Alexis Saya, of Huntington, Indiana, had gone to bed the night before excited for what she said would have been a “beautiful” celebration of love.

But when the big day arrived, she found herself facing a surprising realization — she wasn’t happy.

Sharing a child with her hubby-to-be, the 24-year-old said the pair were high school sweethearts who began dating at age 16.

Both “young” and “stupid,” according to Saya, the pair intentionally became pregnant and engaged in 2020, despite the on-again, off-again nature of their tumultuous union.

It was a rocky romance that lasted from 2019 until their scrapped big day in April 2023.

“I knew that I wasn’t happy in the relationship,” she admitted. “I just always tried to make myself believe that I was because I loved him.”

Finally faced with the prospect of unhappily ever after, she took action.

“It was about 6 a.m., I said ‘I’m sorry, we can’t get married today,’” Saya told Kennedy News.

“I didn’t want to but I knew that I had to,” she continued, adding, however, “it’s best decision I’ve ever made even if it’s hard to accept. The relationship wasn’t a good relationship.”

Saya has since shared a few sordid details about the breakup with her TikTok audience of over 15,000 viewers. In one post, she refers to her child’s father as an “abuser.”

“After my daughter was born we had broken up a few times and got back together a few times,” Saya explained. “I think I had, in total, three or four rings because of how many times we’d broken up.”

“I said, ‘We’re not getting married today,’ she remembered of breaking the news to her groggy groom.

“He looked at me and was like, ‘What are you talking about?,’ and I said, ‘Do you really think this is a marriage?.”

The bolting bride’s baby daddy wasn’t the only betrothed to be blindsided by a day-of ditching.

Kayley Stead, a 27-year-old Welsh woman, was stunned and “sobbing” when her no-show groom left her standing solo at the altar during their September 2022 ceremony.

And abandoned bride Andrea Noel admittedly became “unhinged” after her groom-to-be gave her the slip that same month.

Exacting virtual revenge, the content creator blasted the dope on social media, divulging his many flaws — which included sharing a bed with his sister.

“I was so in love with him,” said Noel in a viral TikTok. “And I had convinced myself that [he] was the best I could ever get.

After delivering the painful news, Saya and daughter Avielle fled to her mother’s house.

“I cried that whole day. It was awful,” said Saya. “I took it harder than him. You’re giving up everything you’ve known.”

“I was a stay-at-home mom at the time so I had nothing,” she added. “I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have money of my own. Everything was his.”

But Saya was most fearful of the flak she stood to receive from family and friends — namely her mother, who’d laid out the five-figures for their extravagant fête.

“When you do make decisions like that you think everyone’s going to hate you,” said Saya. “That’s how I felt. I thought I was going to lose my mom because she paid for the wedding. I was terrified.”

Almost immediately after pulling the plug on her nuptials, the runaway bride was hit with a wave of remorse.

“I remember thinking, it was about 3 p.m., ‘I’d already be married now,’” she said. “I got into a really bad place after the wedding.”

“I just couldn’t believe that I’d actually made the decision. I regretted it so badly for probably a while,” Saya revealed.

“Then it came to a point that I was really happy that I did it.”

She recently shared a series of selfies online.

The post, which amassed over 144,000 views, featured one photo of her tear-stained face, which was taken on her canceled wedding day. The other was a smiley snapshot labeled “It’s now been 16 months.”

The mother of one credits her child with giving her the courage to walk away from an unhealthy situation.Kennedy News and Media

“It’s something that I’ll always have with me and it’s a trauma that I think I’ll always carry,” Saya said. “But I’ve found a way to cope and deal with it better.”

“I think it was absolutely the best decision for me and my daughter,” insisted the mom, who credits her toddler as the “biggest reason” she walked away from the toxicity.

“It came to a point where if I couldn’t do it for her, then it just isn’t fair,” Saya asserted. “This is her only childhood and I’m in charge of it.”

But her reason for ending the relationship on her wedding day remains a bit unclear.

“People think just because I say I left on my wedding day, ‘She just must not care or be able to do whatever,” Saya scoffed, clarifying that the decision to put the kibosh of her bash was, “terrifying.”

