Finalists

Each of these couples is amazing! Check them out!

AJ and Martina:

AJ and I met three years ago while doing one of the things we love most—serving others. This was no ordinary encounter because this service project was defined by my Cambodian heritage and my religion. As we helped translate English and Khmer for missionaries going out into the field, a connection began between us. AJ admitted he was shy to ask me out and only with the extra push of a friend did he garner the courage to ask me out on our first date. So much has happened since the pitter-patter of our hearts began during those first realizations that there was something special between us.

Over our first year of dating, our love and ability to support each other through thick and thin grew and manifested itself through typical events and activities of college students, such as school projects, finals, and meeting each other’s families. Yet nothing could prepare us for the challenge that we would encounter in our second year of dating.

Our relationship grew exponentially when tragedy struck on February 5, 2009, the day that I was involved in a snowboarding accident. I went off a jump too fast and fell flat on my back after rolling around a few times. I hit the hard and icy surface with such force that I was rushed to the hospital on life-flight, barely conscious. AJ was notified and he was there at the hospital as the helicopter landed. The doctors prepared to conduct surgery on me immediately. As I drifted in and out of consciousness, our fear of the prognosis increased because neither AJ nor I knew what to expect. Two days later, when I was conscious again, I learned of the severity of my fall’s impact. I had shattered aspects of my vertebrae, and severed my spinal cord. I would not be able to walk for an uncertain amount of time.

I struggled with my new reality at first, spending many days in the hospital crying in despair. I lost a lot of hope and questioned things in my life. I had a hard time grasping how I would be able to pursue my life goals, or how I would continue with my life after this accident in such, what I thought were at the time, unbearable, life-changing conditions. The lowest point of my life was when my doctor came to me and declared my injury, permanent.

I had my bouts of depression, feeling alone and hurt in this experience, as everything was happening so fast. But I realized how lucky I was because AJ was always there by my side. He came to visit me everyday. He even sat in the waiting room on the difficult days when I did not want to see or talk to anyone. He was always there to encourage me and help remind me that miracles occurred in different forms. He helped me realize that the miracle of this incident was being able to find myself during my darkest days, overcoming this obstacle, and also becoming a stronger person. While even some of my extended family members had their doubts about our relationship because of my physical state, our relationship grew stronger nonetheless. We have learned how to handle new challenges and have become each other’s greatest companion.

It has been almost two years since my accident. I continue to struggle with miniscule tasks of daily life, such as getting in and out of the house and using the restroom, which is why I often rely on AJ to help me with these daily tasks. He has been quite positive and eager to learn how he can help me, and he tries his best to accommodate me. Being with AJ through this life-changing obstacle has made all the difference, and ultimately, our love has served as armor, shielding us from the storm ahead.

Although we knew after the first year of my accident that we really loved each other, financial difficulties have prevented our marriage. We are both full-time college students and work part-time jobs to support our education. To add to our financial obligations, my medical bills during the months I spent in the hospital total more than a couple hundred thousand dollars, and our school loans have also accumulated. Financially speaking, marriage has been a difficult thing for us to consider, and it seemed like a farfetched idea. In spite of these financial burdens, AJ proposed to me this December, after three years of dating. Throughout these years, our love for each other has been severely tested, but has been solidified.

So far in the wedding planning process, we are planning a very low budget wedding, which will be enough to celebrate with our families and friends on this very special day of our lives. But this is also why we hope that people will consider the eventful journey of our love story, and help us have the wedding of our dreams.

AJ and I have stuck together through my difficult accident, and our love for each other has flowered to untold heights; we continue to face financial difficulties with inevitable medical and student bills, and our wedding poses additional costs; AJ and I feel we are deserving of the help that SAS and vendors are offering, and we ask for your help and vote. Thank you.

Steve and Katy:

Steve and I just got engaged 2 days ago but we've been working on getting married since we were 9 years old....We are so excited to tell you our story!

Steve and I met in Provo in the 2nd grade. I thought he was super cute but he didn't know what a girl was so I gave up trying to get him to notice me somewhere between 3rd and 4th grade. Then, miraculously, Steve woke up one day and decided he liked me! In the 5th grade, we would go to school early and wait in the hall long before class started so we could talk. Sometimes we would bring our toothbrushes to school and he would escort me to the bathroom so we could part ways to brush our teeth. I can't explain the logic behind it now, but at the time it was impossibly romantic.

