TikToker Ashley (@lastmarried1stdivorced) was an October bride now turned ex-wife. She got married on October 4, 2024, and got divorced six months later, before reaching her one-year wedding anniversary.
The day her divorce was finalized was also the day her wedding video was emailed to her.
“I no longer have a husband,” said Ashley. “Do you want to know what I do have? The top tier of our wedding cake. Traditionally, you’re supposed to freeze this and open it on your one-year wedding anniversary, and so, I found this in the freezer, thought about crying, thought about throwing it out, and then I thought….why not dig into this and share some of my favorite wedding memories.”
Her memories don’t have to do with her ex-husband at all. Instead, they involve the details and planning that went into the wedding.
Memory number one was her grandmother being the flower girl. She was a big hit at the ceremony. They got to pick out her dress together, and her grandma even decorated her own basket.
Memory number two was having their wedding planner place the rings under a random guest’s chair. The person whose chair the rings were under actually couldn’t find the rings for a while, so they started to worry the rings were gone. But it ended up being a really funny moment.
“The next memory is iconic and something that people still talk about, even though my marriage ended,” said Ashley. “I hand-wrote a letter to every single one of our 120 guests.”
“Each night, I would choose someone, sit down, and really think about why they were at the wedding, what they meant to me, how our stories led us to this moment.”
The downside is that the letters were written on wedding stationery. But Ashley’s love language is words of affirmation, so she wanted to make sure that her guests felt loved and received intentional notes.
She even has videos of guests opening their letters and tearing up as they read them.
The last memory was her taking every married couple’s first dance song, giving them to the DJ, and allowing each couple to relive their first dance. It was entertaining to watch during dinner and brought the couples back to their own wedding days.
Overall, those were her four favorite memories from her wedding day that she still cherishes despite the fact that her marriage didn’t work out.
In the comments section, many TikTok users offered her words of encouragement and shared similar stories about getting married and divorced in a short amount of time.
“My daughter also got divorced in less than a year. We now call her wedding the family reunion so we can still talk about how much fun it was without feeling weird,” commented one user.
“My divorce was resolved the day after our anniversary. Keep your head up!” stated another.
“My divorce took longer than I was actually actively married. It took getting married to see the person’s true self. The day I said I do, I regretted it. Five months later, his mental health crashed, and it took six months to divorce. Per my therapist, wait two years before even saying I do,” added a third.
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By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
