New Jersey Groom Exchanges Vows With Bride's Daughter: 'Will You Call Me Your Dad?'

Mom and bride Anastasia Lindenman said she was surprised by the speech.

A groom has tugged at America's heartstrings as a video of the New Jersey man proclaiming his love and dedication to his stepdaughter makes the rounds on the internet.

“It has been an honor to call myself your dad," said Brandon Lindenman told 4-year-old Raina during the emotional ceremony last weekend. "I have watched you grow up and get bigger and bigger every day. You grow more beautiful every day.

"For the rest of my life, I will always be here for you, to be your friend and your dad. Will you call me your dad?’

Tearing up, Raina teared up and leapt into his arms.

"I was honestly shocked because I had no idea that he was going to make such a speech," mom and bride Anastasia Lindenman of Riverside, N.J., told InsideEdition.com. "My heart felt so full, and it just solidified in me that I was making the right decision to spend the rest of my life with this man who not only loved me, but loved my daughter as if she were his own."

She said that although Raina, 4, is usually quite emotional, her mom was still surprised by the tearful reaction.

“I thought she would just eat it up and smile, but the fact that she burst into tears filled me with such a love because you could see that the words that he said to her meant the entire world.”

Anatasia recalled in a post for Love What Matters that when she met Brandon in 2015, she never meant for it to become anything serious. At the time, she was going through a divorce and her daughter Raina was only 18 months old.

But, Raina took to Brandon quickly, and when they did meet, they became fast friends.

“She was definitely eager for friends being an only child and spending every single day with me, and they hit it off," Anastasia said. “He was always the person who would go the extra mile and play with her, doing anything and everything she would ask him to.”  

The pair did everything together, from tea parties to celebrating birthdays, and when he finally proposed, Raina was excited to call him "dad."

And, during their wedding, Brandon proved he was ready to fill those shoes.

"What he said was so perfect for the two of them and the fact that he had nothing written down and just spoke from his heart really made the whole thing so special," Lindenman said. "It was amazing to be able to watch the relationship grow into the love that it is today."

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