“Even my own family said, ‘Well, why did you wait?,” she said. “I genuinely went to bed that night thinking I was going to wake up and get married.”

“I would never have chosen it to be that day. I never did anything maliciously towards him,” she swore. “I never wanted to hurt him.”

Questions from confused critics notwithstanding, Saya’s virtual supporters have praised her for making the “brave” move.

She’s now beginning to find peace after the storm.

“Everytime I see him it’s a reminder of why I left,” said Saya.

“I always wonder sometimes, when it’s late at night and I’m in bed and I’m lonely and I’m just like, ‘Oh, I wish I just had my family back,’” she said, acknowledging that in those fleeting moments of sorrow she’s only thinking of their “good times” together.

“Then I see him again and it just reminds me all over again all of the bad that outweighs all of the good,” Saya said. “And that’s why I left.”

Hopeful to one day marry her perfect partner and welcome more kids, Saya encourages others to follow their hearts concerning matters of the heart.

“I would tell anybody that if you even have a question of if you should leave then you should,” she said, “it might be the best decision you ever make.”

“It is the hardest thing to do to leave. I still can’t believe I did it,” Saya copped.

“There’s still times it’s hard but I have to remind myself I will find somebody that loves me and my daughter,” she said.

“I cannot wait to get married one day. I can’t wait to have more kids.”

The post I Dumped My Fiancé on Our Wedding Day — It Was the Smartest Thing I Ever Did appeared first on FamilyToday.

But when the vixen isn’t busy testing the loyalties of taken men at the behests of their suspicious partners, she’s sharing tips and tricks on how to spot the tell-tale signs that a guy is up to no good.

“Don’t get it twisted ladies,” wrote Los Angeles-based Smith in the caption of a trending TikTok. “There is NOTHING wrong with taking concrete steps to protect your heart.”

And, unfortunately, in today’s digital age, opportunities to cheat on a significant other are only a few clicks away.

But Smith, a siren who sends flirty messages to off-the-market men for a living, assures that curious wives and girlfriends don’t have to know computers in order to finger their guys for being unfaithful.

Instead, naughty know-it-all suggests women keep their eyes peeled for any of the following top eight red flags.

He Hides His Phone

“When you’re out for dinner, or just on the sofa watching TV, does your man leave his phone face up or face down?” Smith asked in a column for the Daily Mail. “It may seem trivial, but ask yourself – what could possibly flash up that he doesn’t want anyone to see?”

“I think it’s rubbish when people say phones should be private,” she continued. “You can be anyone you want to be online (trust me, I would know), and you should recognize that your partner may feel insecure about your online activities.”

Smith insists innocent dudes don’t hide their devices.

“If you’ve got nothing to hide, why should you care?” she wrote. “It meant a lot to me that my fiancé was comfortable sharing his passcode.”

And while a man “can’t control” whether a woman decides to message him, “he can control his reaction,” she asserted.

“Take one of my ‘failed’ experiments,” said Smith. “A client asked me to test her husband, and he politely informed me he was happily married. When I shared the happy news with her, she said he had already showed her the conversation.

“Guys, it’s that simple: transparency, always.”

You’re Not in His Pics

“With my pregnant client, it was an immediate red flag that there were no pictures of her on his Instagram profile,” Smith warned. “Even if he claims he never posts on social media, you should at least feature in his profile photo.

“Your partner should be proud to show you off,” said the sexpert. “If he’s not, it signals a lack of commitment.”

He Uses Snapchat

Smith’s skeptical of any chap using the “Chat.”

“There is no good reason why any man past school age should have Snapchat on his phone,” she wrote. “SnapChat — with the USP that it deletes messages after they’ve been viewed — is an app for cheaters.”

“I’ve only ever known adult men use it to send and receive explicit photographs,” Smith warned. “Whatever his explanation, if he’s a regular Snapper, be very wary.”

Not Showing His Location

“Nowadays, it’s normal to have your loved ones on location-sharing apps,” noted Smith. “One of the red flags I often hear is: ‘My husband’s location always seems to turn off with no explanation.’”

But the pro-pinup isn’t buying it.

