PARIS – Brenda Sessions and Al Stowell have been working hard this week to get out the vote. They’re asking friends and relatives to vote for their daughter, Kimberly Stowell, to win a wedding hosted by NBC’s “Today” show.
Stowell and her fianc, Nick Raymond, are among four couples competing for a “Hometown Wedding” on the show. If they’re chosen, the couple’s wedding will be paid for by the “Today” show and all of the planning will be done by viewers, who will be asked to vote on all the details from wedding gown and invitations to the cake and honeymoon destination.
Stowell, currently living in Hampden, is a 2000 graduate of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. She’s a full-time student working on a master’s degree in psychology at the University of Maine, where she met her fianc on a blind date for a Halloween party. Raymond is also a graduate student, studying school administration, and a high school math teacher at Hampden Academy.
Live on national TV
Stowell said she received a call from the show Friday, saying that the video she and Raymond sent in had been chosen as one of the top four. The couple flew to New York City on Monday, in time to appear live on the show as they competed in its “Nearly Wed” game. Stowell said she and Raymond knew that the game would be based on “The Newlywed Game,” and practiced for it in advance, trying to think of questions that they might be asked so that their answers would match.
So, when Stowell was asked what one thing she would change about her husband-to-be, Raymond was not surprised that she answered “his gas problem.” In fact, he answered the same when asked what she would change about him.
Stowell isn’t worried at all about what voters across America might choose for her wedding dress, ring or reception band.
“I really like the idea of having America be a part of our wedding,” she said. “I don’t care if I have to wear an orange dress, so long as I get to marry Nick.”
Dad, I can do this’
“He’s a very, very nice gentleman,” Al Stowell said of his future son-in-law. “She’s made an excellent choice.” Stowell believes that his daughter will be chosen over the other three couples because “she’s so high on life. She said, Dad, I can do this.'”
Sessions, of South Paris, is “asking everybody in the world to vote.” Viewers can vote for their favorite couple on the Web at msnbc.msn.com. From that Web page, people may click on “NBC News Highlights,” then click on “Who should wed on Today’? Tell us!”
That site has photos and information about each of the four couples: Nick and Kim of Maine, Brad and Lisa of Pennsylvania, Allen and Serrita of the state of Washington, and Mark and Sarah of Maryland. This is the sixth year “Today” will be throwing a wedding based on viewers’ choices.
Votes will be tallied tonight, and the winning couple will be announced Friday morning.
Al Stowell said he has Friday off, so he’ll be traveling to Bangor with banners and signs to cheer for his daughter at the live broadcast of the show. Win or lose, “I think she did great,” he said. “I’m very, very proud of her.”
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