Dream wedding
Couple seeks local votes to win nuptial jackpot

Adam Duran, left, and Stephanie Slavick are looking to get enough votes to win a $50,000 dream wedding at Sandia Resort and Casino. Courtesy Photo

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — Stephanie Slavick and Adam Duran would like your vote.

No, they are not running for political office. They are, however, trying to be the winning couple of the 2009 New Mexico Dream Wedding. To do that, they need your vote.

Slavick and Duran are “Couple No. 3” of the five finalist couples that were chosen from about 2,000 hopeful couples wanting to win a $50,000 dream wedding on May 3 at Sandia Resort and Casino. The promotional contest is sponsored by Q.C. Productions of Albuquerque and is underwritten by a number of wedding vendors.

Although Slavick and Duran — both 27 years old and both twins — live in Albuquerque, they are hoping local folks in the Four Corners region will adopt them as their favorite couple. Slavick does regularly visit Gallup several times a month with her job as a medical sales representative.

Slavick is originally from Boise, Idaho, and Duran is a 2000 graduate of Valley High School in Albuquerque.

The couple has been together for about three years. As they explain it, they broke up after eight months of dating because both weren’t equally committed Christians when they first met. After a year’s separation and some spiritual growth, the couple reunited and have been together ever since.

“We have a greater love than we ever did before because now, in our relationship, God has enabled us to make him the main focus in our ways,” Slavick explained.

Since being chosen as a finalist couple in January, Slavick and Duran have been out trying to drum up votes. They are, however, facing some stiff competition, including one couple that has leased five billboards around Albuquerque.

“We don’t have the money to do that,” Slavick admitted.

Instead, she explained, they have been focusing on efforts that are free or low-cost. Duran said he’s concentrating on a word-of-mouth campaign and is pushing votes on MySpace, FaceBook, and other Internet gathering sites, and Slavick is trying to get support in the small New Mexico towns she visits through her work. In addition, a number of churches are letting the couple place flyers on vehicles in their parking lots.

“Every vote does count,” stressed Slavick, who is hoping readers will go online and cast their vote — or votes — before the deadline of 6 p.m. on Friday. Anyone who has a New Mexico mailing address or driver’s license can vote, and people can cast one vote for each e-mail address they have.

To vote for Slavick and Duran, readers can visit www.nmdreamwedding.com and vote for Couple No. 3. They can also read the couple’s application essay, their answers to eight questions, and view the couple’s video.

The winning couple will be announced next weekend at The Perfect Wedding Guide’s Great Diamond Dash Bridal Show on Feb. 22.

If Slavick and Duran are the winners, their wedding site will be particularly meaningful since Sandia Resort and Casino is the place they were introduced while having dinner with friends. Beyond looking forward to enjoying a free wedding and a free honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii, Slavick admits she hasn’t given a lot of thought to thinking what she would like other than “green chile chicken enchiladas” and a lot of dancing at the reception.

If the couple doesn’t win, they will hurriedly plan an outdoor June wedding on a budget of about $6,000. They will go on a honeymoon, but it won’t be in Maui.

In the meantime, Slavick and Duran are just trying to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame. “We’re just kind of going with the flow and having fun with it,” Slavick said.

“I really count is as a blessing to be a part of it,” Duran said. Although he admitted it’s been fun to do media interviews, Duran said this little taste of attention has taught him he really wouldn’t want to be a celebrity. The best part of the experience thus far, he said, is “to be able to glorify the Lord in our relationship.”