Mandy Paige Photography: Miscellaneous

Here are the Four Finalists for the FREE Wedding Package Giveaway. Read their stories and then vote for who you would like to see win the FREE Mandy Paige Photography Wedding Package & Makeup by Karina Bridal Makeup Giveaway! Read the stories written by each couple and then scroll to the bottom of this post and VOTE. The couple that receives the most votes this week will be the winner!

Couple #1 ALLIE & JOSH

The story of Josh and Allie began the summer of 2009. Both of us had just gotten out of long dead end relationships, so we were not out looking for love. It fell into our laps quicker than we could blink an eye. As we like to say “That’s how we roll.”

I never believed at love at first sight until I met Josh. My mom was right, she said “Allie when you know …you know.” Josh asked for my number and that night I went home and told all my best friends that I was in love with him.

Josh is a bartender at my family’s bar. The first drink he ever served me was a Shirley Temple. He is a witty man!! However his witty personality brings out my good sarcasm. We make quite a pair, and seem to be entertaining to many. Everyday he makes me laugh harder than the day before. I am head over heels in love and couldn't ask to marry a better man.

I met you Mandy through my best friend Kristin. I was the maid of honor in her wedding this past June. I loved your work you are truly talented. So I came across this wonderful opportunity and thought Josh and I were perfect candidates. We are so blessed to have wonderful parents to help us tremendously with the most important day of our lives. Considering we both have very large families it’s only fair for us to put our share in as well. So if we could get lots of votes to help us make this important day to us that more special we would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you so very much,

Allie and Josh

Couple #2 AMANDA & JASON

It was a blazing hot July evening in 1995. Cars were slamming into each other, sweaty men were flaunting their untrimmed bellies, and we were on our 2nd date. This was the date in which Jason would meet my family for the first time. Yes, we were, in fact, at the county fair watching the Demolition Derby. Classy, I know! I knew he was “the one” when he called me the next day.
Jason and I first met in our 7th grade English class. Although he never spoke to me, he later admitted to having a school boy crush. I moved to a new school later that year, only to return in 9th grade. Fate placed us in the same English class again upon my return. Still… not a word spoken to each other. It wasn’t until the summer before junior year that we finally started dating (thanks to a mutual friend).
Throughout the years, we’ve taken our own paths, but always together. We’ve been through both the worst of times and the best, and I’ve never had to wonder if he would be by my side in the end.
After 15 years of dating, he finally did it! He popped the question. I hoped it would happen one day soon, but it was a complete surprise.
He suggested we meet at the park for lunch one random Tuesday afternoon. Upon my arrival, I saw, spelled out in stones “WILL YOU MARRY ME” on the picnic table. When I turned around, he was
on one knee with the ring I’ve been waiting my entire life for.
I truly believe there is someone out there for everyone, and I’m so blessed to have found the one meant for me. Of the 15 years we’ve been together, I wouldn’t take one single day back.

