I am SO excited about our I Dream of a Wedding giveaway, and the vendors of HCB are equally thrilled about what we are doing for one couple in Central Virginia.

After receiving plenty of entries, the participating vendors read the stories. Some of the vendors even said your entries brought tears to their eyes! Well, we had to whittle the couples down to our two finalists … and only two because in the numbers these two couples’ stories stood out leaps and bounds above the rest (and the voting tallies showed it!).

I do have to say that this was VERY hard. We received so many touching stories from many deserving people, and I truly appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to participate. I wish you the best in your future together as you continue your love story.

Be prepared for some great stories and cute videos … I would like to stress to PLEASE both read the stories and watch the video for both of the couples as I asked the couples to focus on themselves as a pair and their personalities in the video, yet their written entries tell why both of these couples are so deserving. Honestly for me it’s a tossup … I love both of their stories for different reasons. Good luck with the voting … it’s a tough choice!

So, without further due (and in no particular order), let me present our two finalists!!

 Rachel/Daniel

Born and raised as a proud Yankee right outside of Philadelphia, I never thought I’d fall in love with a southern boy—much less move to the south!  But here I am, living in Greensboro, North Carolina, a city where people smile and say hello as you pass them on the street, where grocery store employees offer to load your bags into your car, and where country music is played just about everywhere you go. Before I go any further, let me explain how all this madness began. My name is Rachel Michener, a fun-loving, loud, and crazy northerner. I was a nursing major at Liberty University, where I was also captain of the women’s soccer team. As you can imagine, playing a division 1 sport and studying the hardest major at LU didn’t leave much room for sleep, socializing, or boys. However, in the fall semester of my senior year, I met Daniel Gingerich, my best friend, my soul mate, and my husband to be.  Here is where our story begins…

In our senior year at Liberty, my roommates and I lived off campus in a townhouse. One day we decided to bake cookies for our neighbors. When we knocked on the door of home 146, we were greeted by an adorable little dog named Penny and a house full of guys watching football. Penny came right up to me, begging to be held, and it was love at first sight. (Keep in mind that I’m still talking about the dog). When I asked whose dog it was, Daniel spoke up in his southern accent. I couldn’t decide who was cuter, Daniel or the dog. With somewhat ulterior motives, I asked if I could ever babysit Penny. His roommates shouted, “Yes! Please take him now!” (Penny was notorious for mooching off their food). So I took the dog home and promised to return him in the morning. And the rest, well, the rest is history.

I quickly realized that Daniel was exactly like my dad—genuine, humble, and fun-loving. This was something I’d been searching for my entire life. Later, Daniel told me it only took 2 weeks of dating to know that I was “the one”, and honestly, it didn’t take me much longer. Our love is joyful, pure, and forgiving. Together we laugh, we cry, and we love deeply. We both understand that marriage is a life-long commitment to putting one another’s needs before our own, and we’re both so excited to begin this new journey together.

As I mentioned, I grew up right outside of Philadelphia. As a kid, my family struggled financially, and we barely made ends meet. At one point my dad was laid off, and we were forced to move in with my grandparents while my dad went back to school. It’s only recently that my parents have been blessed with secure jobs and financial stability. However, instead of buying a bigger house or going on expensive vacations, two years ago my parents decided to invest their money into adopting two beautiful little boys: Matthew who is now 6, and Logan who is now 8. The boys have brought so much joy into our lives, and we love them more than anything.

So, as college graduation approached, I had to make the hardest decision of my life. Would I return to Philadelphia to help raise my little brothers and watch them grow up, or would I move to North Carolina where Daniel, the love of my life, would be working for his dad in construction?  The answer became clear when I was offered my dream job on an oncology unit at a hospital in Greensboro, NC.  Nursing is more than a career for me, it’s a calling, and I always knew I wanted to work with cancer patients.

