Central Michigan U. couple wins 'dream wedding'
McBAIN, Mich. - McBAIN, Mich. (AP) — Dana Stahl never wins anything. For most of her life, she's worked for what she has.
But this spring, the 24-year-old won a prize about which most girls can only fantasize: Dana won a dream wedding.
Like many other local brides-to-be, Stahl, whose maiden name is Veddler, attended the spring bridal show in Cadillac and entered her name to win a wedding package that would include everything from a free wedding cake and catering to a reception hall and photographer.
At the bridal show, she perused the booths for about an hour — she saw the cakes, flowers and gowns. Then 1 p.m. rolled around, and she had to head back to her McBain farm to milk the cows — which she did to earn money to put herself through Central Michigan University.
Dana, a 2003 McBain High School graduate, and her fiance, Michael Stahl, a 2001 McBain High School graduate, had gotten engaged a couple of months prior; Michael proposed in Dana's horse barn.
"It was a blizzard out, and we were fixing the fence," she said. "It was really unexpected.
"I like horses, and he said, 'I wouldn't have it any other way than (proposing) in the horse barn with the horses looking at us,'" she laughed.
And it was in her barn that she was about to get some more good news.
While milking the cows, Dana's mom, sister and friends informed her that she had won the wedding package.
"Quit teasing me," she said, shrugging off the women who surrounded her with a video camera.
But when her mother pulled out a pearl necklace and earrings with a $700 price tag from Saturn Gems in Cadillac, it hit her; she realized that she had won and became "hysterical and screaming."
"I felt a lot of things: I was excited and relieved," Dana said. "I know weddings are expensive, so I was relieved that I and my parents wouldn't have to pay as much toward the wedding. It's tough times right now."
After winning, the couple moved up their wedding date by nine months, due to the wedding package's stipulations that the wedding had to be held in 2009. But with a long list of freebies, moving up the date wasn't a big deal, she said.
Not only did she win the necklace and earrings, she also scored a wedding cake from Kingsley Cakes of Kingsley; a reception hall from Fox Hill Event Center in Cadillac; $2,500 worth of food from Blue Heron Cafe in Cadillac; $600 toward a wedding dress at Bridal Expressions in Cadillac; $500 toward flowers at Hagstrom's Flowers in Cadillac; a Shutterbooth (photo booth) from Lake City; the services of photographer Courtney Gonzales from Traverse City; and a two-night stay at McGuire's Resort's honeymoon suite.
The Stahls' wedding cost about $25,000 total, and thanks to the wedding package, the couple saved about $10,500.
"We had a big wedding. If we didn't win the wedding, we probably would've had to cut some people down and make it a little smaller," Dana said. "Everything was beautiful and perfect, and everyone commented that it was a lot of fun."
Now, a couple of months after their wedding, the Stahls said, "life is good."
She is finishing her teaching degree while student-teaching American and world history at Cadillac High School; she graduates with a bachelor's degree from CMU in December. He is in the U.S. Air Force and will graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from CMU. The couple plans to move to Kansas after Michael's graduation.
"We just felt really blessed to win the wedding package," Dana said. "I've never really won anything. And I feel like if I never win anything in life again, I would be happy."
She continued: "It'll always be something to tell my kids and grandkids about it. It's kind of a crazy story that not everyone gets a chance to go through."
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Information from: Cadillac News, http://www.cadillacnews.com
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