Dearest,

The sun will rise and set before I am to make my commitment, to take the plunge and promise to love, honor, protect, and provide for the most beautiful woman in the world for the rest of my life. I'm writing this letter to you, so that you'll know how much I'm grateful for you, for all the times you've stayed with me, for holding on through the ups and downs. Somehow, I know this letter is not enough to express my feelings, but I'm going to try. I guess, because you've been there since the beginning of everything, this is only right.

Remember the first time that I laid my eyes on the woman I am to marry? I never thought that I would find myself falling in love with her. Strangely enough, she was nothing like my dream girl. I always thought that I wanted the same woman that all the boys wanted - sexy, ladylike, and unattainable. Yet here she was, this tomboy-next-door, willing to rumble and play basketball with the guys. Here was this girl who could drink anyone under the table and eat with her hands. That was what she was to me - a drinking buddy, a buddy I could play basketball with, and my all-around go-to person who was always there when I needed her. I never imagined that she would become so much more.

Imagine my surprise when suddenly I found that she was slowly becoming more than just a buddy. How did it happen? Strangely, there was no sudden epiphany, no heavenly chorus that beamed upon me and made me realize that she was the one for me. It started like, perhaps, all the great and lasting love stories do - the same ones that never make it into the annals of history, nor on the surfaces of parchment, but those that still speak of hearts that, by the greatest miracle of chance, somehow find each other.

One night, she feel asleep in my arms, the way friends do when drink is involved. And there, right in that moment, lying in the dark and listening to her gentle breathing, I felt things in my heart that I have never felt before. There were butterflies in my stomach and my throat started to go dry. It was amazing and scary and so...real.

I tried to ignore it - believe me, I did. But the more time I spent with her, the more I fell in love with her. Imagine how my heart soared when I found out that she felt the same way. It wasn't an easy path, however. A lot of people didn't approve, in the beginning, and we knew that this was something that we had to fight for if we were to keep this love alive. But funnily enough, I never felt the need to explain myself to anybody, as I knew that my feelings were not theirs to judge nor criticize. This was between her and me, and nobody else mattered. In time, we got through it all, and it was more than worth it. 

There is something that I took away from meeting that special girl, and that is love is not what you watch in the movies. It's not a perfect emotion that ends in happily ever after. It's a lot of hard work and sacrifice and mutual respect. Love is not always that which you daydream about day after day. In meeting that woman, I realized that she was nothing like the girl of my dreams because, the truth was, my dreams were nothing compared to reality. Never in my life could I have dreamed of such a person to come into my life and make it complete.

And do you know what the most amazing part is? Tomorrow morning, before all our friends and family, against all odds, I will face this woman and pledge my love and life to her and hear her pledge the same to me. Then, I will lift up her veil and gaze into her face - the very same one that I laughed with, cried with, and made so many memories with. I will find peace in knowing that this beautiful face will be the only one that I will wake up next to for the rest of my life. Yes, this face - yours - will be forever etched in my mind.

And that, my darling, my best friend, the love of my life is the most amazing part of all. In a few seconds, you will reach the end of this letter, and by the time the sun rises and sets, we will start our life together.

I love you. With everything inside me, with every dream we've yet to fulfill, and every wish we've yet to realize, I love you.

Yours