Should you marry your best friend? This question moves through the ages like a hesitant song; is it better to chase brief yet wild passion, or return to that person who was always there, even as you collected bugs at eight, or took your first awkward dance with another at twelve? Is the familiar simply comforting, or the bedrock on which lasting commitment grows best?
Recently, while undertaking wedding photography at Paphos Wedding Villas here in Cyprus, I met living proof of the idea that courting your dearest childhood friend can be as full of passion, surprises, and romance as marrying someone met later in life.
Katie and Dom met when they were both 11 years old; Dom had just moved from Chingford to the Isle of Wight, and on that green patch of British land, surrounded by wild sea breezes, the two children struck up an immediate friendship. They acted out scenes from Harry Potter, not realising that all the while, they were working a deeper magic, a spell that would one day return to seal the fate of their hearts.
When middle school rolled around, Katie and Dom were forced to part, and during the ensuing four-year absence from each other’s lives they assumed that their paths had been forever severed—though each kept the memory of the other close in their heart.
Years later, Katie was riding on a local bus, minding her own business, when she spotted him—Dom, years older, but just the same wonderful person he’d always been. The two quickly got chatting, and the old friendship was rekindled on the spot.
As time went by, the two grew even closer; Katie attended Dom’s band practices all the way away in Bembridge, and he realised that looking into her eyes—bright with enthusiasm—he drew his best inspiration. It was, of course, only a matter of time before they kissed, warm hearts glowing bright in the English sunset. During their last school year—when they were both just 15—they officially became a couple, and the pair has been inseparable ever since.
One night, after Katie’s 19th birthday party, Dom lent her his jacket to keep her cozy in the cool air; Katie, tired and tipsy after her wild night, didn’t even feel the hard lump of a little box in the blazer’s pocket. The next day, however, as she was safely held by his side, Dom pulled forth the ring he’d saved for this perfect moment; the time had come for these two childhood companions to make their bond eternal, to honour the enchantment that had first wrapped itself around them all those years ago. For Katie, there was only one answer to to Dom’s question: A lifelong “Yes.”
