To the man who will marry my best friend,

I was here first. I don’t mean this in a negative way, and I am not lessening your all-consuming adoration for her, but I was here first, she was my soulmate first, and just because you are marrying her does not mean I will go away. So while I am here (forever, actually), I might as well tell you a few things.

First of all, she loves you. I hope you knew this by now considering you are about to say “I do,” but she loves you so so much. She is not famous, widely loved, but she is deeply loved, and she returns this deep love with just that much more fervor. She is excruciatingly selfless, and the things she goes out of her way to do for me just blow my mind. She deserves this deep love back, and I cannot wait to watch you flourish her with it over the years.

She is an adventure. As the time has gone by, we have been to numerous concerts, partaken on numerous road trips, and made our fair share of late night Waffle House runs. We have too many inside jokes for the average human, my phone storage is always full because of her, but more importantly, my heart is always full because of her. Whether we are watching low-quality TV shows or walking through a high-quality museum, we are giggling away. No matter what we do, she is the biggest delight. I know that you will be no exception to this. So if you both dress up to the nines for the evening or are in your pajamas by five pm, just know she will be the same grand adventure despite the circumstances, and frankly, you are the luckiest human alive to get to spend all your days with something like that.

She is obsessed with giraffes. I don’t know, man. She’s got giraffe clothing, socks, stuffed animals, everything. So when she suggests that the master bath, bed, and guest room all be giraffe themed, just roll with it. This might actually save you some money since she already has a ton of giraffe decor. Please go along with this habit of hers so I don’t get a tragic phone call later about all of this.

She needs her alone time. I am sure you are aware of this, but you are marrying an introvert. Sometimes, other people exhaust her. She can get overwhelmed and upset for what appears to be no reason, but in all actuality, she just needs to crawl into bed and watch some forensic files until she falls asleep. This has nothing to do with you or a shortcoming you think you might have, trust me, I had to understand this too. She just needs some quietness and some alone time away from the noise that is other people. She is a beautiful, tender soul, and I am sure it tires her when not everyone treats her with the gentleness she deserves.

I still need my best friend, and I guarantee she needs hers too. Just because we are supposed to be responsible married adults now or whatever does not mean our state of the art sleepovers or perfected breakfast for dinners will stop. I will need to have her over, I will probably be over at your house more than you thought, I will have three-hour phone calls with her, I will call at 2 am, and, last but not least, we’re gonna need you to watch the kids when we travel. We will still adventure, it’s in our blood and we can’t help it. We have come this far and we certainly won’t stop now just because we have reached a different stage of life. I know she is your forever friend, but she is my forever friend too. Sharing is caring, future Mr.

Last but not least, you are oh so lucky. You are marrying my best friend, so it goes without saying that I highly approve of you and you are coated with my prayers. I have been praying for you and your relationship with my best friend for roughly ten to fifteen years now, and I am so so happy you are finally here and this day is finally happening (I’m the maid of honor, duh). You are in for a wild ride, and I’m not saying it will be perfect or easy, but I am saying it is the best decision you will ever make. My best friend is a fierce, beautiful, strong woman and you are so lucky to be loved by her. Please treasure her, respect her, love her, serve her, and be her adventure right back. I am so happy for the two of you and I love you both with all my heart. As the kids say, I ship it hard. Now let’s get our wedding on.

xoxo, the best friend