Dear Dad,

I don’t know why God gave me you or why He even thought I deserved you as a father, but I’m so incredibly grateful that He did.

Today is my wedding day. And I’m only here because of everything you taught me.

The man who will be waiting at the end of the aisle is the man I know you prayed for me to marry and I know he’s the man who deserves your little girl’s heart. I’m marrying him for all of the great qualities that YOU taught me that I deserved. You raised me knowing that my worth was unlimited and the right man that God created for me would see that just as much as you always have. You’re the one who taught me to be patient with love and to wait on God’s perfect timing for God’s perfect match. You’re the one who supported me working for my dreams rather than working to fall in love. You’re the man who taught me what to expect from any man who wanted to become my husband one day.

The man at the end of the aisle is a Jesus-loving, kind-hearted, generous, respectful, and compassionate man. He has all the qualities that I saw in you and knew that I deserved in a future husband. I promise you he is the man of integrity and love. He’s staying for the long haul and I don’t want you to ever worry about my future.

When I was little, you’d hold me when I was crying from nightmares until I fell asleep in your arms.

When I was growing up, you never let me go to school or back to bed without telling me that you loved me.

When I was in high school, you worked multiple jobs so you could help afford the camera I wanted to start my photography career in.

When I was in college, you gave up health insurance so you could help pay for my tuition.

All through my life, you strived to be the best father you could be. No one is the perfect person, but you showed me that even through any human flaw, a real husband and father sticks by his family. You taught me that a real man will work his fingers to the bone for his loved ones and that he’s never going to abandon them, no matter how rough the road gets.

This wonderful man, who loves me just as much as I love him, is the man who I see so much of you in. He loves deeply and doesn’t give up. He’s going to be the adoring husband who will always tell me that I’m beautiful and opens every door. He will always tell me how loved I am and will never let me doubt it. He will love our children and be an extraordinary father for them, hopefully raising any daughters of ours to know what they deserve and any sons to know how to be a true man of God. He will be everything you reminded me that I deserved. He will be the man you will see little pieces of yourself in. He will be the man your love led me to because he has the same values and beliefs you have instilled in me. He will be the man of all of these qualities because he is that man.

Dad, you’ve always been my world. You’ll always be the first love in my life and you’ll always be my best friend. Today is the happiest day of my life and it’s because of you that I am about to walk down this aisle and say the most beautiful vows bonding me to the man you prayed to God every day I married. I can promise you that I am so incandescently happy. And your blessing of giving me away on my special day makes my heart beam for the joy that is having you for a father.

I know the very first time you held me in your arms that you thought of this day. I know you were probably so afraid that I would grow up so fast. I know in that moment you would’ve given one of your limbs to stop time and prevent me from ever growing up.

Obviously, here we are. I’m getting married very soon and life will be very different than it was before. But I hope you know that I’ll always be your little girl. I’ll always love you. And I hope you know how thankful I am that God gave me you as a father.

Thank you for leading me down such a good path. And thank you for always showing me what I do and don’t deserve out of life and the people in it. I wouldn’t have found my happily ever after if my daddy hadn’t taught me right.

I love you endlessly, Daddy.

Love,

Your (almost married) Little Girl