HAPPY VALENTINES DAY 2011 STYLE

Happy Valentines Day 2011 and thank you to all the wonderful entries in our 2011 competition. The winner was Gemma Cocks from Lindfield, NSW who shared her gorgeous story about how she fell in love with one of her best friends. Happy Birthday for today also Gemma!
We had so many entries this year.....over 700% increase from 2010 so it is amazing to see how many brides are reading our blog and how many have some really special stories to share. This year we decided to send out a runner up prize as well for this incredible story sent through from Kerrie from Burleigh Heads, QLD. Thank you for sharing your story Kerrie....

I met my valentine Ben in 1994 when we both worked for a manufacturing company in Sydney. He was 19 and I was 21. After dating a while his parents divorced and my valentine moved to QLD to help his mother get over her divorce and I remained in Sydney. We separated and were both in agreement that if it was meant to be then down the track we would be together.

We never contacted each other and 10years went by. Ben was in Bali in 2002 on a buying trip for his South East Asian Furniture import business. He was in Bali on his own. He walked into the Sari Club to buy a bottle of water when a one tonne car bomb went off. He lost both of his legs and received more than 63% full thickness burns to his body. He was not expected to survive.

It took several months after the bombing for the news of Ben being horrifically hurt to filter back to Sydney and eventually to me. Because he was not expected to survive it was all kept hush hush. Ben is Australia's worst injured survivor of the Bali Bombings. He was in a coma for months. It took me considerable time to be able to find Ben and make contact with him and eventually we met up with each other during his rehabilitation.

I relocated to the Gold Coast to be with Ben and we married in 2007. Paul Mercurio from Dancing with the Stars flew to the Gold Coast and choreographed us a very modified bridal waltz that Ben could manage on his prosthetic legs. We now have a 4 year old daughter and have kept a scrapbook of us to give her when she is older.

We wish Kerrie & Ben with their daughter the happiest of lives together, your endurance and love is inspirational to couples the world round & thank you for sharing x