LET THE VOTING BEGIN!  Last week, we read through an overwhelming number of amazing love stories to find this years finalists.  This is the first year that we will be accepting votes for the winner.  SO, please pay attention to these rules so that your vote will be counted:  Your voting email must include “Free Wedding VOTE” in the subject line, the name of the couple you are voting for, and why you think they should win the contest.  If those 3 things are not met, your vote will not be counted.  You may only vote once.  Your vote must be received by NEXT MONDAY, AUGUST 31st at Midnight.  The winner will be announced on Wednesday September 2nd. A HUGE thanks to all of you who submitted your stories!  My panel of judges and I had had a very hard time narrowing down these couples.  You are all fabulous and we thank you for submitting your stories.  Here they are, in no particular order!

JENNY & LEVIY

Jenny’s Side of the story

Let me start with, Leviy is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. When I first met him he was working 100 hours a week while also going to school full-time. I can remember the first time I saw Leviy, it was at the gym. I know, how cliché is that? He worked there and I was on the treadmill when I first spotted him giving a tour to some new members. It was his walk that caught my attention, he has the cutest little walk, it is just like a bulldog. What is even funnier is that he owns 2 bulldogs, I love when we walk the dogs and all 3 of my babies have that same strut.

I had just lost my mom suddenly a few months before this and had a huge reality check that life is very short. I was obese and realized that I wasn’t living life to the fullest; my weight was holding me back. I wasn’t doing the things I wanted to be doing, the biggest thing I was missing was dating. I was 27 and had never had a boyfriend. When I met Leviy I had recently lost 65 pounds and was becoming a whole new person, both physically and emotionally. Then one day my personal trainer mentioned that Leviy thought I was cute, I was screaming for joy on the inside. This is the guy I had been seeing for weeks at the gym and he had noticed ME! My trainer, Nate, invited me out with them as a group, so I went, but Leviy paid no attention to me whatsoever. What was going on? If he thought I was cute, didn’t that mean he wanted to date me, or at least talk to me? I went home that night and was so confused.

I was invited out the next weekend by Nate again and figured why not, maybe I will meet someone else, you never know. Then it happened, he talked to me and the sparks were flying. He asked for my phone number, December 7^th, 2006 to be exact. J From the moment he got my phone number, we haven’t stopped talking and that’s still true to this day. One of the things that attracted me to Leviy was his ability to keep me in my place. Let me explain as I don’t mean barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. I have a pretty strong personality and Leviy helps balance me out. He doesn’t let me call all of the shots, he will challenge me, which is what I need. It is funny when you’re single and you think about what you want in a husband, you really have no clue. I always thought I wanted someone older, taller and established in their career. Leviy is younger, my height and is just starting law school this fall. Who knew? He is absolutely everything I want and more.

Unfortunately, Leviy will be moving to Florida on August 10^th to attend University of Florida Law School. As I write this we are on our way to a cruise to have a week of fun before he leaves. I have promised him I won’t cry every day, but I just started crying as I typed that sentence. Wish me luck. He is my best friend and so hard to imagine not seeing him every day, but then I remember that we have a whole lifetime together.

Leviy has overcome so much in life, he had a very hard upbringing. When I hear the stories about his childhood, I am shocked by how much he has been through and what an amazing person he is, I don’t know if all of these things had happened to me if I would have been such a kind, wonderful and caring person.

I don’t know if this gives you an idea of how truly special Leviy is not only to me, but to all of our friends and family. He means the absolute world to me. I think it’s pretty romantic that my first boyfriend ended up being “the one.”

Leviy and I both love pictures, he likes taking pictures of random things like animals and buildings and I like taking pictures of us. I have pictures of us and our family all over our house, family is so important to me and like to keep them close with photos. Leviy loves when we go on a cruise and I make him take pictures at all of the different backgrounds, he won’t admit it, but it really is his favorite thing or I keep telling myself that. In fact, I submitted one of the cruise pics for our couple picture. I am really looking forward to capturing some great memories on our wedding day.

Leviy’s Side of the Story

The random crossing of paths in a gym filled with hundreds of other people and faces, or the way that our eyes connect across the busy dance floor; it is said that true love occurs at the moment when coincidence coincides with fate and I couldn’t agree more. At the time, those random crossings of my path with hers didn’t seem to be more than an ill fated coincidence always occurring at the wrong time. At a time when I could least react to the emotions she was able to release from my very core with the simplest smile. But as coincidence can sometimes be cruel, fate has a bigger picture for us. Eventually our paths crossed at the right time in the right place and every day since then, life has built upon itself with new joys, wonders, mysteries, and most importantly with every day comes a renewed love for my soon to be wife, for my Jenny.

The first time I saw her was in the gym, but in the beginning our paths crossed so many times that pin pointing the place where we officially met would be hard to commit to. She started training with one of my good friends, Nate, who was a trainer at the gym; I was instantly drawn to her. At the time I was in a relationship and didn’t think the connection I had made across the room was anything more than a small crush. She exhibited a rare confidence and beauty that continued to draw me to her. The more our paths crossed and the more I got to know her the more I got to see her beauty first hand and the harder it was for me to ignore the way I felt. It wasn’t until fate took over again, changing my life and my circumstances that I was able to follow my heart and finally ask her on that first date. Since then every day has been amazing, she has allowed me to grow and develop in ways I never thought possible. She has supported my every dream with the support only found in a woman truly moved by love.

