Stepdad moved to tears by bride-to-be's heartfelt request in a wholesome note for her wedding

Step-fathers play an important role in the upbringing of a child when the biological father is absent. Sometimes, they might have a lot more contribution in the life of those children who are not his by birth. Shylah May (@shylahmay on TikTok) who got hitched in 2024 to the love of her life, decided to give a special honor to her step-father by handing him the responsibility to officiate her wedding.

In a TikTok video, she captured the moment when she offered her step-father Ralph Kenyon the request she had boxed up as a surprise for him. Kenyon was handed over a large gift box by her as he wondered what could be inside it. At first, Kenyon joked if May was about to ask him to be one of her bridesmaids or not. Then he picked up a note from the gift box and read out loud. "When thinking about our wedding, the most important day of our life, we reflected on our journey and who played a major role in getting us to this point," Kenyon started reading.

May's stepdad continued to read about how she wanted the most important person among their family and friends will be the one to officiate their wedding. "You showed me what kind of man I deserve in my life," Kenyon read out and then paused a bit as he got emotional. May's note to Kenyon ended with her clarifying that both she and her would-be-husband want Kenyon to officiate their wedding. After he finished reading the note, he couldn't hold back his tears and went ahead to hug his wife, stepdaughter and his would-be son-in-law. The TikTok crowd got equally emotional watching the sweet father-daughter moment and demanded May upload the wedding video as well.

@juli.r172 wrote, "When a step-parent can make that kind of impact on their stepchildren. Congrats to God's work to you & yours! Perfection! Congratulations." @klt911 noted, "It’s so healing to see these gentle types of men existing. Thank you for sharing and congrats to you all!" @briannagatewoodsnyder shared a similar story, "My husband’s stepdad adopted him when he was 3 because his birth father had passed away. He performed our marriage ceremony."

@karenagirouard66 commented, "Beautiful, bonus parents need to be acknowledged in such a beautiful way, when as deserved as this bonus dad seems to be!! I love this. Bless your whole family and your special day." @hannah.gohya quipped, "I wish my stepdad was still here when my day comes and despite losing him, this made me smile so wide because this is what love is." @sweataweatheaa added, "So beautiful. I’m teary-eyed with you all. May God continue to bless you all."

A special moment in another woman's wedding is yet another example of step-fathers getting some much-needed appreciation and honor on their stepdaughter's wedding. A bride named Brittany was in the middle of her wedding ceremony when her biological father halted it for a heartfelt reason. Her biological father Todd Bachman pulled in Brittany's stepfather Todd Cendrosky to make sure they were both able to walk her down the aisle.

The stepfather revealed in an interview with local news station WKYC-TV that he was overwhelmed and completely taken aback (in the best way possible, of course). He said, "[Brittany's biological father] came and grabbed my hand, and said, 'You worked as hard as I have. You'll help us walk our daughter down the aisle.' I got weak in the knees and lost it. Nothing better in my life, than the most impactful moment in my life." This was, after all, a moment that the stepfather wished he could've been a part of ever since wedding planning had begun. "Every time we tried on tuxes or did some planning, it crossed my mind that I'd be sitting in the crowd, not walking her down the aisle," revealed Cendronsky.