For most brides, the wedding day is their special day. It’s a time for family and friends to come together and celebrate just two people—the bride and groom.
But that wasn’t the case for Jess Nakrayko. The Canadian bride was so appreciative of the hard work her best friend, Jessica Kieley, had put into making her special day perfect, Nakrayko wanted to do something for her in return.
Jess Nakrayko
Kieley and her boyfriend, Adam Brake, had become increasingly serious, and even discussed the possibility of getting engaged soon. But fully consumed with making her best friend’s wedding the greatest day ever, Kieley put any talks of an engagement on the back burner.
That’s when Nakrayko decided to break every traditional wedding “rule” there ever was and convince Adam to propose to Jessica DURING her wedding.
At first, Brake declined the idea of a wedding proposal, telling Nakrayko:
“I don’t want to take anything away from your wedding trip.”
Determined to make it work out in the most seamless and unexpected way, Nakrayko and her sister came up with a plan that would make her wedding day special, and still allow Brake to pop the question.
“My sister said, ‘What if you didn’t throw the bouquet, but you passed it to Jessica, and Adam was waiting behind, down on one knee?’ And we just lost it.”
So the wedding day came, and everything was perfect. Nakrayko and her husband, James, tied the knot, and everyone ate, drank and celebrated.
Jess Nakrayko
Then it came time for the bride to toss her bouquet. The plan unfolded perfectly.
“So then we had the song change from ‘Man I Feel Like a Woman’ to Bruno Mars’ ‘Marry Me.’ I started walking to Jessica, and there was a moment where we locked eyes, and as I went to pass her the bouquet, she started hysterically sobbing, saying ‘no, are you serious?’
“I said, ‘Yes, turn around!’”
On one knee behind her was Adam, excitedly waiting to ask Jessica to be his bride.
Ross Dance Photography
The couple’s wedding photographer, Ross Dance, said “the experience was unlike anything I had ever witnessed.”
“As soon as her best friend realized what was about to transpire my eyes filled up with tears and I became a spectator. I actually had to snap myself out in order to keep taking photos. The energy and love in the room was palpable.”
Nakrayko says she couldn’t be happier about sharing her big day with her best friend.
She explained to HuffPo Canada:
“The way my husband and I looked at it was sometimes the actual concept of a wedding gets lost. It’s to marry your best friend and spend the rest of your life with them and celebrating love and sharing your love with everyone else.
My best friend was starting her love story—I didn’t even think about that being me giving up my day. I have love and I want people close to me to have that love too.”
As far as she sees it, people shouldn’t “be greedy about love.”
Jess Nakrayko
After their wedding day and proposal went viral on the Internet, there’s no arguing that we could all use a friendship like Nakrayko and Kieley. ❤️
