We received entries from weddings in Washington, Canada, Utah, Maryland, Virgina, and even one for Paris! We received multiple entries for couples who had spent most of their wedding budget on fiance visas trying to get themselves or their partners to the United States, and were desperately missing their families who are overseas.
We also had multiple couples with terminal illnesses, serious health struggles; amazing peace corp volunteers, teachers, those celebrating unique cultural traditions, couples using special heritage items and other wonderful people apply.
We looked at all of your entries equally, checked in with each of you and put lots of thought into our decision. (FB votes did not count in any way towards our decision. We did the evaluation process completely independently from that. That was just for fun!) Some of you were planning such darling affairs we just almost couldn't stand to say no! Some of you we wrote letters and begged you to let us shoot for you anyway, even though it didn't work out! ;)
We ran out late this afternoon and produced this special project. Thank you to Kumquat Models for loaning us Mary for the afternoon. She was a doll to work with. Even more so because she swore like a sailor, and trooped through it, despite being mauled by mosquitoes. Poor Mary. :(
This is the special project we worked on this afternoon. To me, there is nothing more romantic than the written word. Poetry, quotes, and loving words whispered close are the dearest things in life. Here are some favorites.
Happy Valentine's Day to all of our couples out there. :)
From Paige:
Here is my proposal story so that you can know why I think I deserve it.
My new fiancé and I met about 3 years ago at Utah State University. It was my first year as a student and he was a senior. We had mentioned marriage a few times but mostly just in the talk of our house or our future kids. I was one of those girls that wanted everything to be a surprise. I didn't want to know when or how he was going to do it and I definitely didn't want to pick out the ring. At that point in our lives, I was going to be graduating in May 2012 in Human Resources, and he was going to graduate with his Masters degree in Accounting that same summer, when suddenly everything changed.
I was diagnosed with stage 3 lymphoma cancer in January. A few days after the diagnoses I had to have an emergency surgery to remove 4-5 liters of fluid around my heart and lungs. I had to stay in the hospital for several days after surgery to recover. I had alot of friends and family visit me throughout my entire stay at the hospital but on the second night my boyfriend had a surprise for me. He asked the nurse to tell of my visitors that visiting hours were over and they had to leave. A couple moments later he walked in with a beautiful bouquet of roses. I thought he was just giving me some flowers like everyone else. He sat down and told me that he loves me and that he will be with me no matter what happens or however bad things got. Then he told me that he had a surprise for me. I thought that he had some candy or something to give me but he took off his hat and showed me that he shaved his head completely bald. At that point I started crying because he shaved his head so I wouldn't be alone in losing all of my hair. But that's not where it ended. He said that he had another surprise for me. Again, I thought nothing of it. Then he pulled a small wooden box out of his pocket and got on one knee beside the hospital bed and asked me to marry him. My friends and family were waiting outside the hospital with all of the nurses and they knew exactly when he proposed because all of my vital signs went through the roof on the nurses monitor. In fact, my nurse had to come in and put oxygen back on me because my heartrate was so high. He wasn't able to record it because he wasn't able to sneak a camera in the room without me noticing but the nurses were able to print out the paper showing all of my vitals so I will always remember that special day and how I felt. It really was the best proposal I could have asked for during this trial in my life. It was like it was straight out of a movie.
I am recovering, getting my hair back, and so excited to finally move on with wedding plans. However; with being uninsured while being diagnosed, medical bills quickly added up. I would love nothing more than to have this beautiful day captured but don't know that I can afford greatness without this. :)
We are still happily accepting 2013 bookings nation and world wide, and are open for 2014 dates. We will be undergoing restructuring as of March 1st, so get your inquiries and bookings in before then to take advantage of our current rates. :) Follow us on Facebook, or subscribe to our feed over there on the right side of your screen. (Or add us to your blogger roll.) :) For those of you that put so much time and thought into your entries but weren't selected, we would be happy to offer you a discount on any package, just drop us a line! heizer_ea@yahoo.com We love all you guys!!!
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