A mother-in-law’s touching wedding speech revealed how she “manifested” her son’s future wife.
“I consider myself blessed,” Diane Souza, whose son Blake Souza is married to Paige Souza, tells TODAY.com.
“This has struck a chord with ‘boy mom’ and ‘mothers-in-law,” Paige tells TODAY.com of her mother-in-law’s wedding speech.
In July 2025, Paige shared an Instagram reel with nearly 2 million views of her mother-in-law Diane’s speech at her 2018 wedding in Rhode Island.
“The story of how my in-laws manifested me into their life,” Paige captioned the reel.
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A post shared by Paige Souza | daily shares + motherhood (@paigem_souza)
In Paige’s video, Diane explained, “We were blessed with two boys — and it’s a good thing we had boys, because Paul and I could never, ever agree on the name for a girl.”
Diane continued, “We did a ‘Name the Baby’ contest, we did all these different things and about, I don’t know, 6 to 12 months after Blake was born, Paul came home from work and he said, ‘Guess what?’”
Paul, Diane’s husband, had finally thought of a name for a future daughter.
“I’m like, ‘Really? We’re not having any more kids, so I’m not sure it’s really relevant anymore,’” recalled Diane in the video. “But I said, ‘I’m curious. So, what did you come up with?’”
Paul announced: “Paige!”
Diane said in the video that she repeated the name “Paige Souza” to herself, to hear the sound of it.
“I said, ‘I really love it. I think it’s a great name,’” continued Diane. “So, 26 years later, all of life’s twists and turns, we finally have our daughter Paige.”
Diane tells TODAY.com that she always wanted a daughter, “Although, I thought raising boys would be easier.”
She adds, “We went a long time without children, having married when we were 24.”
The couple had fertility challenges with Blake’s older brother Perry, so Blake, explained Diane, was a “surprise.”
“After two kids, we said, ‘That’s it, no more,’” says Diane.
When Paul came home with a girl name, Diane thought, “He must have been bored at work.”
Diane said she liked the name Paige, because it’s not overly common, contains one syllable and flows with “Souza.”
Then, when Blake was in high school, he met a girl named Paige.
“I walked into Blake’s room when he was supposed to be doing homework and he was looking at a picture of a cute girl,” says Diane. “He said, ‘It’s a girl in my class. I really like her.’”
The subject didn’t resurface until Diane’s viral wedding speech.
“I didn’t love my name growing up — you get made fun of and people say, ‘Turn the page,’” says Paige. She adds that people on Instagram named Paige have said Diane’s speech inspired them to embrace their names.
Paige and Blake are bonded more than in name.
“You raise your kids to be independent and hope they fall in love and are loved in return,” says Diane. “Blake and Paige always aligned. They fit well together.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
