A Letter to My Wife – One Groom’s Wedding Day Message That Left Us in Tears

💌 Featuring: Dean Malherbe
👰🏼 Bride: Carla Malherbe (née Jacobs)
📍 Wedding Location: Hogsback, Eastern Cape, South Africa
💒 Theme: Forest Romance x Candlelight & Fairy Lights
🧍🏻‍♂️ Groom Style: Classic three-piece navy suit, wool coat for evening chill, handwritten letter in his pocket
🎥 Videographer: 

Weddings are full of emotion—first dances, teary vows, father-daughter hugs—but nothing prepared us for what Dean did just hours before marrying the love of his life, Carla, in a mist-covered forest clearing in Hogsback.

While the flowers were being arranged, the chairs wiped dry from the morning dew, and Carla was upstairs having her hair curled, Dean sat quietly under an old oak tree and wrote her a letter. Not a generic love note. Not something lifted from Pinterest.

A letter that reminded every single person—vendor, guest, and even Carla herself—why we fall in love in the first place.

📜 The Setup: A Quiet Corner in the Chaos

Dean isn’t a flashy guy. A vet by profession and a mountain hiker by passion, he’s known for being gentle, loyal, and emotionally grounded. But on the morning of his wedding, with mist swirling through the trees and the sound of distant violins in the air, he asked the videographer for “five minutes alone.”

He sat down at a rustic writing table the venue had set out as décor. Picked up a pen. And wrote.

“I didn’t know I was going to write her anything today,” he later said. “But I suddenly realised—before I promise my life in front of everyone, I needed to promise it in my own words. Just me and her.”

💌 The Letter: Read Aloud at the Ceremony

Instead of personal vows, Dean asked if he could read “a letter to my wife” during the ceremony. The officiant nodded. Guests leaned forward. Carla, caught off-guard, blinked away tears before he’d said the first line.

Excerpts from Dean’s letter:

“Carla,
Before anyone else gets to hear me say it, I want you to know…
I’ve never been more sure of anything than I am right now.
I don’t love you because of how you look when you walk down the aisle—though I know that moment will wreck me.
I love you because when I burned the lasagne, you ate it anyway and said it was ‘perfectly rustic.’
I love you because of the way you treat animals, strangers, and yourself—with grace.
And I love you because you make me want to become a man worthy of the future we both believe in.”

At that point, Carla was crying. Her mom was crying. And the sound guy had to discreetly wipe his lens because it fogged up.

😭 The Reaction

When Dean finished reading, he folded the paper slowly and placed it inside his coat pocket. Then he looked up and smiled like someone who had just laid his entire heart on the forest floor.

The crowd clapped, sniffled, and stood to honour him before the vows even began.

After the ceremony, guests weren’t talking about the food or the music. They were talking about the letter. The vulnerability. The rawness. The way he looked at her when he said “You already are my home.”

📸 The Keepsake

Carla framed the letter and placed it on the mantle of their home with pressed petals from her bouquet. It’s the first thing they see every morning as newlyweds.

And yes—the videographer made sure to capture every word, every crack in Dean’s voice, every tear. That clip has now been shared more than 8,000 times online.

💡 For Grooms Reading This:

Write the letter. Even if it’s one line. Say it your way.

Don’t wait until the altar to speak from your heart.

Vulnerability is strength—especially on your wedding day.

Ask someone to keep a copy. These words will matter for years to come.