But what is also perfection is the marriage that has followed. On the inside of my wedding band is inscribed ‘all my love’, and on Matt’s ‘all my life’. Always. We are such firm believers in the beautiful institution of marriage – it is incredibly sacred to us and hard to explain. We are bound to each other, our souls entwined for all time. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of our dear friend John, who married us on that day in December, and prior to that taught us the importance of marriage and what it truly means. John was taken too soon from this world, and our wedding anniversary will always be a reminder of his wisdom and guidance to us, especially during a tough time for us in 2011, when big decisions were made, leaps of faith were taken. I miss him. I wish so much that on this day the phone would ring and it would be John’s yankee voice on the other end wishing us well, cheering us on, one of our greatest supporters. Watching our wedding film yesterday I cried big heaving tears, and not for the usual reasons people might cry watching their wedding, but because he was there – just there – on the screen. And now he’s not.

Emma, today I want you to become my wife, because you are the only one I want to be with. The only one I was meant to be with. I love your commitment to us and the way you love and support me. Each day I feel privileged and grateful to be with you. I promise to stand by you, be your partner through life’s journey and all it has in store for us, to be the best husband to you, and father to our future family, I can be. I can’t wait to embark upon our journey of marriage with you, I want to raise a family with you, and fulfill all of our dreams for our future. Today I marry you Emma, my very best friend. Now and forever. I love you.

Matt, today I devote myself to you, my best friend. You are who I laugh with, dream with, stand beside every day and face the world with. You are my Matt. You have been custom made for me, and I for you. I promise to love you when you least deserve it, for this is when you will need it most. From this day forward I promise to walk beside you, always. My heart is yours, my arms your home. I can’t wait to grow in our love together, raise a family, create happiness and memories. Today I bind my soul to yours, happy and secure in each others love. I know God does have great plans for us, and can’t wait for us to discover what His plan is together. Always together. You are home to me. I adore you.

– Our wedding vows, I didn’t even cry until the very last sentence!

Our beautiful wedding photos by our uber-talented friend, Lou. Just in case you were wondering Lou, that last frame is my favourite wedding photo of all, it sits by my bedside. I always like to know my bride’s favourite of all, it’s surprising and revealing. This one speaks volumes to me. Thank-you.