I had my first kiss at 30 with my future husband — and stayed a virgin until we got married three years later

It was worth the wait.

A California woman says she didn’t have her first kiss until she was 30 and was still a virgin when she wed three years later.

Esther Gualtieri spoke out about her unconventional choices, saying she has no regrets about not playing the field.

“I know this sounds crazy, but I had my first kiss at 30. It wasn’t because I didn’t have options, I just didn’t want to kiss any of the guys who wanted to kiss me,” she exclaimed.

After her first kiss, Gualtieri and her now-husband saved sex for the night they got married.

“I got married and had a good old honeymoon night. That’s all I can say. One and done,” she admitted.

The Oceanside resident revealed that her decision was shaped by her faith, the way she was raised and her belief in what leads to a fulfilling marriage.

“I committed to keeping sex for the context of marriage because of my understanding of those three areas,” she explained. “The probability of having a healthy, non-divorce marriage is much higher when you save sex for marriage.”

When Gualtieri was a teenager, she signed a purity card and committed to wait until marriage to have sex. She believed that it was best for her to keep herself for just one man, and she felt no pressure despite other people her age at the time starting to lose their virginities.

“I definitely grew up in a religious home. My parents were pastors, and I have four siblings. It was imposed upon us to wait for marriage. Not necessarily through direct conversation, at least, not for me, but through church messages and community beliefs,” she said.

The closest she ever got to veering from her purity commitment was when she was on a surfing trip in New Zealand at 25 years old. A surfer tried to make a move, but she said no after coming to the realization that she didn’t want to put an end to something she worked hard to maintain.

Luckily for Gualtieri, her now-husband had the same values as she did — and he was the one who first brought up waiting for marriage.

Despite the criticism and judgment, she said she is happy with her life decisions and that waiting until she was 33 to have sex with her husband had a positive impact on their bond and relationship.

“It’s so crazy how we went from dating and never having sex to now being married and having sex, I feel so bonded to him. When he’s out of town, I can’t even sleep because it feels like a part of me is missing,” she said.”

Even without regrets, Gualtieri admitted that her decisions “did a lot of harm as well.”

“I wish I was a little more carefree, not to lose my virginity, but to just enjoy dating without worrying so much about whether every relationship was ‘the one,’” she shared.

But at the end of the day, she still believes she lived her best life. “I was living my life to the fullest in singleness and dating. I feel like I had the steadiest head on my shoulders. I didn’t have deep physical connections that I had to tear away from multiple times,” Gualtieri said.

“I’m grateful that my story is that I saved that beautiful moment for me and my husband. We’re better because of it.”