More than 12 years ago, a new family joined the church I had been attending all my life.
They were a wonderful, God-loving family and with them came a girl that would grow really
close to my heart.
About two years later, that same girl and I were sitting on the back porch at her parent's
house and we were just talking, I don't really remember what it was about and then it happened.
My first kiss, her first kiss at the same time.
I'll never forget that moment for a lot of reasons, but mainly because I heard a voice
whisper to me, you're going to marry her one day and I never forgot that ever.
As most of you know though, for the next 10 years we'd have our together's and our not
together's.
I learned through all that time that there was not a single person in the world that
made me as happy as Aaron Courtney Dansby.
I went to your house, it was before Thanksgiving and we went out on your back porch because
this previous person had called you and you talked to them for 30 minutes on the phone
while I was at your house and I guess it did not make me happy.
So you want to go outside and talk, so we did, then I finally kissed you and then I
was like, alright, it's all she wrote, I'm going to marry her.
I certainly could not have seen how this story, our story, would actually unfold.
It started in Sunday school with the first glances and led to the days of glory and the
fire, a title that seems so ironic when you think about our relationship and the five
or six breakups.
Plus, the days of city cafe, I'm still sorry I declined the dance.
And Dante's the very best ever, my back porch swing, youth best rides, Disney World, which
wasn't so magical, and days of attending the same college without speaking one single
word.
Balloons in my car, senior prom, pool sidewalk talks, every moment and memory, none of which
I want to forget because they've led me to here, to right now, to being here by me.
Marriage is a pledge to work for the redemption of each other.
That's precisely what Christ did for His church and what He asks for you to do for each other.
True love is not conditional or temporary, it's as everlasting as God Himself, and it's
faithful in every situation.
Of that love, we are witnesses today.
So I charge you in the name of Jesus, to love each other.
I'm Courtney Dansby, I've waited for this day for a long time, more than 10 years ago
when we were sitting on your back porch and we kissed the first time.
I believe I heard a voice whisper, you will marry her one day.
I remember laying in that bed wide awake, laying in the bed wide awake that night thinking
about it.
I was 15 and I had no idea what marriage meant.
I was scared to death because all I had really wanted was a kiss.
I've been in love with you since that day, despite all the twists and turns that our
story has taken, that love has never faded.
I love you today with every ounce of who I am, that's the love that consumes me completely,
that makes me forget any and all bad that exists in the world, the love that inspires
me to be a better man every single day.
I've told you a thousand times, you get prettier every time I see you, and wow.
I get lost in your eyes and the rest of the world disappears when I kiss your lips.
You're the most beautiful woman in the world.
You are my biggest support, you've been my greatest accountability, and you are my best
friend.
I promise that for the rest of our days you will find peace and stability in my arms.
I promise that with the best of my abilities I will protect and provide for you.
I promise to support your every dream and every ambition.
I promise not to lord over you or demand of you, I promise to listen intently and to speak
with intention and care.
I promise that when the day comes that we get to be parents, I will care for our children
completely and wholeheartedly, sacrificing all for their well-being and provision.
I promise to lead our family with God as the head.
I promise to pray with you and for you to be your counsel and your priest.
And today, as God fulfills His promise to me that I would marry you one day, I promise
to be yours always and forever.
I love you.
On this 15th day of September, your 2012, I'm standing with a warrior, a lover of truth,
a creative soul, and an innovator.
I've had the privilege of watching you grow into your own.
I knew the moment I laid eyes on you in Sunday school, you were the boy I wanted to marry.
And graciously, you have allowed me to see that fulfilled today, to be the one with whom
you share this moment.
In return, I choose to invest in a life commitment of respecting, adoring, and cherishing you.
I make it my priority to submit to your prayerful wisdom and leadership.
Giving to you unrestrainably, trusting you absolutely, and supporting you unashamedly
will be my aim.
I pray that I will be attuned to your needs before you have cause to voice them, and that
I will be mindful of the signals that show me to go to battle for you.
And when necessary, in battle or outside of it, I will remind you that there is no thing.
I will prefer your needs and desires over my own, considering your feelings at times when
it matters most.
I purpose in my heart today that when expectations and outcomes conflict, offering you the benefit
of the doubt is my natural response.
And when I end the cause of conflict, to timely admit my wrong, let us not retract but draw
close in times of difficulty.
I seek to be your soft spot, your motivation for vulnerability, your place of renewal,
your delight in your banner.
Let me be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
I promise to do my best at being a proper 31 woman, a committed wife, a nurturing mother,
your aviation partner.
Her and Pavlik will I intend to enumerically enable you or even subtly attack you.
Instead, will I challenge and cultivate you appropriately.
I pray that God will teach me to be more spirit than flesh.
Let our home be free of gossip, disrespect, competition, and negativity.
Let us promise to pursue God and pursue each other relentlessly as God has for us so done.
I love you today until forever, my leader, my dreamer, my husband, to be the Taylor Jones.
By the authority of God and the law of the state of Georgia, I now pronounce you man
and wife, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Taylor Jones, sir, you may kiss your bride.
You've always been my biggest fan, and my biggest supporter.
And no matter what hair, brain, idea that I came up with, you've always supported me
just without any hesitation, and that has meant the world to me.
It's been the most consistent thing and probably the greatest thing about you and our relationship.
It's just how much support you have for me.
My favorite thing is, I never know what to expect, and growing up I was very consistent.
With you it was always fun and exciting and different, and I always knew I was going to
be taken care of, but it was going to be an adventure.
I hope I lived up to that.
Hello.
Look where we are.
I can't learn.
Please put that at the end of the video in a good bloopers reel.
