Dear Mr. and Mrs. _____,

The first round of my friends have begun the journey into marriage...

WHAT!?

I feel like I've been throwing around the phrase "We're only __ years old, how can they be getting married already?" for years, and the older I get, the more void it has become. People that are 19 and 20 are beginning their journey into a life of Mr. and Mrs. and that is shocking to me.

I've just begun figuring out who I am as a person. Marriage requires knowing and loving yourself enough to open up every single piece of yourself and give it all to another human being who is going through the same thing at exactly the same pace. That just sounds difficult, let alone DOING it. I feel like at this point in my life, getting married would be a highly selfish thing to do. And I'm not fully convinced I could open every piece of myself to another person to the extent that is necessary for a healthy marriage at this point.

I don't ever want marriage to be merely the next thing that I'm supposed to do in my life, and I think that may be what's happening with a large amount of young couples today. I want to be so sure of myself that I am making the right decision and I want to do it because we're ready, not just because that's what couples are supposed to do at a certain age. Marriage is something that is so sacred to me, and I know that when I get married, I want it to be forever [and I'm not trying to throw out a cliche here].

I hope that I'm wrong about these young couples, and I really hope that their marriages work out beautifully. I just know that marriage to me is an overwhelmingly important decision that I take very seriously.

Anyhow, just some thoughts.
And I love weddings. :)
Love,
Steph