On one of our field trips, we went to "Classic Skating" in Orem and that was the first time Steve and I held hands. My stomach was full of butterflies when he asked me to slow skate. I was on cloud nine as we went around and around the rink without speaking, grinning like fools and shaking with excitement. At one point his palms got so sweaty that he slipped out of my hand and skated right into a wall. I was in love. :) The song that we skated to was "Forever Young," by Alphaville, which would eventually become our beloved anthem for years to come.....

Steve called the next day and asked me "out." I thought he would never ask. We would talk every night for hours. His parents even had a phone installed in his room because we spent so much time on the phone. Recently, however, I had moved to Orem from Provo and we found it hard to maintain a "Long-Distance relationship," so it was with a heavy heart and deflated hopes that I had to tell him one day I wold be moving to Colorado since my mom had just remarried.

We kept in touch by writing letters for a while but the letters were few and far between by the time we were sophomores in High School, separated by 500 miles or more. So I guess we went about our lives and ended up in very different places.

It wasn't until a little over a year ago that I found Steve on Facebook. I was thrilled to have found my first sweetheart and genuinely interested in how his life had turned out. We traded emails for a few months but the spark didn't catch fire until Valentine's day 2010 when I got a voicemail from him that melted my heart. In a cute, comedic, and slightly panicky voice he said, "Katy, this is Steve Ord. Oh shoot. You probably already have 4 dates tonight. Happy Valentine's Day. I saw a bumper sticker that said 'Love is grand; Divorce is 20 grand.' Ok. Call me back. Bye!" I was in love all over again.

So we picked up right where we left off. He was living in Provo, I in Denver, and we would average 6 hours of phone conversation each day! After 2 weeks of talking on the phone he spontaneously came to Denver for a weekend. For 6 months we went back and forth from Denver to Provo to visit each other and the fire just kept burning brighter and brighter in our hearts.

We were finally broadsided by a miracle in August when an opportunity to run a Bed & Breakfast in Zion National Park was extended to me on the same day Steve had decided to move to Denver so we could be closer. We decided we couldn't pass up on the opportunity in Zion since it was closer to his family and my family lived only a mile down the road from the B&B! So we let go of all expectations and put our trust in God to lead us to where we needed to be.

We moved to Springdale in August and while I run the B&B during the day, Steve works at the small elementary school here in town. Then at night he helps run the B&B while I head to my hosting job at the local steak house. We have never worked so hard in our lives but we love every minute of it. We knew we wanted to be married and we've been working our tails off to save up.

Steve asked me to be his wife on December 30th underneath a beautiful willow tree. I thought he would never ask. :) We would be forever grateful if you would consider our story for the gracious giveway contest! We are not extravagant people and live very simply, but after both of our long distance moves and only small stipends that we live on each month, we are praying for extra financial help with the wedding.

Thank you so much for reading our story. We would shout it from the roof tops if we could!

Mason and Sohea:

When you read a love story, they often begin with the words “once upon a time” and end with “happily ever after”. I think when one ends up in love, his or her very greatest hope for a relationship would be summed up with those words. What makes a love story great? Is it the story of a beautiful woman, who ends up meeting the man of her dreams, instantly knows he is the one, and they end up riding off on a white horse into a gorgeous sunset? In the events that culminated in our love story, things weren’t quite that perfect, but I think that makes it even more epic of a tale, for love nearly lost is love that lasts.

I met my fiancee in one of the most normal of places: work. There were no fireworks, just a drawn out orientation session. I was instantly attracted to her, she was Korean, had long black hair and the most gorgeous dark eyes. But I can’t say that for either of us it was love at first sight. We became acquaintances through several conversations, not about any particularly deep subjects, but things we had in common (how much pizza we could each eat, our picks for the World Cup winner, and favorite color). The more we had the chance to talk, the more I grew to enjoy her ease of conversation, beautiful smile, and genuine kindness. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I was completely smitten.

I was not even looking to date anyone at the time. I was frustrated by relationships, and was in the mindset that if something fell in my lap, I might consider running with it. As it turned out, she had felt the same way. She wasn’t looking for a relationship, and unbeknownst to me then, had something going on in her life that made her wary about dating anyone seriously. Since May, she had been dealing with a medical condition that caused her to lose her hair. Because of this, she was against getting close with anyone and thought that she could date after her hair grew back, even if it took a few years. She really struggled to be positive and the first months of hair loss were very difficult. With the past experiences and the circumstances at the time, it seemed that all odds of us ever getting together were against us. How it was that we ended up together I cannot attribute to mere coincidence. Destiny? Maybe.

