Tammy Walker and John Holman of Daniel’s Landing are the beaming recipients of a $30,000 wedding package.

Fine china, crystal goblets and silver plated picture frames certainly make wonderful, traditional wedding presents. But a gift received late last month by a Daniel Island couple most definitely takes the cake. Tammy Walker and John Holman of Daniel’s Landing are the beaming recipients of a $30,000 Dream Wedding Giveaway sponsored by ABC News 4 and the Vue at Ripley Point.

The couple was selected from more than 50 applicants in the contest. The winning wedding package includes a venue, photographer, entertainment, spa visit for bride and groom (from the Island Medical Spa Institute on Daniel Island), gown and tuxedo, hair and make-up services, invitations, dance lessons and more.

“It’s an opportunity for us to have the kind of wedding that we want in a timeframe in our lives that we wouldn’t be able to afford it,” said John, off-premise sales manager for the Ben Arnold Beverage Company. 

For Tammy, being able to share their big day with family and friends is the most exciting part.

“If we had done it on our own, it would have been on a miniscule scale,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of friends and family from out of town, and now we can have them come!  It means a lot.”

Perhaps what makes this story even more special is why they entered the contest in the first place.  Their tale begins in March of 2007, when John purchased a home on James Island and decided to do some remodeling. In the middle of the renovation work, he suffered an unexplained stroke.  

 “I went through an extraordinary amount of medical tests to try and figure out why,” he said. “Luckily it was a minor stroke, but I had double vision for two days.”

Further testing revealed no clear answers. Then, a year later, doctors repeated one of the tests and the true problem was diagnosed.  John had a hole in his heart, a condition he had likely had from birth.  He met Tammy in the process and the two soon became engaged.  Surgery to repair his heart was scheduled in Pittsburgh, where John’s father is a physician. The procedure was a success, but the couple was left with a pile of medical bills, as well as the leftover remodeling expenses from John’s home on James Island. 

“That kind of put a whole pause in the planning of the wedding, especially when I saw how costly everything was,” said Tammy, who owns her own small business bookkeeping and accounting firm. “I  didn’t have a clue. So his main focus on the (wedding contest) application was that he was doing it for me. I’ve spent a lot helping him pay for medical bills and house repairs.”

John and Tammy heard about the Dream Wedding Giveaway contest while checking out the Vue at Ripley Point as a possible location for their reception. A way to help offset their expenses seemed like the perfect idea, said John.

“We were paying for the wedding ourselves, with no help from parents or anything,” he said. “So we had capped it at $10,000…The manager (at the Vue) told us about the contest and said ‘we’re giving away a wedding!’”

John and Tammy were in. They put together their application and submitted it for consideration. The contest officials collected online votes to determine a winner.  

“Fortunately with my company we have so many employees here, and then we represent so many liquor and wine suppliers that live locally,” said John. “A mass email chain started before I even got back to the office!”

Those votes, along with a slew of support from their friends on Facebook and MySpace, helped seal the deal.  But to really determine if their victory was real, Tammy put John to the test by asking him about peanut butter, his favorite food.  

“He said I got some bad news and I got some good news,” recalled Tammy. “He goes, ‘we didn’t win the lottery…but we did win the contest!’ I said ‘you’re just kidding. Do you swear on peanut butter? Peanut butter will disappear on you if you’re lying to me!’”

Fortunately, the peanut butter was safe. Tammy and John plan to be married on November 7, 2009 before about 125 of their closest family and friends. Will winning the wedding contest make this Valentine’s Day even more special for the couple?     

“It would have been special anyway,” Tammy said smiling, as she gazed at her fiancé. “He’s great!”