Photography by Brittany Mahood.

My Matthew,

You are my very best friend, my once-in-a-lifetime. You're the love of my life.

The day that we met will never leave my memory. I didn't know yet, but it was your birthday. We were all dressed up for Halloween. You sat down right beside me at Fox and Fiddle, wearing nothing but a white shirt, socks and underwear, looked at me and said, 'Hi, I'm Matthew'. Confidence like you had pants on. Right away, I knew you were very special.

The next day, one of our very good friends, Lindsay told me that when I left the table for a few moments, you said I was the girl you were going to marry. I laughed hearing that, thinking of how cute and cheeky you were. You had a cautious cockiness, a handsome smile, and an intriguing persistence. We had just met. Yet, here we are.

We fell together. We fell fast and we fell hard. It was overwhelming, but in a heartbeat, you showed me in everything that you did and everything you still do, there was no question, you were my person.

I knew how fortunate I was to see a side of you that nobody else has ever seen before. With that realization, I also knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life cherishing and protecting that part of you.

Matthew, you allow me to be exactly who I am meant to be without hesitation and have never asked me to change. You have helped me be more grounded and find calmness in myself. I know that it is not only my job to love you, but to also make sure that you feel unconditionally supported as the person you are and choose to be. I will always work toward doing that.

I promise to hold your heart tenderly and protect it fiercely.
I promise to always laugh with you and to also take the time to talk about the important things.
I promise to listen, not just listen, but to hear you.
I promise to be supportive, loyal and to be honest with you.
I promise to cherish, value and protect the families that we have, the family that we are becoming and the family that we have yet to come.
I promise to comfort you when the Jays lose and to cheers a beer with you when they win.
I promise to snuggle you every night and be yours and yours only.

Everything in life takes work and unconditional effort and I promise you that I will never stop working on us.

Since day one we have shared something that I never could've imagined existed. You are the calm to my crazy. My big spoon, sometimes little spoon. You are the one I think of constantly and cannot wait to see when apart from.

Thank you for choosing me. I choose you for all of my yesterday's, especially my today, the days to come and past that.

I love you. You're my penguin.

See Matthew's Wedding Vows to Keira RIGHT HERE. See Keira & Matthew's wedding right here.