Virginia Bride Magazine is excited to reveal the three finalists from the entries received for The Virginia Bride Magazine $100,000 luxury dream wedding.
How we determined the finalists: The finalists were selected based on compelling stories and any challenges that the couples may be facing to have their wedding.
There were some wonderful stories, we wished we could have selected everyone and we appreciate all that took the time to send in their stories and photos.
Voting: voting will begin Monday, March 21- Thursday March 24th, to vote for the couple of your choice go to our Dream Wedding media partner, Fox DC 5 to cast your votes.
The Winning Couple: will be determined by the most votes the couple receives from the public voting on the Fox DC 5 channel’s website and will be announced on Friday, March 25th.
The finalists:
April & Taquan
April and Taquan met as many millennial couples meet… with a swipe right on a dating app. The way they connected wasn’t anything special but their connection was magnificent! The couple’s first conversation lasted a whopping four hours. A week after their first conversation they had their first date. Taquan planned a date that included a candle making class, a Korean steak house restaurant, & a bakery…their first date lasted seven hours! They had such a spark at their candle making class that the instructor assumed they had been together for years. Fast forward three weeks later they made their relationship official while bringing in the New Year (2020). Only a few months into their relationship the covid pandemic struck the world & Taquan’s Army Reserve unit was mobilized to combat covid. While Taquan was on orders April kept his Pomeranian & upon his return back to Virginia she decided they should add her very own puppy to the mix! The four are excited to officially spend their lives together as family!
Autumn & Austin
“The only kiss that counts is the one exchanged by two people who are in love with each other. For a kiss is really the union of two soul-mates who have come together because they were made for each other.” – English Daily
My name is Autumn and this is my Fiancé Austin. We met freshman year in high school in a Biology class. I had a small group of girls that I would always talk to and they sat around me. When I would turn around to talk to one of my friends, Austin would always catch my eye. Over time, he started joining in on conversations and class was very enjoyable with everyone. Eventually he asked for my number. We were texting each other all day long for a couple of days. Then one night, him and his guy friends were having a bonfire at his house and he invited me. I asked my mom to drive me to his house and she was asking me all the typical questions a mother would ask before meeting a boy (What is he like? Is he cute? Etc…). She dropped me off and we had the best time together. We got into a relationship shortly after that night and he has been my best friend since. We work together in unity for everything. Since then, we have been together for 6 years now and engaged for a little over a year. He wasn’t my first kiss, but the first kiss that mattered.
What’s been difficult for planning our wedding is I am a full time student. I’ve been a full time student since graduating high school, so I’ve never been able to work a full time job and essentially make money for long term savings. I’ve learned to save and utilize the money I do have, so that I can last just over one more year until I graduate and start my dream career in Medical Imaging. Also, my father lives across the country, so planning is difficult because communication is hard. He is three hours behind, so when I find the time to start wedding planning and searching, he is still at work. While when he is off of work, I’m almost in bed. It has been challenging but eventually I hope it would work out.
This contest would help us out tremendously by taking this major weight off my shoulders. It would help me not only financially, but mentally as well. It will be the best day of my life getting to marry my best friend.
Yesinia & David
It is with my pleasure to introduce my beautiful fiancé to you and hope that you consider us as a candidate for your luxury dream wedding sweepstakes. Planning a wedding is always challenging but when you add a pandemic to the scenario it makes it almost impossible. The story behind Yesenia and I is more than a movie can hold. Her journey to the United States of America is nothing short of a chaptered novel and somehow, I managed to find myself entwined within the journey.
The moment I first saw Yesenia I was in awe, and I asked a co-worker (who was her friend) to introduce me to her. It took a little time and eventually I had to muster up the guts and do it myself. We talked about the future, and she told me she was about to move to Florida for a promotion within her job. At this time, we both agreed that we would be together for the summer and show each other the best sides before she would move. Our first kiss happened under the starlite sky while I held her floating on the Shenandoah River on a camping trip with friends. I lost my flip flop on that journey, but I gained a best friend and a lover for the rest of my life. Yesi chose to stay to stay close to her family and stayed in Virginia moved in with me within a couple months.
The pandemic challenged both of us throughout our careers. Yesi left the hospitality industry and went on to work with Amazon. I found myself running outside operations on a golf course. Neither of us had the luxury of working from home and we were always face forward speaking to the guest or coworkers to make sure the task was done. Our resilient work ethic has led to a few promotions, but it also led to our lack of focus on family and on our wedding. We have been back and forth on where we want to host the wedding.
I have two grandmas’ still alive over the age of 90. Yesi was born in El Salvador and migrated with her family to the U.S. during their countries civil war and eventually became a citizen. (Which I was lucky enough to be a part of) We both want something small and something soon so that our grandparents can attend. She doesn’t know that I am reaching out to you to do this, but it would mean the world to both of us to have you design our wedding.
I look forward to hearing back from you and hope that you consider us as a candidate. The photo attached is from last weekend in which we stayed at a cabin to disconnect from the internet and cell service. We played games, puzzles, and enjoyed nature on our first vacation since the pandemic started.
Good luck to the finalists, we cannot wait to see who wins this amazing giveaway!
To our knowledge this is the largest wedding giveaway in Virginia history!
To see what is in the package ( everything from the gown to the honeymoon and everything in between that you can imagine) check it out here: Dream Giveaway.
