The Nominee’s Are In!!

Having to narrow down all of the incredible entries to only 3 was a very difficult task. But below are the nominees for my FREE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY contest. The winning couple will receive the following Wedding Photography Package:

• Engagement photo shoot
• one free digital negative for Wedding/newspaper announcement
• up to 6 hours of Wedding day coverage
• online proofing galleries with Pictage (www.pictage.com) for both the Engagement session and Wedding photos
• $100 discount on a flush-mount, coffee table style Wedding Book!

Honestly, I love all of these couples and they all deserve to have the Wedding of their dreams. I love what I do so much that if it were financially feasible I would totally do it all for free! But only one lucky couple can win, so read their stories, welcome them into your hearts, and consider carefully….and don’t forget to vote!!

Melissa & Steven, June 21, 2008:

My name is Melissa Sale and my Fiancés name is Steven Edell. We first met in Chemistry class at OSU (2004), when he asked me to help him study for our final. We struck up a friendship and decided to start dating in Jan. 2005. Steve’s in the Army Reserves, and we found out in March ’06 that he was called up to serve overseas in Iraq for 18 months. He works as a License Practical Nurse in Iraq saving lives. We were in nursing school set to graduate together with our Bachelors in Nursing. Our plan of graduating together and getting married was flipped upside down; we put all of our plans and dreams on hold for fear of what the future would hold. We had talked about marriage, knew we wanted that, but decided to wait until his return home to get engaged. Being the girl I am I could have married him the day before he left!

December 17, 2006, Steve arrived in Port Columbus airport for his two week break during the deployment. Channel 6 news was there for the event “To welcome a solider home for the holidays” so I thought; little did I know what he was planning. I saw him walking through security and ran and gave the biggest hug. He set me down and said he needed to give his mom a hug. “Of course” I said. He shook his Dad’s hand and gave his mom a hug and proceeded to walk back towards me and I was just excited to get to hug him again. He looked me in the eyes and said “Melissa, you know you are my best friend and you know I love you with all my heart”…and then I go deaf, start shaking/crying…….he’s down on one knee………and I said YES! Both of our families were there and all of our friends…everyone knew but me even the News crew! It was a wonderful surprise.

Those next two weeks flew by and he left for Iraq on Jan. 3, 2006. I have now not seen him since our engagement and he is set to return home in 8 days. I have never been more excited to fall back in love with the man of my dreams.

These last 16 mo. of our lives have taught us so much about dedication, love, caring, respect, and communication. Our relationship has grown deeper and stronger than I could have ever imagined. This has taught us about what truly is important in life and a strong relationship. Back in March of 2006 I wasn’t sure how we would make it. Not only did we make it but we’re a better couple because of it. This has been a rough year, I won’t lie, but I can’t wait to marry this man.

I’ve done most of the big planning without him but have left the details to do together. We are getting married June 21, 2008 at 5:30 pm, at The Four Seasons Columbus in Hilliard, OH. The expenses of having a wedding are outrageous and because of that I don’t have much money in my budget for photography. It would mean so much to capture this long awaited day with pictures. Please consider us as candidates for your Free Wedding Photography.

Thanks for your time.

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Samantha & Michael, June 22, 2008:

My fiance, Michael, and I have a very unique, very blessed story. We met for the first time on February 1, 2007. That was the day that we both landed in Venice, Italy to study the Bible abroad. I have loved all things Italian and dreamed of living in Italy since I was little girl, so starting the three month semester there everything seemed so surreal. Italy and I hit it off instantly. The same can’t be said for Michael and I…

I don’t have much memory of Mike, for the first week of the semester (which is strange, because I remember EVERYTHING), but by the second week I knew that he was someone worth avoiding. It seemed his life’s goal was just to pick arguments and annoy
me, and to top it all off we were put in the same group for a major class project. Ugh! It seemed there was no escape!

Until one night, while a classmate and I were on a walk, we witnessed a small dog that we had just been playing with be run over
by a car. I was a mess and couldn’t get to sleep that night. So I decided to skip breakfast the next morning and asked if someone could save a piece of bread for me and bring it to class. The next morning I woke up “breakfast in bed”. Mike had put togther a little breakfast of warm bread and Nutella for me and sent it up to my dorm room with one of the girls. For the first time, I said to myself, “Wow, maybe he’s not such a bad guy.” And obviously things went uphill from there.

We spent three wonderful months together in Italy learning all about world missions and each other and traveling. Our first “date” was actually during a class trip to Rome, where we went to dinner with classmates and then took a late-night walk to see the Trevi Fountain. It was beautiful.

We are now very much in love and engaged to be married on Sunday, June 22, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio at the Grand Valleydale Ballroom, and we plan to move to Italy the following year to become church planters and work for the organization through which we met.

Things are difficult though. Mike is in LA, finishing his BA and working to save money for us to live on after the wedding. I am in Wisconsin working as a nanny, trying to pay off my debt from my semester in Italy and trying to save for the wedding. We only get to see each other about every three months, although we talk everyday, and we were just making ends meet. Until this week.

This week, I was in bad car accident. Although, miracloulsy I escaped with very minor injuries, my car was completely totaled and I have no means of replacing it except for the small amount that I have already saved for the wedding. I have to have a car to get to work, so that is our only option, cutting the already small wedding budget.

Winning this photography package would really bless us and lift my spirits, especially because we both agree that a photographer is our most important vendor to us, because years from now it will be all that we have from the wedding.

Thank you for your time and consideration!

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Nikki & Craig, October 4th, 2008:

I believe my fiancé Craig and I deserve the free wedding photography for many reasons. First of all, we have known each other our entire lives. He lived up the street from me when we were very young. Craig showed his first interest in me when we were just in the second grade. He “asked me out”, but believing that boys still had the cooties I said, “no” to which he replied. “fine I didn’t really want to go out with you anyways!” We drifted apart as we went to different schools from 4th to 6th grade, but in the 7th grade we were again at the same school and inseparable from that day forward. We became best friends!

For my 15th birthday I received my first ring – a gold one with a heart and a diamond in the middle. Craig has been my first everything. We grew up together, he was my first best friend, my first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first everything. That is why it just makes sense for us to have the free photography, because we have worked very hard our whole lives to get good grades and encourage each other through both good and bad times. We have never had anything given to us, we work very hard together sharing expenses and encouraging each other to succeed in school.

Right now I am in college and we will be paying for our own wedding with only limited [assistance]. We have never had a free ride for anything, but getting free photography could be yet another first for us as a couple and we would be eternally grateful!

We are getting married on October 4th, 2008 at Maple Ridge Lodge in Mt. Airy, Ohio.

Thank you!

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To keep the suspense going, the results of your votes won’t be visible (I’m such a stinker!). And since WordPress was acting funky about embedding the poll into my blog, I linked to it below. I’m also adding a link to the poll in the sidebar so that all of your friends and family and they can easily vote too!!  Voting will end at 3:00 pm EST on December 31st, and then I will announce the winning couple.  Good Luck!

FREE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST – VOTE HERE!!