The couple had been in a relationship for several years, and what should have been the happiest day of their lives turned bitter when the bride received a devastating text the night before their nuptials.
Casey, who used a pseudonym for herself and her fiancé Alex, sat with her bridesmaids when an unknown number sent screenshots of messages to her phone.
The screenshots came with a blunt message: “I wouldn’t marry him. Will you?”
The content of the grabs left little doubt Alex had been involved with another woman in the months leading up to the wedding.
“This weekend. You and I. It is on, hot stuff. Bring your A game,”
“Your body is f**king incredible. And s**t do you know how to use it. I wish my GF had half the skills you do,”
“I miss you so much. I can’t stop thinking about L, S, F’ing you. I’ve never had this kind of connection before.”
Casey described her reaction in an essay for Body+Soul.
“I burst into shamed and broken tears,” she wrote.
Her bridesmaids threatened violence and urged her to call Alex and cancel the wedding.
But she loved Alex and still intended to marry him the next day. Shock and sadness left her unable to rage, so she did not call him.
They tried to sleep, but Casey woke at dawn and told her friends her plan: she would go ahead with the ceremony and expose the messages in front of everyone.
Instead of delivering her vows, Casey read the screenshots aloud to the gathered friends and family.
“It seems Alex is not who I thought he was,” she told the congregation.
“I love all of you and as horrible as this is I’m glad you all are here.”
She announced there would be no wedding reception that day.
“Instead, there will be a celebration of honesty, finding true love and following your heart even when it hurts.”
As Casey read the private messages, Alex’s face drained of color.
He eventually stalked out of the church, trailed by his best man.
Reflecting on the day, Casey wrote: “It was certainly not the wedding day I had planned but to our credit, it was one hell of a party.”
One can imagine many tequila shots were consumed that night.