June 20, 2014 at 1:58 p.m.
Local military couple hoping to win $20,000 for dream wedding
Local military couple hoping to win $20,000 for dream wedding
By Kayla Thomason-
Mangerson found out about the contest, sponsored by Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, through a contact with the United Service Organization (USO) in the Milwaukee area and jumped at the chance to give his bride-to-be a once-in-a-lifetime wedding.
He entered the contest by writing an essay.
"I was very proud of Matt," Burton said. "[The essay] was very sweet, I thought it was very heartfelt."
Burton and Mangerson met 11 years ago in a Spanish class at Ripon College.
According to a snippet from Mangerson's essay "[a]fter a semester of anonymous classroom cohabitation, we were partnered together for a theatrical group project. Michelle was (and continues to be) my intellectual superior in most things academic; so I'm sure our first friendly interaction was more a product of patience than affection."
Burton continued her schooling while Mangerson was deployed three times. He completed his latest deployment overseas last October. He led Battery B, 1st Battalion, 121st Field Artillery, the first National Guard field artillery unit to accomplish a field artillery mission in Afghanistan.
Since learning Mangerson's essay was accepted, the couple has been trying to spread the word about the contest.
"We might be a little handicapped because we don't necessarily have as many Facebook friends as some of the other contestants in the competition, but we are going to try anyways. If we have to we (will be) like the tortoise and the hare. We're going to be the tortoise and keep at it," Burton said.
The Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee is hosting the competition and voters will choose which couple will win the prize.
"Right now we are in second place when I checked [Thursday] morning so that's pretty exciting," Burton said. "I think one of the really nice things from it, even if we don't win - winning would be amazing because it would really help us out - but even if we don't win it's just really nice to get all this support from friends and family and seeing people sharing it and saying really supportive things."
Voting continues until July 9 and the winner will be announced July 10, almost a year to the day from when this loving couple plans to be married. Mangerson and Burton plan to say "I do" on July 11, 2015.
The winning couple will get to design the ceremony but it will be held at the casino.
"They said that 'it's your dream wedding so you get to really make your mark on the style and theme of the wedding' so we're pretty excited about that," Burton said. "Obviously they have their own catering staff so food would probably go through them and also I'm sure they have vendors that they usually work with."
Burton is thrilled she and Mangerson have a chance to win this amazing gift.
"It's a great opportunity, it's really an amazing thing that Potawatomi is doing for military couples so we're just really happy to be a part of it," she said. "We're both really happy to be selected and even if we don't win we have each other so we don't really need anything else."
Voters can visit www.facebook.com/potawatomicatering?sk=app_298630060296012 to read the couple's essay and vote.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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