“Cheaters will come up with some excuse as to why they don’t want to share their location, but then insist that their girlfriend shares theirs,” Smith groaned. “Which leads me to my next red flag…”

Unequal Expectations

“Cheaters are jealous people with fragile egos,” she asserted. “That’s almost always why they cheat: the validation of one woman’s love is never enough for them.”

Smith urges women against falling into a one-sided trap of irrational rules.

“My clients often report that their partner expects them to have unrealistic boundaries with men: cutting off male friends, even not speaking to male colleagues,” she told the Daily Mail. “Meanwhile, he’s posting pictures of himself with bikini-clad stunners who are ‘just friends’.”

He Accuses You of Cheating

“Does your partner call you ‘crazy’ or claim you’re ‘just being insecure’ if you raise concerns?” she questioned. “Does he accuse you of being unfaithful for no obvious reason?

“Not only is this gaslighting behavior designed to be humiliating,” Smith wrote, “[but] it is also highly revealing.”

Her lesson: he’s “projecting” his own cheating guilt on you.

“In a loving relationship, the response to concerns being raised should be shock and gentle affirmation,” Smith said.

“Think, ‘Oh my gosh, I would never do that to you,’” encouraged the eyeful. “Not, ‘Are you crazy? I can’t deal with your insecurity right now.’”

Intuition is Key

“Women are more emotionally intelligent than men,” Smith said. “But we’re also masters of convincing ourselves that strange behavior must have an innocent explanation — when every bone in our body is screaming otherwise.”

Rather than rationalizing a man’s weirdness, “trust your gut,” Smith asserted.

“Almost all of the messages I receive are from women saying that something just doesn’t feel right and, sadly, they’re usually right,” she revealed. “If in doubt, call him out – or engage the services of someone like me!”

Emotional Distancing

“Does your partner seem disengaged during conversations?” Smith asked. “Have his compliments stopped? Did he use to touch you a lot, and no longer does?”

If any of those questions prompt a “yes,” the human two-timing detector wants women to beware.

“This kind of emotional distancing is one of the biggest red flags.”

Delete the Cheat

Even without Smith’s help, some cyber-savvy sleuths are becoming skilled in sniffing out dogs themselves.

Abby Paige, a digital content creator, tinkered around with Wi-Fi settings to catch her mate creeping around with other women across the world wide web earlier this year.

And Liesel, a Gen Z from Missouri, learned the truth about their sweetie’s infidelity while innocently scrolling through social media.

The brunette accidentally uncovered her ex’s misdeeds after stumbling upon another woman’s “Get Ready With Me” TikTok clip.

In the video, the other gal was primping for a hot date — at Liesel’s fella’s house.

The post I’ve Caught Thousands of Unfaithful Men — Here Are 8 Signs Your Guy is Cheating on You appeared first on FamilyToday.

And local lovebirds better have long money if they hope to get hitched on this lush island.

“Long Island takes the cake (and probably eats it, too) as the priciest place to exchange vows,” warn wedding researchers in a new study.

A new study revealed that Long Island, New York is the most expensive wedding destination in the US.

The coastal locale ranks as the No. 1 most expensive wedding destination in the U.S., per a recent report from GroomsDay, a virtual groomsman gifting hub.

Their big day data found that, on average, sweeties spend a staggering $58,245 to swap “I do’s” on the picturesque paradise — situated just outside of the Big Apple.

“These numbers really show how your wedding ZIP code can make your wallet zip shut,” said GroomsDay founder Chris Bajda, noting that the cost of a wedding on Long Island is nearly 70% above the national average of $34,679.

“But here’s the thing,” continued the pro, “a $60,000 wedding doesn’t guarantee 60,000 magical moments.”

And he’s right on the money.

Experts advise budgeted brides and grooms near NYC to think outside of the state when it comes to wedding planning.

As wedding costs continue climbing due to inflation, cash-conscious couples have become increasingly creative to keep expenses low.

Maria Cortese from Poughkeepsie, New York, avoided eye-popping price tags by tapping ChatGPT to coordinate her August 2024 nuptials.

“I’m saving so much money,” she told The Post before walking down the aisle. “I don’t need a wedding planner. AI does it all.”

Cortese says her money-saving hack took the stress out of wedding budgeting and planning.