I decided that I wanted to get to know her outside of work, so after a long evening shift at the end of June, I asked her to go eat at Denny’s (romantic I know, but hey, it’s open 24 hours). We talked about work, school, and life in general, and in my mind, I could see the possibility that something could happen between us. I got her phone number, and over the next three weeks, we spent a good amount of time together, seeing movies, walking in the park, holding hands, and just generally getting to know each other. We talked about our relationship, and I expressed that my feelings were beyond that of mere acquaintances. She gently explained that there was a situation that existed in her life that made it hard for her to emotionally open up to anyone, and though she liked me, she couldn’t see herself dating me or anyone in the foreseeable future. I was confused, especially because she wasn’t able to tell me what exactly the situation was. Despite this, we continued to spend time together, growing as close as she would allow. The night came where we shared our first kiss, with an additional confession from her that she was unpredictable, unsure, and generally commitment shy. I brushed this off as her needing more time, confident that despite the setbacks, things were normal and we would soon be officially dating. Little did I know what a curve ball life would throw at me.

The next week, I was dropped off my emotional high by a rejection at her doorstep, leaving me confused as to what she was thinking, considering we had just kissed not a week ago. Her words explained her feelings, that things were going too fast, she was unsure of what she wanted, and she didn’t want me to get the wrong ideas. I didn’t know this at the time, but one of the underlying causes of her feelings was that her hair had nearly completely fallen out, and she had begun wearing a wig that week. I didn’t notice, she looked as good as ever, and had no idea what was going on beyond my own understanding of the situation. This led me to being shocked and heartbroken that our relationship could be ending before it had really begun. I toyed with the idea that I could just let things go, give up, and we would both go in different directions. But my heart told me that there was something more. I decided not to give up, to let her know I cared, and hope that she would come around.

We texted off and on, but there was the awkward feeling that exists between two people who aren’t on the same page with their feelings. I decided to ask her out on a date, my intention being to talk about us, and see if we could rekindle the flame that I felt we had both felt in the beginning. Over dinner, we talked about our relationship, and I expressed my desire to be a part of her life. I let her know that I cared about her, and was willing to wait as long as necessary to be with her. I told her that no matter what was going on I felt that we should be together. I didn’t know this then, but she told me later that her feelings for me before that night were not as strong as I was under the impression they were. She told me that after hearing me express myself, her feelings changed. She stopped seeing me as just another guy, and saw me as someone who really wanted to be there for her and to understand her. Though I still knew nothing about her hair, we were both happy and she finally started to have happy days because we enjoyed each other. We were finally on the same page in our relationship.

From that first date, our relationship matured. We started to grow closer, and spent as much time as we could together. We found that as we spoke about our lives, our hopes and dreams, and our future, that it transformed from something that was talked about, to something that could be realized. There were times when the future seemed fuzzy, times when I didn’t know if we would be together with the dawn of a new day. But every time those feelings arose, we managed to strengthen each other. When she had doubts about the potential of our relationship, I was there to help her through. She learned to have the courage to trust my sincerity. When I felt bad about myself, she was there to strengthen me.

On the night that I first told her that I loved her, she had the courage to tell me about her hair. I told her it changed nothing, and that I would love her just as much regardless. We held each other and cried, out of relief and happiness. It was a couple months later that she was comfortable taking her wig off in front of me to show me that her hair was starting to grow back.

Since then, we have been growing together, learning from each other, and sharing precious memories. We have both learned to have the courage to get through the difficult times, by supporting and loving each other. Our love has grown from a flicker to a flame that cannot be put out by any trial or difficulty that we face. We both understand that it was no coincidence that we were able to fall in love. We found the reason for the circumstances that brought us together. It was to give us the chance to experience the greatest feeling in the world. Truly, our love was meant to be.

I think that the reason we deserve to win this giveaway, is that the way that we complement each other is what sets us apart from the rest. The way we came together could not be duplicated in any other situation in our lives. If one or two things had been different, our relationship may never have happened. I might never have been able to risk being hurt, and she might never have been able to trust me without having something so big to let me understand and be a part of. Never have I seen a couple go through such trials and come through together, and even engaged to be married. Our story may not be the perfect fairytale love story, but for me, I wouldn’t have wanted it that way. Our love is perfect because falling in love wasn’t. It took us finding each other to realize that we had what we didn’t know we wanted: True Love.