This is the heart-warming moment a bride makes vows to her new stepson at her wedding to his dad.<br /><br />Vanessa Lynch, 30, wanted to make sure that nine-year-old Henry Lynch knew how much she appreciated him as part of the family.<br /><br />So after she had made her vows to his father Craig Lynch, 30, she started speaking to him.<br /><br />Vanessa, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, said: "I wanted Henry to know that I wasn’t just going to be a woman his dad was married to.<br /><br />"I was nervous at first, just because I didn’t know how Henry would react. <br /><br />"I didn’t want to put him on the spot in front of everyone because he is shy and gets nervous in front of people. <br /><br />"But something felt right, so when I was done with Craig’s vows, I motioned for Craig to scoot over so I could see Henry. <br /><br />"That’s when the tears started flowing, when I looked at Henry in that moment. <br /><br />"I’m glad I decided to do it because Henry told me that they meant a lot to him and that he feels even closer to me than before."<br /><br />The special moment where Vanessa makes her promises to Henry was caught on camera.<br /><br />In her vows she said: "Henry, I know I wasn't there the day you came into the world.<br /><br />"I wasn't there for your first steps or your first words, but I promise I will be there for many more of your firsts.<br /><br />"I promise to love you as if you were my own, and lastly I promise I will be the best wife for your dad, and I promise to be the best step mum I can be for you."<br /><br />Nurse Vanessa first met underwriter Craig when they were both in their second year at Augsburg College and she was dating his roommate.<br /><br />She was introduced to his son Henry a few months after they started dating.<br /><br />She said: "I wanted to wait as long as it took for Henry to feel comfortable. <br /><br />"I planned our first time together by us three going to see Monster Trucks together, we all had a blast."<br /><br />The couple got engaged in August 2019 but, after COVID hit, they finally planned their wedding for December 11 this year at a venue in Cambridge.<br /><br />When she was preparing her vows to Craig, Vanessa came up with the idea of saying some words to Henry too during the ceremony.<br /><br />"Henry plays a big part in Craig’s life," she said.<br /><br />"At first I wasn’t going to do it, because I didn’t want Henry to feel uncomfortable in front of everyone. <br /><br />"But after some time thinking it over, I felt like something would have felt left out if I did not say a little something to Henry. <br /><br />"I wanted him to know how much my relationship with Henry meant to me. <br /><br />"It was easy for me to write them, but hard for me to say them out loud -example being in the video I started crying, which I never do."<br /><br />Only the bridesmaids and Craig's mother knew about her plan as they helped her practice them, but they wanted it to be a surprise for both Henry and Craig.<br /><br />Vanessa said: "The guests’ reactions in the moment I couldn’t see, because I was so focused on Henry and getting my words out. <br /><br />"But I could hear so many people sniffling around me while I was saying them!"<br /><br />After she'd finished, Henry went up to her to give her a huge hug, before she exchanged rings with his father.<br /><br />The step mum said: "We ended up showing the video to Henry and he cried watching it, which was adorable.<br /><br />"I come from a blended family, so me deciding to say vows to Henry really stemmed from my experience as a child - how stepparents should treat stepchildren as though they were their own children."<br /><br />Vanessa even chose to walk down the aisle arm-in-arm with both her biological father and her stepdad.<br /><br />"Just because you don’t share blood with someone, does not mean you cannot be a family," she added.<br /><br />"It all comes from love you hold for a person and what you commit to one another."<br /><br />The video was taken on December 11 2021.