Bride-to-be Caroline Spain, 27, of the East Village also previously told The Post that she and groom Stephen refuse to shell out over $100,000 to host their nuptials on a Saturday night in NYC.

Instead, the frugal fiancés are throwing a weekday bash at a castle in Dublin, Ireland, this month. Taking the plunge far beyond the city’s limits is saving the twosome around $70,000.

Other local darlings — at least those hoping to save a little dough — would be wise to consider a ceremony far from home, too.

New York couples can consider hosting their nuptials in a less expensive state, say the experts.

Landing the No. 2 slot on the list of America’s most high-priced hotspots for weddings is upstate Westchester, New York, where newlyweds spend approximately $48,100 on the fancy fêtes.

Equally chic cities such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; and Hartford, Connecticut, respectively trailed Long Island and Westchester on GroomsDay’s ritzy roster.

The experts analyzed wedding cost data — which included the prices of engagement rings, venues, attire and transportation — from various cities and states across the nation.

For state-level data, average wedding expenses in 2024 were calculated based on surveys of more than 4,000 couples, assuming a guest list of 100 people. City-level costs were derived from thousands of recent couple reviews on WeddingWire, reflecting actual pricing for various wedding services.

Sweethearts can save more money by tying the knot in provincial places.

Nearly-weds in Salt Lake City, Utah, can breathe a sigh of relief as the snowy scene’s been crowned the cheapest wedding destination in America. It only costs a cool $27,210 to exchange rings in the chilly haven, according to the findings.

Couples in Kansas City, Missouri; Charleston South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Portland, Oregon, can let out a “Phew!” too, as the rural cities ranked after SLC in the top five least expensive areas for holy matrimonies.

But no matter where significant others do it, Bajda says the special occasion is more about the love than the luxe.

This article originally appeared in the The New York Post

The post This New York Area Ranks as the ‘Most Expensive’ to Get Married in the US — And It’s Not Manhattan appeared first on FamilyToday.

Being intimate for hours on end is a sex-ercise in futility, according to new data which claims sexually active sweethearts can achieve euphoria in less time than it takes to do a high-intensity workout.

“Americans and Britons who are sexually satisfied prefer sex to last around 35 minutes, including foreplay and afterplay,” say sexperts at ZipHealth, a virtual wellness hub.

Satisfaction from shaking the sheets is a vital aspect of most romantic relationships.

Specialists in Chinese medicine suggest couples — specifically honeys in their 20s — indulge in mind-blowing, eye-rolling sessions every four days in order to enhance their interpersonal connection, as well as their individual health.

Pros of the practice warn that “insufficient sex is considered a cause of disease.”

Scientists at Minnesota’s Walden University, too, revealed that women, from Zoomers to boomers, are at a 70 percent increased risk of death when they fail to get busy at least once a week.

So ZipHealth analysts, who surveyed 1,000 pleasure-seekers in the US and the UK across the generations, pinpointed the exact minutes each hanky-panky exploit should take, per romp, to ensure optimal outcomes.

“Typical duration of sexual activities among satisfied Americans and Britons,” read the study,” Foreplay: 15 minutes, Intercourse: 15 minutes and Afterplay: 5 minutes.”

However, couples who spend an extra five minutes on foreplay experience more female orgasms — a feat most Gen Z men struggle to help their ladies accomplish — than those who can’t eke out the excess effort, per the findings. Investigators say partners who watch porn multiple times a day are often able to tack on the additional few moments of boudoir bliss.

The researchers also determined that 36 percent of freaky folks in the US prefer having sex at night, and that an impressive 39 percent actually last the longest after dark.

The finding echo a recent global poll via luxe lingerie label Pour Moi, which found that 10:09 p.m. Saturday evenings is the most popular time to getting it popping.

“It’s really interesting to see how intimacy varies from person to person around the globe,” said the naughty know-it-alls. “But also to know that it is the weekend evenings that seem to be the most popular time for people to feel at their most relaxed and ready to enjoy time with their partner.”

This article originally appeared on nypost.com.

The post The Ideal Amount of Time to Spend Having Sex Revealed in New Study appeared first on FamilyToday.