A young woman who fell in love with her bridesmaid on her wedding day has revealed how she made the left-field choice by deciding to be with both her husband and her girlfriend in what they're describing as a 'throuple'.
Last year, Karalyn Henry was engaged to her childhood sweetheart Justin, but even as she prepared to walk down the aisle, she realised something was still missing. But while such a situation can sometimes lead to heartbreak, Karalyn and her new husband found a solution.
Karalyn, from Ohio, has identified as polyamorous since she was a teenager. But being raised in a Christian household in a Christian community, being attracted to women as well as men was not something that her family would entertain at the time.
"I grew up Christian, and being gay wasn't something that was talked about very positively in my family (although they think much differently now!). So growing up, when I started getting crushes on boys, I would also get crushes on girls. It was something that I kind of pushed away for a very long time, and just didn't acknowledge that it was even a thing."
Karalyn's latent sexuality stayed bubbling underneath the surface until she was 22, and she was preparing to get married to Justin. It was then that she decided to turn to her fiancé and entrust him with the feelings she had deep inside. Luckily for Karalyn, Justin understood completely.
"I brought my worries up with my now husband, and he nonchalantly said, 'Well you can just date a girl on the side'. My mind was blown – I didn't even think that was a possibility to be honest. We gave it a go though, and it just worked so perfectly that it stuck to us. I don't know if I could go back to being monogamous – polyamory just works so well for us."
Even better, Karalyn's girlfriend turned out to be one at the bridesmaids at the wedding. While she was in the process of understanding her feelings, Karalyn met Lana on the micro-blogging site Tumblr. The only problem was that Lana lived in Northern Ireland, so it took Karalyn months to finally meet her.
In fact, the first time that Lana and Karalyn met was at her wedding.
"She flew over for our wedding to be a bridesmaid and it was amazing! That was the first time we ever met in real life… It was perfect in every sense of the word, the best day of my entire life. I remember all of us, a little drunk, arms locked, and just going in circles laughing and singing. I cherished every moment of that day, and while I'm sad it's over, I will never forget it!"
Initially, Lana and Karalyn kept Justin out of their love, but once Lana and Justin realised they had feelings for one another, things became a lot simpler. Now a happy throuple, Lana returned to Northern Ireland, but the trio are all together when she's in the country.
Karalyn says that she's "never been happier in a relationship before", and although there are sometimes challenges, they've got the blessing of their families, and Karalyn says she wants to raise awareness about polyamory. She answers questions and shares more information on her YouTube channel.
