DREAMING AWAY: One of the wedding photographs found in the Dream Wedding Handbook.

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Dream wedding reality

By Wayne Bowman wayne.bowman@trinidadexpress.com

Imagine you have $150,000 to spend on your wedding. For some that is just not enough to create their perfect dream wedding, while others will use it to have a fairy tale affair beyond their wildest dreams.

Eight betrothed couples will soon have an opportunity to spend $150,000 on their respective weddings during a reality television competition series titled Dream Wedding that will run for eight weeks beginning in November.

That $150,000, however, will be in imaginary currency the show's creator and producer, Basil Lai told the Express. He explained that each couple will be required to work out a budget and sit with the various suppliers and service providers to plan their dream weddings based on the budget they come up with.

"We actually expect that couples may end up with weddings costing more than the $150,000, as much as $200,000 to $250,000 depending on what they are looking for. That is the reality. Then there are some who will plan an entire wedding they consider to be their dream wedding for only $50,000. The idea is to encourage couples to work with a budget," Lai said.

At the end of the eight weeks a couple will be declared the winner based on management of the budget, their interaction with each other, on-camera presence and how easily the wedding they propose can be delivered by the suppliers and service providers as a unit. The first prize is a complete wedding, in keeping with what the winning couple's dream wedding is, provided by Lai and the sponsors.

"The winner gets their full wedding including catering, gown, groom's suit, venue, colognes, perfumes, spa treatments, live entertainment and more. I don't ever buy the rings though because I believe that is something very personal and deeply special between the bride and groom. I don't think anyone wants to win their wedding rings in a competition and I would never cross that line on a couple's special day," Lai said.

Lai said he has a few surprises in store for the couples during the series as well as a very special surprise for the winning couple. Couples interested in participating in the Dream Wedding competition can register by first purchasing the Dream Wedding handbook that is now in stores. There is a form in the book they need to fill out and send in to the address found in the book to be among the couples screened for the show.

Even if one purchases the book and is not among eight couples chosen for the series, the book will still be handy as it contains more than $20,000 worth of vouchers from weddings suppliers and service providers that couples can use to create their own dream weddings.

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