This Experience started on Thanksgiving day!

 Belmont Wedding Experience Update

Soon all of the numbers will be revealed and a top team will be declared! Voting ends at noon on Monday, February 13th 2023! Then the couples get to relax, family and friends did everything they could do to help them, people who don't even know the couples will wait anxiously to see who took first place. The numbers will be said live on 107.5 KZL on the Jared & Katie in the morning show on Valentines Day morning!

When I woke up this morning, February 12th 2023, couple one and two were literally only 314 votes away from each other. Couple number three was lagging behind by roughly 14,000 votes and couple number four unfortunately hasn't hit 15,000 votes in total yet. As we know, the other three couples have all surpassed 100,000 votes in total. But can you imagine couple one and two only being 314 votes away from each other? We have never had an experience where all three couples were this close! Usually there is a front runner! Last experience, Team Nancy and Dylan and Team Deanna and Lance were so extremely close as well. But never have three couples been so close! The couples all have a good idea on where they are with rankings and we did share ranking publicly a few times to let the public know where we are. All of the couples are in a group chat and you know what, they cheer each other on. They are the superstars and were chosen for all the right reasons. 

Emotions are high! Some people are running on just fumes! Family members, friends and people the couples don't even know want them to win! I get a ton of messages from so many. Some find some aspects of the experience awesome, some not so awesome. Some find  some aspects unfair. Heck I had one wonderful lady reach out to us and thank us for all that we're doing. Then say that businesses are helping couples and it's not fair. Yet, a day before she messaged me this, I saw a business helping her couple lol. :) She didn't realize this of course and thought she was doing right by the couple. But so many don't get to see what we see as we're tagged in a lot. When I say emotions are high, they're high. Some post with the wrong wording, some post without thinking. Just know, I know it's hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it. We're talking about a wedding valued up to $20,000.00! This is a huge prize! Already Shane Lawrence / Imagine Travel and Julio have teamed up to include an incredible romantic vacation to Punta Cana! This is no small prize and these couples know this! They know if they want to win, they have to work for it! They have done television interviews, gone live on facebook, solicited businesses and more...  The more is really important here. Because they reached out to people that they may not have reached out to in quite a while, as now there was a purpose. People have reached out to our couples that have not reached out to them in quite a while, as now they had a purpose. The couples have met new friends, a new circle if you will! Because sometimes life passes us by and sometimes we need a common denominator to get us all back together. Isn't that what weddings do? They help us all join together and celebrate a newly found love, an old love or a love that should have been celebrated correctly a long time ago. All too often, we let life slip by without checking on people or getting together with them. The experience brings communities together and of course a common denominator throughout. 

As I said, emotions are high. But know this experience brings out a lot of positive! We have had the couples tell us how thankful they are to even be a part of it win or lose. One couple wrote this "Also I’m a little emotional this morning lol I am so thankful for the experience. It has been so awesome and win or lose I feel like a winner  so thank you so much for this! My heart is so full!" This couple gets it, they all get it! As much as emotions are high, let's look at the big picture. This opportunity was not here just a few short months ago. It is now and because of it, someone is going to win it all. As much as we wish we could give away four weddings worth $20,000.00, it took a lot of kind souls to make this one happen. As much as we wish we could give away four ridiculously amazing honeymoons, it took three kind hearts to pay for the one included in the experience. Now, if you're still following me this far down and didn't stop reading to go vote and if you have followed our other experiences in the past, you know that we always award couple number two, couple number three and couple number four a 50% discount off of any of our packages! Huge savings right? This could be our luxury minimony package or our fall-inclusive wedding package. Which means we give up our profit on those three weddings as well. As we still have to pay the caterers, photographers, DJ, Florist, coordinators, rental company and more... Please don't comment about this, as we really do enjoy it being a surprise on the air. In fairness, for those who didn't put the work in and read all the way through, they can wait. ;) 

So what is the Belmont Experience? For those who don't know, it started on Thanksgiving! I know right?!?! We open the experience on Thanksgiving Day, this is when couples submit their entry form and read the rules of the experience. Couples can be nominated or submit a form themselves, right up until the beginning of January. Then, the venue has a sounding board to bring all of those applicants down to ten finalists. This experience at the Belmont Mansion had well over 300 couples submit their stories. The sounding board narrowed it down to ten. The final ten go in front of the judges panel. The judges panel consists of another venue, two wedding vendors, a previous couple who paid for their experience, and previous couples who have won other experiences. Then we add in two staff members and myself. It's a lot right? But the experience is a methodical contest that is more thought out than most take the time to comprehend. You see, we use the word "deserving" because the word deserving means something different to so many different people based on their past experiences were in life. "Deserving" is the one word that meant something different to so many, yet allowed unity to happen when understanding why the top ten was formed. 

On to the couples meeting the judges, all in one day. The judges have all read their stories numerous times. This is everyone's opportunity to connect with each other! Because the judges have to bring the top ten, down to the top three. (yes, I know there is a final four this time. Long story, another day. I just personally couldn't say no to couple number four and wanted to give them an opportunity) (another day ;) )

So now we have our top three (final four) and now it is their turn to do everything we mentioned above. So far, they have done an extraordinary job and of course we want everyone to win, who wouldn't. But what would be the point of trying, if everyone won the same prize right? So as mentioned above, there are tiers. Too many comment with ignorance instead of giving us the benefit of the doubt or simply doing the research to get a better understanding on what the experience is all about before commenting. Although, simply commenting is much easier and we live in a society of instant gratification, so no judgement here. :) 

Next, the vendors who donated their services will compete against each other. Crazy again right? The vendors donate their services and have to compete to win the couples wedding!!!! I know :) But again, trust me here, it's quite an experience. If you're a fan of marketing, you'll love the psychological elements at play here. You'll see weeks of vendors competing for the Belmont Wedding Experience. Who are those vendors? Well let me introduce them. :)

Catering: Culinary Visions Catering & Gianos Catering 

Photographers: Photos by Clay & Brian Anthony Photography

DJ's: DJ Rone and TK the DJ

Florists: Soft Touch Flowers & Gifts and Serena Design

Rental Company: Happy Rentz

Wedding Cake: Bake Me Happy 

All of these wonderful humans are donating their services and hope to be part of this experience! 

Then the winning couple attends our unique day of interviews. This is where they meet the vendors (all of them) for the first time at the Belmont Mansion! All vendors come to our couples. Why? Because planning a wedding is hard and when you can do the majority of it in one day, life becomes easier.  It's a whole lot easier on our couples, if they sit in the lap of luxury, while vendors line up to meet them. Don't you think?

We will present the couples favorite three options in each category! For instance, their favorite three bouquets. But the public will vote on which one she gets! 

It's really unique! It's a great way for everyone to stay involved and the couple usually loves it because it simplifies everything! 

After the couples day of interviews, they will plan individually on their own with the vendors. They'll keep the public up to speed on how everything is going. But eventually we hit the wedding day, which the couple chose of course! We'll bring it to you live, have tons of images and so much more! 

But first, we have to get to tomorrow February 13th at noon, because that is when voting ends! 

Then, live on the radio to see who persevered the hardest! 

Good luck to everyone and be kind lol. Emotions are high because you want something for your couple. But there are three other couples with families who want it for them too. Each couple had a different strategy and they really started figuring things out at about day four. You gotta hand it to them all, in a unique way, they all taught us a lesson. They will let us know what lessons they learned and what they took from the experience on Monday after voting ends. Again, good luck to all!