Nikki & BJ

Time is the great equalizer: it can neither be hurried nor slowed down, cannot be stored for use on a later date. All we have of it is now. Alongside it is heartache, another great equalizer, for not even the kindest or cleverest or most beautiful among us have managed to find a way to make themselves immune to it.  But when heartache gives way to love at that golden hour—everything is magic.

For Nikki and BJ, falling in love with each other didn’t require whirlwinds, fireworks, or ‘Eureka!’ moments, but a gradual build-up of trust and friendship which then grew into love. It’s incredible to think that eleven long years had passed between the time they first met and the moment they finally said “I do.” 

The fact that their relationship was a miracle wasn’t lost on the bride and groom, nor on their family and friends. We see the bride ordering her maid of honor to stop crying, even as her own eyes welled up. We catch the groomsmen clapping as the groom starts walking down the aisle. Our hearts melt at the sight of BJ crying a river as his bride makes her way to him. And we can’t help but cheer Nikki on when she sticks out her tongue as she walks towards the altar, knowing she had the last laugh over the pains of her own past.

If there were any doubts that the perfect time had come, they were wiped away by the father of the bride. Though caught trying on toupées and fooling around earlier in the day, by night he was confessing how difficult it would be to no longer be the main man in Nikki’s life. Here is a father who loved his daughter so much, he would not have parted with her without making sure his daughter’s husband would love and care for her just as much. He tries to hold on to his composure but most everyone else, especially the bride, loses theirs. 

He might be giving her away, but it is certain that Nikki’s father will continue to love her, and she, him. For at the right time and for the right reasons, love doesn’t take away, but only gives.