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Bride on the run - with €50
HOW far could you travel on public transport with just f50 in your pocket and no help from friends or family? With a €20,000 wedding at stake, Tullogher woman Anne Marie Malone will be aiming big.
"I'm definitely going to get out of the country, there's no doubt about that," she said confidently.
Anne Marie and her fiance Dave O'Toole, from Kilmacow, are finalists in a curious radio competition that will give them the wedding of their dreams - if they win.
Beat 102-103's Runaway Bride competition is offering five couples the chance to win a €20,000 dream wedding by taking part.
Anne Marie and Dave are the only Kilkenny finalists in the competition - the rest are from Waterford and Wexford - and they are relying on the kind people of their home county to help them get the big day they've always dreamed of.
Online and text voting for the competition starts today (Wednesday) and runs until Friday. The two couples with the highest number of votes will then go through to the final. In the final on Saturday, the two 'brides' will be dropped off, with a chaperone, at an unknown location and given f50 which they will have to use to get as far away from their original location as possible in 24 hours - using only public transport. The 'bride' who gets the furthest will win the big wedding for herself and her fiance.
"It's a bit mad and a bit wacky, but so are we," laughed Anne Marie. "It's a bit of a crazy thing to do, but we're really up for this. I'm very resourceful so if I get through to the final, I've no doubt I'll be able to win it."
The couple have already concocted a plan of action for the final, but the contents are top secret. "It's a bit of a secret mission, like James Bond," Anne Marie said. "I'm definitely going to get out of Ireland, I'm 100% on that. But whether it's to Europe or the States, I'm not sure yet."
The couple, who live in Tullogher, have been together for more than seven years and have two young children - a five-year-old son and three- year-old daughter. They describe themselves as "happy, crazy, poor, chaotic, but all in the name of love".
Both of them work, Anne Marie was a care assistant with a nursing agency and Dave as a stock controller with Store-All Stock, so they get very little time together, Anne Marie said.
"We've been engaged for four-and-a-half years and we can't afford to get married," Anne Marie said. "We were going to to a registry office wedding and I'd almost convinced myself that that would do, but I've always dreamed of a big white wedding like most little girls and we could never afford that."
The wedding means so much to Dave and Anne Marie that they have gone so far as to appoint a 'campaign manager' and are stopping at nothing to get out there and win as many votes as they can.
All week, Anne Marie and her team of volunteers have been travelling around Kilkenny, handing out flyers and talking to people, pleading for their votes, come Wednesday.
"I understand it's hard for people to vote for someone they don't know, so we've been putting posters up all over the place and have even set up a Facebook cause page," Anne Marie said. "We're the only couple from Kilkenny so we just hope the county will really get behind us. We have our hearts set on winning this competition and getting married."
The wedding package includes a wedding reception at Lismore House Hotel in Waterford valued at €15,000, photography package from New Age Photography in Tipperary valued at €3,000, €1,500 voucher from Sibella Bridal in Waterford and f500 voucher from Douglas Jewellers, in Carlow.
Voting starts today (Wednesday) online at www.beat102103.com or you can text 'RUNAWAY BRIDE ANNE MARIE & DAVE' to 085-1029103
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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