It is asked why we would be deserving of gift so great as this “Free Wedding Photographer Contest” and honestly I can’t answer what would make me so deserving, but I can say more than anyone she deserves this contest. With great love sometimes comes great heartache, she more than anyone understands heartache, she lost her mother, who was also her best friend, shortly before we met. Every little girl grows up dreaming of their dream wedding- that perfect day, but never does a little girl imagine that day will come without their mother there to see it. Great love sometimes takes sacrifices and she more than anyone has sacrificed. She knows my dream is to go to law school and unfortunately this means me leaving her, this means the next year, will be filled with new challenges as we attempt this year apart before our lives truly begin. Jenny is the most caring, giving, and loving woman. It doesn’t matter if we’re cuddled up together for a movie, working out, enjoying the outdoors, or taking in a night downtown she knows how to make every moment of my life more special. 

Jenny is funny when it comes to pictures she’s always taking them of us and I find it’s usually at the worst times, food in my teeth, hair a wreck, or when I’m just not in the mood. To add to the humor she loves to take the arms reach pictures, you know where she’s holding the camera herself stretching out as far as she can telling me to smile and clicking the picture just to see that she got half my nose my forehead and some guy standing behind us in the picture. Every once in awhile she’ll manage to get lucky and get the camera centered on us and click it just in time to get that rare good picture of us. I know next to her friends and family being at her wedding, being able to forever remember the day that she becomes Ms. Johnson is the most important part of her wedding. The photographer that we want taking the pictures of our special day must not just be good at clicking some pictures, but must be an artist capable of catching the emotion of the moment. We have seen the work that Karie has performed and would be honored to have her taking our photographs of our special day!

ROBERT & TIFFANY

Dear Karie,

Our story is a little different than most.  We are Robert and Tiffany Green. And we have been married for almost 9 years now.  We married at very young ages of 19 and 21.  Eager to get married we opted for the court house because we couldnt financially afford the wedding of our dreams.  But on that day, Sept 29th 2000 we promised each other that when we made it to 10 years we would have the wedding of our dreams!  So here we are in the beginning stages of planning for ourwedding.  We are going to have the wedding Sept, 24th 2010, because our actual date is on a Wednesday and that wouldnt work well for many.
We are now proud parents of 3 gorgeous boys ages 9,8 and 5.  They will all be one year older at the wedding and I’m so excited to see them all in their tuxes standing next to their daddy. And they are so excited too!
We are planning our dream wedding on a budget and to win this great prize, would be an honor.  Pictures capture the moment so you can relive them over and over again.  I take my digital camera everywhere my boys go so I can capture those special moments.  I’m an avid scrapbooker and my husband enjoys riding dirtbikes.  But when we have the time to sneak away, our favorite thing to do is have a quite dinner alone.
We havent picked our wedding venue yet, but it will be within 2 hours drive of denver or less.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story and we cant wait to hear back from you.
Sincerely, Robert and Tiffany Green

BRETTE & CHRISTOPHER

How we met: Christopher and I were friends for a year before we began dating. We both were on collegiate swim teams that competed against eachother a few times a year, and many of our teammates were mutual friends and would spend weekends going to eachothers schools to hang out. I attended CSU and he went to the US Air Force Academy. Living 2 hours apart (C.Springs to Ft Collins), our friendship grew from occasional weekends visiting eachother to all night phone calls and realizing how hard it was to leave and go back to the “real world” after our whirl wind times together. We hoped he could be near Ft. Collins after he graduated as I finished school, only to find out he had been accepted by the top coach in the country to train in North Carolina for the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in 2008. So, he packed up and moved across the country. I was devastated but determined to make it work. After monthly visits and TOO many plane rides we decided it was time to move in together. As I had finished school and hated being apart from the man I loved. Our plans again changed after the olympic trials ended and Chris was stationed in Del Rio Texas, a tiny town on the border of Mexico to begin Pilot training. So I packed up my things and joined him. We have been in Del Rio for a year now and he is approaching completion of Pilot Training. We dont know where we will be stationed next, but we are together and that is all that matters.

What we Love to do: Being that Chris and I are both avid simmers, we can rarely be caught not in search of some water activity. We have a boat and are on the lake wakeboarding, tubing, jet skiing or just floating around on most weekends. We love being active and have decided to participate in our first triathalon together! Yikes! Although we are really active, nothing beats hanging out with our nearest and dearest and playing board games! I have an addiction to board games and will force anyone to play with me if we have any down time….poor Chris! We are a young fun-loving couple who can generally have fun whatever we are doing when we are together.

Why we deserve to win the contest: We have been so blessed in our lives to have traveled to the places we have been and met the amazing people we now call friends, and cannot wait to go to where we call “home” in Colorado and say our vows in front of those who love us. Our journey together has not been easy and there have been long stretches of time apart, but when we become husband and wife, we will never truly be apart again. I know being a military wife is a difficult life, and there will be long stretches of time when he is gone, but I know in my heart that he is the most amazing and unselfish man to be able to risk everything in his life to serve his country. I am honored to stand by him and support him as a proud American.

How Important is Photography in Your Life? Well, Photography to me is like breathing, I NEED it to survive! I always carry my camera around and have thousands of pictures on my computer. I only have a few cherished pictures of my parents growing up, and am always asking them what life was like for them so long ago, and I really hope to go through all my pictures with my children some day and let them have a glimpse into what my life was like. My grandparents had a lavish wedding back in the 1940′s and their portait is one of my all time favorites. I think that our wedding photography is the most important vendor for us, because of the significance it has in our life and the lives of our future generations.

Well I have officially written you a novel! I hope you see that we are really are a deserving couple who would be so greatly appreciative of winning this contest. I wish you all the best in your search for a winner! Thank you for reading a little chapter about our lives!