Four years ago today, I vowed to my wife that I would always be here for her. Oddly enough, I had already done that.

Four years ago today, I vowed to my wife that I would always love her. Again, that wasn't the first time she heard it.

Four years ago today.

It seems strange to think that a single moment, a single day, is held so important in our culture. To me, if your spouse heard anything new or special in your wedding vows, you were not ready to get married to them. Marriage isn't about a major change in your relationship. It is (mostly) a formal declaration of those emotions and promises already made in private or in your own mind. I decided (and yes I use that word for a reason), that I loved my wife after dating her for a month and feeling her absence from me for a very short time. But that didn't mean I didn't tell her that I loved her this morning. And just because I miss her when I am away, doesn't mean I don't tell her that because she knows it already.

To me, the wedding ceremony is a very important, yet very small, stepping stone in a relationship. It is not a pivotal moment. It is not a catalytic event. It doesn't change you. It is the starting point of the single most life-changing event (aside from salvation) in a humans life. The big change isn't the wedding. It is waking up the next morning next to the only other person that matters. And it is going to bed three weeks later next to the only person in life that matters. It is eating lunch, and going to the movies, and enjoying the sunsets, and holding their tears.

But it all starts at the altar. Or before the altar. Maybe it starts at birth with some cosmic thread connecting souls. Maybe it starts somewhere in the choices and circumstances that change our lives. Maybe it starts with the gleam in the eye, love at first sight thing. Maybe it starts on the first date, or second, or third. I don't have the answers, I just know it is there.

In the end, the wedding day is a very special day to me, not because of what was said, or what was done, but because of who I married. Believe it or not, guys, the wedding is for her. It is her moment of glory and her chance to be the beautiful princess she has always wanted to be. All the chaos, the confusion, the formality and the general nuttiness of the day are for her. And (if you have done your part right) she is worth it. She is worth every moment, every dollar, every drop of sweat and blood, every last ounce of yourself.

Four years ago today, I vowed to my wife that I would always be here for her. She will never forget that I had already told her that.

Four years ago today, I vowed to my wife that I would always love her. And she will never forget that she already knew it.

Four years ago today, my life changed, my heart stayed the same, and my world became a better place.