A woman who decided to wait until she exchanged vows with her husband before having sex with him has opened up on all the things she wishes she knew beforehand.
As is still the case in many different religions, a young US woman named Alicia always obeyed the long-standing Christian practice of abstaining from intercourse until she'd wed.
In her late teens and twenties, whilst her gal pals were dipping their toes into the dating pool, she was hoping to find her very own, similarly-religious Prince Charming, with whom she'd take things slow.
Thankfully for Canadian-born Alicia, she didn't have to wait too long, and before she knew it, she was engaged to fellow Christian, John Tucker.
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The duo tied the knot in 2020, and were finally able to consummate their marriage.
Since then, the pair - who are currently expecting their first child - have frequently posted on their joint YouTube channel, Alicia and Joshua, where they talk about the ins and outs of their relationship as well as providing 'Christian dating' tips and advice.
In a shocking turn of events, however, Alicia surprised her followers recently by revealing there's one thing she wishes she'd done different when it
came to abstaining from sex.
Actually, to be clear, she says there are several things she wishes she knew about the act of making love before actually climbing into bed with husband John.
In a video titled 'Wedding night tips for the celibate brides', she started by explaining to her 1.96k subscribers: "It can be a lot, all the anticipation leading up to the wedding night.
So, I've compiled a list of five things you should know before your wedding night."
Admitting it was 'kind of an awkward thing to talk about', Alicia explained: "It can be a lot, you know, all the expectation and anticipation leading up until your wedding night."
She then got straight into the first tip on the rundown, which was to 'talk about it beforehand with your fiancé'.
"So if you have a little bit of nerves about sex hurting you for the first time, definitely voice that to your fiancé," she went on.
For anyone nervous or 'intimidated' about going from 'no sexual contact' to 'straight into sex', Alicia suggested couples showered together beforehand to 'ease into it'.
Next up was something 'very practical', but something Alicia believed fellow Christian women wouldn't know about.
"It's so important to pee after you have sex," she said. "You can so easily get a UTI if you don't pee after having sex because there are a lot of fluids that happen during sex and if that goes into the wrong area, you can be in a lot of pain."
Third up on the list saw Alicia warning viewers their first time could involve blood.
She suggested laying down a towel on the bed or have some 'extra bedding ready to go' in case.
Number four, which ties into the third, is to simply 'laugh at the imperfections'.
"Just laugh it off," Alicia advised. "If things are awkward, if it's uncomfortable, if it doesn't go super smooth, just laugh it off. "That's a big part of the intimacy experience."
And the fifth and final piece of advice? Being present in the moment.
She said: "It's so difficult when your adrenaline is so high and it's a new experience that you have wanted for your whole life and your emotions are so high that it's really hard to be present.
"If you can just, somehow, try to relax yourself and really take in every single moment rather than being too much in your head and not being present - you will be so happy about it afterwards because you will remember the night."
She penned in the video's description: "I hope that after watching this video, you are left feeling like you have just had some quality girl talk with your sister/best friend!"
Topics: Sex and Relationships, US News, Wedding, Dating trends
Rhianna Benson