After a long distance courtship and an Egyptian proposal in front of the Sphinx, Alabama A&M graduate LaDonna Bradford decided to take her engagement one step further. Why not get married on national television and let America plan her wedding?
So Bradford and her fiance, Darnell Suggs, applied for NBC's "Today" show's "Today Throws a Wedding" giveaway. They are now one of the final two couples in line for the honor.
The giveaway, in its ninth year, offers viewers the chance to vote online and via text message each week for the couple they want to win.
Bradford and Suggs have made it to the finals. "We decided to try," she said. "They were going to give it to someone, so it might as well be us."
The winner will be announced Wednesday during the show. All voting will end Monday at 11 a.m. CST.
Bradford graduated from Alabama A&M with honors in 2006 with a degree in electrical engineering. A native of Tuskegee, she attended A&M on a full academic scholarship. The couple, who met at job fair in Boston in 2005, live in Atlanta.
The first year of their relationship was long distance while they both finished college in separate states. For her birthday in January, Suggs took Bradford to Egypt. He surprised her with a proposal next to the Sphinx. In April, they found out they were finalists for "Today Throws a Wedding."
Each year, the "Today" show offers couples across the country a chance to apply for the wedding giveaway by sending video entries and applications. As NBC narrowed the field, Bradford and Suggs were named one of five couples to compete this year.
Bradford said she watches the "Today" show every morning and had just been complaining to family about how expensive a wedding is. "We originally decided to plan it for next April so we could save up," she said.
Once the top five couples were notified, NBC sent out camera crews to film a "meet the couples" interview for the show. Those segments aired on "Today" May 14. This year's theme for "Today Throws a Wedding" was "Race to the Altar."
Each Wednesday afterward, the couples competed in a race. Each race was a different game, including a treasure hunt, a design project, a bake sale and a name-that-price game. The winning couple from each race got to choose one aspect of the wedding's details.
The first race was to choose the theme of the wedding, which is East meets West. The second race was to decide the cake's style. The winning couple chose mini three-tier cakes for the guests and a large, matching cake for the bride and groom.
The winners of the third race chose the party favors for the guests. The favors chosen were Kodak digital cameras. The fourth race, which Bradford and Suggs won, was a game to guess the price of different wedding gifts closest to the dollar amount without going over. For winning, the couple was able to keep all the gifts.
After the winner is announced on June 11, viewers will choose from a group of rings, honeymoon trips and wedding attire, including bridal gown choices, for the June 25 wedding at Rockefeller Center.
Bradford said she doesn't mind the viewers choosing those details. "I'm an indecisive bride," she said. "Just tell me where to show up."
She said she trusts NBC to pick out the tuxedos, dresses and rings the viewers will vote on.
Each week, Bradford and Suggs flew to New York City on Tuesday evening, taped the show Wednesday morning, and flew back to Atlanta Wednesday afternoon.
"It's truly amazing," she said. "All this time, it seemed like a regular relationship. Now it's a regular fairy tale."
By VICTORIA CUMBOWTimes Staff Writer victoria.cumbow@ htimes.com
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Source: [aamufamily]yahoo group, submitted by A&M Alumni President, Lee Harris - written by huntsville times writer Victoria Cumbow, which was published on the "Everything Alabama" blog, AL.com.
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