A Toast

Tomorrow my sister Kelly and her husband William celebrate their first wedding anniversary together.  I cannot tell you how pleased I am that she is married to a man that she truly loves, and that her life has taken such beautiful form.  I was lucky enough to have been chosen the maid of honor in their wedding, thus able to experience first hand the beauty of the day the were wed. 

Their wedding ceremony has held at the Historic Court House is Santa Barbara, and the reception took place at a beautiful hotel in the heart of the downtown area, complete with a rooftop cocktail hour overlooking the city... Spectacular...

My sister who is in my eyes is unbelievably beautiful, was absolutely stunning as a bride, and William could not have been a more handsome groom...  To view possibly the most beautiful wedding pictures of all time, click here... Enjoy the show... Featured in the photographs are of course Kelly and William, and their children Isabella and Isaac, our mother and father,as well as a very small ring bearer Sebastian, a beaming Anthony and a very pregnant, me... 

I was honored to have been asked to toast my sister and her husband that night over dinner, and although I had written and prepared something in advance, I was not able to deliver the pre-written toast that night... Maybe it was the nervousness that I felt as my name was called, maybe it was the awkwardness I felt all dressed up in heels, carrying a baby well into my eighth month of pregnancy...Who knows, but for whatever reason, I opted not to read what I had written , and instead to speak from the heart... 

So here,  one year later, I would like to toast my beautiful sister and her loving husband with what I had written and should have read that night...

"Hello everyone, my name is Corey Villicana, I am Kelly's younger sister... I had thought for quite awhile about what it is that I had wanted to say to Kelly and Will tonight, and the overall idea that kept coming back to me was that I wanted to take this moment as an opportunity to do something that I have not had many chances throughout my life to do... Being that I am younger than Kelly is, it seems as though she has always been the one to lead and to accomplish first in our lives.  She has always set the pace and the example for what it is that I wanted to do in my life... I have always been able to go to her for advice and information about feats that she had already accomplished, and I have always felt much more prepared because of it.  One of the most meaningful of  memories was in being able to watch her as a mother years before I had my own children... I was able to see first hand not only the miracle of child birth, but the intense love and sacrifice that a mother provides her child.   And so for the first time in our lives, I am actually leading her into one of life's most amazing ventures. I married my husband Anthony in July of 2006 and so now I am able to advise her for the first time about something that I was able to experience first, marriage.  I am not going to pretend that I know the secret to a happy and successful marriage, but I will share with you what I have learned thus far. 

 Love one another... look to each other to be more than life partners, but to be the best of friends and the closest of allies... 

Put your life in perspective, imagine yourselves together in years and years from now, enjoying your lives, growing old... 

Respect one another and never let a day go by without telling each other how very much you love each other. 

 I love you Kelly, more than words can explain... William, you are the luckiest man in the room tonight, to have such a beautiful bride, and such a wonderful woman as your wife.  

Enjoy tonight and enjoy every tomorrow... "