Although I was devastated to leave my family, I’m so thankful to be near Daniel. I’m also able to talk to the boys all the time on the phone; they’re so excited that Daniel and I are getting married because it means they get to have another brother. Since we only adopted the boys 2 years ago, they spent the majority of their lives without a family. The other day on the phone Matthew asked me, “Rachel, are you and Daniel married yet?” I laughed and said not yet. He asked me if we could get married on his birthday because it would be the most special birthday present to have another brother. Matthew was born on February 20th, which would only be 6 days after the February 14th wedding.  If Daniel and I win the dream wedding, Matthew will get another brother for his 7th birthday.

So you asked, what is my idea of a dream wedding? My dream wedding is to marry Daniel Adam Gingerich before God, family, and friends. It’s watching Logan and Matthew carry rings down the aisle to their new brother and sister. It’s a celebration of life, love, and faith. It’s telling my parents they don’t have to pay for a wedding, because even when we had no money, they have always been the most giving and generous people I know. While every girl dreams of a stunning white dress, a beautiful cake, and a perfect wedding, these are all just a bonus to me. I believe I am the luckiest girl in the world—and whether or not we win this dream wedding, I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.

Ok, now that you have met our first finalists, let me introduce you to our second set. Again, they are in no particular order. Meet Mary and Quinton …

Mary/Quinton

My name is Mary Martin. I met my fiance, Quinton Prinsloo, while studying at Liberty University. Quinton is from South Africa and was in my brother dorm my freshman year. We met while playing a game of fugitive, which consists of different teams trying to get from one side of campus to the other in the dark without getting caught by our RAs. I just remember thinking about how sweet he was and how he was such a gentleman to all the girls on our team.

We started talking and realized that we share the same birthday, February 14th! From that point on we talked constantly and became best friends. We started dating November 9, 2008 and on May 8, 2010, Quinton asked me to be his wife. Last summer I traveled to Africa with him to meet his family and absolutely fell in love with them! Since Quinton is from Africa it is harder for him to get a job here in the States.

We were planning on getting married this summer but had to push it back to next summer as we were having issues with school and money. We attend the Lynchburg Church of the Nazarene and want to get married here in Lynchburg by our pastor, but the tickets to get Quinton’s family here are very expensive. His family has monetary problems and with the tickets being at least $1,500 per person for a roundtrip, we cannot afford to have a nice wedding and bring his mother, father, brother, and two sisters here as well.

We have had so many problems with Quinton’s foreign student status, money issues, school complications, and being engaged for fifteen months now. I feel like we deserve this wedding because even though all the signs have been pointing to us having to elope, Quinton and I want to have our special day. What matters most to us is to finally be able to get married and be together.

My idea of a dream wedding is a traditional and nature-inspired wedding, because I love flowers, and we both love spending time outdoors! I am entering this contest because my fiance and I are so in love and want to get married but cannot at this moment afford to have a nice wedding and to fly his family in as well. It would be AMAZING to have a nice wedding and to be able to have his family share it with us! It has been very discouraging to watch all of my friends get married this summer and to know that even though Quinton and I have been engaged longer, we cannot get married for another year.

Quinton and I are unique as a couple because even though we grew up on two different continents, have two different first languages, different cultures and even different personalities, we find that we compliment each other perfectly. I am a suburban girl from the US, who never dreamed of leaving Virginia, and Quinton is a farm boy from Africa who came to America only for an education. I believe with all my heart that it was God who brought us together. Winning this dream wedding would not only be an amazing birthday gift to the both of us, but also an incredible story to tell our children and grandchildren!

Thank you so much, Mary

Ok, now the nitty gritty. Click HERE, which will take you to Survey Monkey*, which will ask you to vote for one of the couples. Again, I hope that you read the stories thoroughly AND watched their submitted videos as we truly want the “most deserving” couple to win. The public vote counts as 25% of the whole, so get voting. Again, click here. Only one vote PER COMPUTER is allowed so that multiple votes can not be counted. Voting ends at midnight on Thursday, September 1st so that we can announce our winners on September 2nd!

*Survey Monkey is scheduled to be down for maintenance for about 4 hours from 6pm-10pm EST on Saturday, August 27th, so be sure to come back if you are voting during that time!*