Cast your vote
Bride Wars: Two Houston couples are among the final 11 left in a $100,000 dreamwedding contest
Say you're newly engaged and you learn of a wedding giveaway contest. You can't choose the location, the details, the dress or even the date, but your dream wedding will be completely free — all you have to do is enter and win.
This is the scenario for two Houston couples who've made it to the final round of Entwined 2012.
Entwined is a group of wedding planners and professionals from central Texas that are staging a national contest for the Ultimate Wedding Giveaway. The winning couple can choose from a boho-themed wedding or a glam one, held at the scenic Studio at Fischer near Canyon Lake on March 31, 2012. Everything is provided for free, from the invitations and thank you notes, to the rehearsal dinner and a post-wedding brunch.
Combined, the wedding will be worth more than $90,000, and contestants from all over the United States are vying for the prize. Culled from more than 1,000 initial applicants, two couples from Houston made it to the list of 11 finalists.
Annie Blaylock and her fiancé Tyler McQueen met in high school, and have supported one another through thick and thin. If they win, the couple has promised to keep up their blog with wedding plans and photos. Blaylock and McQueen have also pledged to donate $3,000 to the Humane Society — money that they otherwise would be spending on wedding preparations.
"I am a big animal supporter, and we want to five something back to the community," Blaylock says. "We want to donate the money to a deserving place."
The other Houston couple in the final 11 has overcome its own share of obstacles.
Against all odds, Clay Graves hooked his fiancée Deanna Cook with the fishing reel move on a crowded dance floor, and they've been together ever since. Part of Graves' family lives in Peru and if they win the contest, the couple hopes to fly them to Texas for the special day with the money they will save.
Online voting continues through midnight on Nov. 15. Click on the links above to watch the Houston couples' videos, and "like" Entwined on Facebook to vote.
Clay and Deana's video: