Erin Winkle and Ralph Gilpin

Four years ago I met a very lively senior from Canfield High School to whom I felt very compelled to get to know on a personal basis, her name is Erin. She had a style much like mine and an interest in many things that I found to be near and dear to me. After talking a few times and hanging out with mutual friends, I slowly began to fall for this beautiful girl from Canfield. At the time she was just eighteen and I was at the ripe old age of twenty-two. I grew up in Struthers, never went to college, and my parents never had much money so my life growing up was much different from hers. I never thought I had a chance with her as it always seemed that she was preoccupied with other boys from her school. As time went by it was clear that a friendship was all that she desired. A few months later, cupid must have shot her with an arrow because she finally came to her senses and realized that I would be the best companion for her.

We were together for a few years when I decided to ask her to marry me, the timing was right and it could not have been a more magical moment. We shortly afterwards started making plans for our wedding. We had set a date for June 30, 2006. All was going well; we had a hall picked out and the dress of hers dreams was within reach when all of a sudden we were hit with some bad news. Her father, who volunteered to pay for most of the wedding, lost his job. Her father was a hospital administrator for Forum Health at North Side Hospital when they had decided to terminate his position and hire an outside firm. Our wedding dreams were shattered. My family was barely getting by and I was struggling to pay the bills as it was. I was cleaning carpet for Steam Action for about four years, while my fiancé was finishing cosmetology school, and we were just getting by. There was no way that we could afford the wedding that she had dreamed of and we did not believe in eloping. After a few months of her father seeking employment we had decided to put the wedding off for a year so her father would have time to find a job. During this time we moved in with her parents so that we could all save money just in case her father had not found employment, and this also gave us the opportunity to get more comfortable financially.

During our stay with her family I had grown very close to them and sympathized with their situation, helping out wherever I could. Her father was still not having luck with finding a job he was qualified for. He even had plans to relocate at the first job offer that came his way, but nothing was happening. Almost an entire year passed and many interviews with no career in sight for him any time soon. We had barely saved up any money and surely not enough for a wedding. Her father was getting stressed and really wanted to see us get married, so he did the unexpected. He had taken out a $10,000 mortgage on their home that was almost paid off to see us get married. We tried to talk him out of it but his heart was too kind and pride too strong, the wedding was now on.

To make this simple, we don't need to win this contest to have our dream wedding, because just to get married to this beautiful woman and being a part of this wonderful family is a dream I could have never imagined coming true. I would like to win this wedding for my fiancé and her family as it would make a world of difference in their financial situation. I have not told them about entering this contest because I would like it to be a surprise, so please WFMJ, consider us for the dream wedding. I know it would be the greatest thing to ever happen to anyone in this family.