A University couple is competing to have Baton Rouge residents plan their dream wedding.
Lauren Nicholson, a biology junior, and Jeremy Lofland, an LSU alumnus, entered WBRZ’s Wedding Giveaway contest, in which viewers will vote for the couple they feel is most deserving to win a wedding.
WBRZ’s “Baton Rouge Weddings and Lake House Reception Center 2une In Wedding Giveaway” contest allows viewers to vote for an engaged couple to win a wedding package.
According to the 2theadvocate.com Web site, the winning couple agrees to have their wedding and reception at 2 p.m. on July 25 at Lake House Reception Center.
Nicholson sent an e-mail to WBRZ saying the wedding giveaway contest was made for her and her fiancé.
According to Nicholson’s e-mail, she met Lofland a little more than a year and a half ago in a University microbiology class.
The e-mail said Nicholson immediately noticed Lofland and positioned herself in a seat across from him in their lab class. A month later, he invited her to study. They have been together ever since, Nicholson’s e-mail said.
As Nicholson and Lofland became acquainted with each other, they discovered that they both grew up in Baton Rouge, went to the same church and lived off the same street.
“He is the kindest soul I have ever met,” Nicholson said.
She said she was attracted to Lofland because he is sociable.
Nicholson said the Paula Abdul song “Opposites Attract” describes their relationship because she is serious and her fiance loves to joke.
“He would talk the leaves off a tree,” she said.
Her e-mail said this past July, she and Lofland had to separate because he accepted a job in Houston, teaching 7th grade biology.
Nicholson said when Lofland informed her of the job, she had to be strong and let him make his own decision.
“He assured me that he was accepting the job because the increased salary would allow him to save enough money for us to be married,” the e-mail said.
Nicholson said he told her he was accepting the position to provide them with a better life.
Weekend visits and daily e-mails from Lofland also helped her deal with the separation, Nicholson said. She made a book of his e-mails.
The day before the Tigers played in the Sugar Bowl, he proposed to Nicholson during dinner at Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro, Lofland said. He planned it so that a dozen roses would be delivered to the restaurant.
He said he told her that he had to go to the bathroom, but instead picked the up the roses and then brought them back to the table with an engagement ring.
Lofland said he proposed to Nicholson amid a room full of applause. Another patron paid their tab. She told him yes, twice.
“It was a shock because he planned it,” Nicholson said. “And he is not a planner.”
She said a week after the proposal, she and her mother went to the Bridal Expo at the Centroplex, where they saw a booth advertising the WBRZ Wedding Giveaway.
She entered the contest with 69 other couples. Lofland and Nicholson were picked to be finalists along with two other Baton Rouge couples
Nicholson said a lot of help from co-workers, family members and friends helped spread the word of their involvement with the contest to the LSU community.
Nicholson said it does not bother her that other people will be making the arrangements for their wedding; she knows the wedding will be beautiful.
She said they do not deserve the wedding any more than the other couples, but without the support from the LSU community they would have to wait three more years to be together.
They want to stay in Baton Rouge, Nicholson said.
“If they were to vote for us and we could win this wedding, then I would be able to come back to Baton Rouge and be with the my fiancé –whom I love more than anything,” Lofland said.
On-line voting begins today at 7 a.m. for the three couples.