A wife-to-be wrote an essay for Body+Soul about the time she read her fiancé’s cheating texts, instead of her wedding vows, to a shocked crowd.

The woman - under the pseudonym Casey - had been excited to marry Alex - another pseudonym - until hours before her wedding, when she received anonymous texts exposing her fiancé for his infidelity.

The former bride believed Alex to be “the one” after six years together. Because their families were friends and their lives were entwined, a “happily ever after” was in the cards for the couple. The night before their wedding, she was surrounded by friends in a hotel room when she picked up the phone and discovered the texts.

Casey wrote: “The message was a series of screenshots from a number I didn’t recognise. The accompanying message simply said, ‘I wouldn’t marry him. Will you?’”

At the time, the bride and her friends were shocked to read the series of incriminating texts, which included selfies and screenshots of text messages “from months to only days before” between Alex and another woman.

For a moment, Casey shared that she couldn’t “compute” what was happening. Slowly, “little moments added up” and the bride realised that she had been played for a fool, as she described how each text exchange was a “dagger in her heart”.

In one of the texts, Alex complimented the woman while insulting Casey. “Your body is f***ing incredible. And s*** do you know how to use it,” one text reportedly read. “I wish my GF had half the skills you do,” said another. Meanwhile, a third read: “I’ve never had this kind of connection before.”

As she reeled from the shock, Casey explained how her friends rallied around her while “threatening all manner of violence” against Alex. For a moment, Casey said she struggled to reconcile the man she loved with the man who sent the texts.

When she woke up the next day, it was clear to her what she was going to do. “I was going to go ahead with the wedding as expected, and ‘out’ him in front of our friends and family,” she wrote. That day, she walked down the aisle and when she reached the front of the room, Casey announced to her friends and family: “There will be no wedding today. It seems Alex is not who I thought he was.”

The bride-to-be read each of the texts sent to her one by one, noting that “with each word, more colour left” her fiancé’s face. When she finished, Alex got up and left the church without a word.

After he left, Casey wrote that she addressed their guests: “I love all of you and as horrible as this is, I’m glad you all are here. There will not be a wedding reception today, but instead, there will be a celebration of honesty, finding true love and following your heart even when it hurts.”

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