{My Bestie is Married!}

When your best friend asks you to be her Matron of Honor you quickly say of course.  Then you watch and help where you can as her dreams become reality.  This weekend we were blessed to ring in the new year by celebrating the marriage of one of my oldest and dearest friends.

If you know me at all, you know I HATE public speaking.  From the moment Vanessa asked me to be her Matron of Honor, I was excited for all of the awesome things it entailed- planning, bachelorette party, bridal shower, etc.  But I dreaded the idea of standing in front of a huge crowd to share my thoughts about the bride.  This is especially true because I figured there was no way I would be able to get through a toast without tears.

Somehow I mustered the courage and delivered what I think was a coherent speech, but most of all I appreciate the the entire group of ladies helped me pull off a special surprise for Vanessa that she loved!  Because I know I was flustered and did not say perfectly what I had planned to say, I want to leave it here as record of this amazing weekend and what Vanessa truly means to me...

Hi!  Thank you so much for being here with us tonight!  I’m Kelly and I am Vanessa’s best friend and matron of honor.  I don’t know if I should be excited or nervous to be the opening act, so here’s to hoping this ends up being a hard act to follow!  

Show of hands- how many of you have young kiddos at home?  Yes, me too.  So I know most of you understand when I say that the last few times I have been awake at midnight have not been nearly this exciting.  When Vanessa first said she wanted a New Year’s Eve wedding- I knew I would need to start building my stamina.  My husband can attest that my record is right around 11:00...so fingers crossed that tonight is the night I reach my midnight goal.

I want to be sure to thank Zach and Vanessa’s parents, and all of those people who made tonight possible.  It takes a lot of work to put on an event as spectacular as this- but know that you are appreciated.  And to Lynn and Diane Ayers especially, my gratitude to you extends well beyond this day and includes all the times you included me in your family over the years.

Now...onto the bride- Vanessa, You look incredible.  I’ve never seen you look so beautiful and so happy. My words tonight are a culmination of things I have wanted to say since the first grade and especially since You and Zach first met. I wrote this speech 100 times over. There are no words to describe what you mean to me but I am going to try.  And bonus, I am going to try to do so without too many tears.  

You’ve been my go-to, my rock, my biggest fan and my true north for almost 25 years.  

It’s hard to remember a time in my life without Vanessa by my side.  I can’t think of a single major life event that has happened that we didn’t share with each other.  From girl scouts  and sleepovers to cheerleading camp and summers at the lake.  From learning to drive to sneaking off campus in the trunks of cars for lunch...we’ve done it all together.    

I was at my parent’s house over the holidays and decided to pull out boxes of memorabilia from my childhood.  I came across a box filled with notebooks of all shapes and sizes.  Many decorated with magazine clippings of N’Sync, Backstreet Boys, Josh Hartnett and all of the other things we were obsessed with at the time- but ALL were filled with endless pages of notes Vanessa and I wrote to each over the years. I contemplated bringing them tonight and doing a simple read aloud, but quickly decided that anything that would embarrass Vanessa, would surely embarrass me.  So instead I decided instead to summarize those notebooks like this…

Vanessa- we’ve changed a lot since we first met Mrs. Hatty’s class… hair colors and crushes, interests, passions and zip codes.  Lots of things have evolved and continue to evolve for each of us, but one of my favorite accomplishments of my entire life is that while everything else changes- our friendship has not.

Like I said, when it comes to Vanessa words aren’t quite enough.  So in addition to my words tonight- I’ve...we’ve..prepared a tribute of sorts for Vanessa in the fashion of one of her favorite movies.  You see, one thing that Love Actually taught us is sometimes words are not enough and you must write how you feel.  

I’m going to need the help of a few people---Zach, if you’ll escort Vanessa out to the dance floor, while the DJ finds us the perfect song.  

*****Cue Cards*** (See pics below)

Finally, all I can say is this and I think it will ring true for many of us.  It is a very, very rare thing to find someone who is both happy for your happiness and sad for your sadness, but when that happens that person breaks all friendship barriers and becomes your family.  

Vanessa, I have known you forever and, Zach, I have known you long enough to know you’re the one and I am so excited to welcome you to this bonus family of ours.

Please find your glass and raise it high.

Zach, Vanessa- thank you to the both of you for choosing all of us. For blessing us with your friendship and for showing us what love, commitment, and loyalty look like.

We are overjoyed for you, because we know that the best parts of your love story are yet to come.

Congratulations.

{she}