Couple # 3 ERIN & GARRETT

Garrett jumped more than a few hurdles to win my heart. I, Erin, suffered many a long months just to hear Garrett’s voice. Yes a theme in our relationship has been overcoming barriers. One of them was putting up with people calling us Garin. Woah woah woah. Back up. Garin? That’s sooo high school you say. Unfortunately the nickname has stuck. All the way through high school crushes, drama, and heartaches, our relationship has transformed from a high school fling to true love.
It all started in 2005, we were 15 years old and walked together on Middletown Christian Highschool’s homecoming court. The flirting began and we were together all the time—every class, sports practices, and rehearsals. We even played opposite each other in all the school plays, starring Amie and Laurie in little women, and Liza DoLittle and Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. The high school was a buzz with eyes glued on the new item “Garin”….
Hating all the extra attention and floundering with the concept of entering my first relationship, I began to avoid Garrett. Whether this was influenced by my parent’s disapproval of high school relationships, or just the sheer awkwardness resulting from two kids who have never dated anyone, I gave Garrett the cold shoulder and cringed every time he would slip me a note in the hall or repeatedly call my house.
Garrett was desperate for my attention. He tried everything to get back onto my radar. First he pretended his car battery died, and waited until he and I were the only two left after practice so I had to jump his car. Then, he enforced the stall tactics. Hiding out in the bathroom or strategically timing a stop at the drinking fountain were his two best techniques to help him “coincidentally” walk down the hall at alongside me. “He’s so annoying. He like stalks me!” I would complain. I continued to use my Dad’s disapproval as an excuse when Garrett would beg me to stop avoiding him. Garrett even complimented me on my school uniform and told me which extremely unflattering polo shirt he liked best. I just blushed every time with no idea how to handle this attention.
Then one day I realized what she was missing out on. My blood boiled when I watched Garrett begin to move on to another girl—right in front of me in study hall! Oh the nerve! But wait a minute? Why was I so jealous? I finally confessed my feelings to Garrett after a year of a brutal game of hard-to-get. We 11th graders snuck out on double dates and crossed our arms and sat super close in chapel so no one could see us linking fingers. What a rush! We were finally together! As fate would have it, my parents finally gave in and let us start dating. After all we had their driver’s licenses now! We thought we had overcome the last barrier to our relationship, and then we found out Garrett’s parents now wouldn’t let us young lovebirds date! Several months of supervised dates unfortunately followed…
Now it has been almost five years since this twitterpated crush started. Though my 15 year old heart refused the affections of Garrett, now I just can’t get enough of him. The barriers continue to abound. We’re nearly always separated—Garrett and I are both full time students at colleges in different states. Garrett joined the US Airforce, spent 5 months away at military training camps, attends military drill regularly, and also plays varsity football on a traveling team. I spent a whole school year and summer traveling the northeast on a college drama team, followed by a semester abroad in Ireland. This summer is the first time in 3 years that Garrett and I have spent more than a few weeks together at a time. Garrett proposed to me on Christmas Day of 2009, by the very creek we shared our first kiss. Garrett is the only boy I have ever kissed, ever dated, or ever loved and the same goes for Garrett with me. We are counting down the days until we can be together forever! June 11, 2011 can not come fast enough.

Couple #4 DANIELLE & DERRICK

A timeless and perfect picture is art that the photographer produces to capture true emotion and in the simpliest way tells a story. Derrick and I would like our story to be told for years to come. After 50+ wonderful years together we want to be able to look back at ours and still remember what it felt like to be there. We want to remember the feelings we had being surrounded by friends and family that love us and that chose to celebrate our love with us. We want to remember how it felt standing at the altar saying our vows, that first kiss as husband and wife, the first dance, and all the smiling faces surrounding us. Most importantly, when our children and grandchildren look at these pictures, we want them to be able to feel what true love feels like and know that that kind of love exists, because that's what Derrick and I have; a true love.

When I'm with Derrick, he makes me feel like I am at my very best, he believes in me and supports me in everything I do. I love him more and more everyday with the way he excites and inspires me to be the very best version of myself. He is kind, funny, intelligent, interesting and still to this day gives me butterflies every time I see him. He works unbelievably hard to make sure we can have the best life possible together as husband and wife. He's my best friend as well as my heart and soul, my life wouldn't be complete without him.

We've all heard the saying "Money can't buy you happiness", I'm a firm believer in that saying and it fits our relationship perfectly. Our relationship has never been about expensive dinners, elaborate dates or fancy jewelry. True happiness for us is just being together, whether it's just walking around the mall together or just sitting on the couch at home watching movies together. I am truly blessed and cannot wait to have Derrick as my husband, to spend our lives together and to start a family. As most people know, it's very expensive to start your lives together and we will be paying for our wedding mostly by ourselves. We hope to have a wedding that is truly us while staying on a tight budget by doing a lot of DIY projects as well as cutting back on certain aspects of the wedding. Photography is, to me, the one thing I cannot cut back on for the wedding, I see it as something that is irreplacable and can bring out so much emotion in so many people's lives. Having lost my mom at the age of 2, it has really made me realize the importance of photography and the impact that it carries for generations to come. We can think of no better person to capture the true emotion of that day other than Mandy Paige Photography.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Danielle and Derrick

VOTING IS NOW OVER...the WINNER will be announced soon!