Hello there
In 2000, Sean and Katie were students at LaSalle University. Sean volunteered with a mentoring program for children in foster care. Katie volunteered with an after-school tutoring program. Both university programs used a lounge area outside the chapel as the meeting spot.
One day when Katie, then a sophomore, was working with her middle schooler, she noticed a little girl of about 3 or 4 crying. She asked what was wrong. "My mentor isn't here," the little girl said. Katie invited the girl to sit with her and the boy she tutored. About 15 minutes after she had sat down with them, the little girl dropped her book and dashed across the room to leap into the arms of her mentor - Sean.
Katie had no idea who he was, but she remembers thinking he must be a good guy to get such a response. She found out more when she saw him two weeks later at a party. "You're the guy I saw at tutoring," she told him. Sean and Katie were soon discussing how much they loved working with the kids, and both expressed a desire to adopt children from the foster-care system in the future.
"I'd love to marry a girl like you one day," Sean told her. "OK, I'll be your wife," Katie said. And so began a long-running joke. Whenever Sean and Katie ran into each other on campus, they would yell, "Hey, there's my husband!" or "Hello, wife!"
The two were friends, but never so much as kissed until the summer before Katie's senior year and Sean's super senior year - he took five years to graduate. Katie was down the Shore for the summer, and Sean sent her an e-mail saying he was coming to Avalon for a while, too. They started dating, without really defining what they were doing. "That January, I just asked him right out, 'Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?' " Katie said. "And he said, 'Yeah!' "
How does forever sound?
In February 2008, Katie and Sean headed down the Shore again, to a home her parents have in Brigantine. They went to a seafood place called Crabby's. Katie looked away from the table for a minute, and when her eyes returned to her plate, there was an engagement ring on one of the crab's legs.
"I took it off, and he said a bunch of nice things, and I said yes," she said. But as soon as Katie put the ring on her finger, something about it seemed strange. It lacked weight, for one thing. And it was three sizes too big. But she said nothing. Sean gave Katie the box the ring came in, and they went to her parents' house.
Sean went to the restroom, and Katie held her ring under the light of the lamp. "This thing can't be real," she thought. In the eight years they had dated, Katie never pressured Sean to get engaged. When people asked her, she said, "He'll do it when he's ready." But recently, she had told him she wanted to get married, and now she worried that she had pressured him into acting quickly and that some dishonest jewelry salesperson had hoodwinked her man.
"Something is wrong," her mom said. She denied it. Sean came downstairs and saw her holding the ring up to the light. "What are you doing?" he asked her. "I'm seeing it sparkle," she fibbed. "You don't like the ring!" he said. "I like it," she insisted.
Katie called her sister to tell her about the engagement. "What's wrong?" Tricia soon asked. "Nothing," Katie said. "Put him on the phone," Tricia said.
"Sean," she told him. "It's been hours. You have to tell her what's up."
Sean hung up and said to Katie, "I know you don't like your ring. Do you like this one better?"
He handed her a beautiful ring that he had especially designed for her - in a size 4.5. The one she had been wearing was indeed a cheap fake.
At home
Katie, 29, is originally from Northeast Philadelphia, and Sean, 30, is from Glenside. They live in Flourtown.
At work
Katie teaches fifth grade at Philadelphia's J.H. Moore Elementary. Sean sells insurance for the Christine Agency in Huntington Valley.
It was so them
Katie was getting ready for work one morning, about three months after the engagement. She saw a TV news segment about a wedding for charity. Top area wedding vendors would donate their products and services at a value of between $50,000 and $60,000. The wedding would be auctioned off to couples through eBay, and the money raised would benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand, a charity for cancer research.
She e-mailed Sean asking his opinion. "Sold!" he said. Both really loved the idea that money they would pay for a wedding would go to charity, and they agreed they would bid up to $30,000. The auction ended on a Saturday, and they would save their bid until then. Friday night, they were out at dinner, when Sean got a little worried. What if they had to turn over the whole amount at once? They didn't have it all. As they walked out the door, Katie found a $100 bill. "It's a sign!" she said. "The money will come from somewhere."
As the auction entered its final minutes, Katie was in a bidding war with other future brides. She typed in her cap of $30,000, and received an e-mail that she was the top bidder. But that elation soon faded - another e-mail said she was outbid. Sean called. He'd been watching the auction, too. "I guess we didn't win," he said. "Nope," she said. But then Katie handed her laptop to her sister, Tricia, who had come for moral support, and mouthed to her "Keep bidding!"
The scariest moment of all came in the final seconds, when Tricia meant to add a few thousand dollars to the maximum bid, but accidentally added an extra zero. Suddenly, Katie's bid was $340,000. And an e-mail congratulated her on winning.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" said her very upset sister. But luckily, Katie and Sean only had to pay more than the next highest bidder. The wedding cost them $34,100.
While the vendors all donated their services, Katie and Sean still got to personalize their wedding. The Omni, where the reception for 155 was held, offered space for the ceremony, too. But since the couple are Catholic, they opted instead to be married nearby at Old St. Joseph's Church.
Katie worked with designer Toi Sweeney, who created a white lace gown with a scalloped hem and a long train.
Sean and Katie have kept up their volunteering ways, and Sean didn't want the wedding to be an exception. Prior to the wedding - when the bride was going through all that brides go through to get ready - Sean, his groomsmen, and some Omni personnel ran an Alex's Lemonade Stand outside the hotel. They raised about $3,000.
Awestruck
Katie was most touched by Sean's wedding-day volunteer effort. "People kept telling me, 'Oh, you should have seen him hustling. He was crossing the street to talk to people.' "
This didn't happen at rehearsal
Sean likes to make a statement when he attends weddings. He is well known for his propensity to show up in, say, a bright red blazer that is unusual to see "on someone under the age of 70." But he assured his friends and his bride that he would not be married in anything flashy. And he wasn't: He wore a black tux for the ceremony.
During the reception, Katie went in search of Sean because the photographer needed to snap some photos. She found him emerging from the elevator "in a tux from the '70s. It was light mint green and ruffled. White shoes, too. It was a doozy!"
The D.J. cued "Staying Alive" as Sean walked back into the reception.
Discretionary spending
A bargain: The couple got a fancy wedding that they loved for half price - even if it was thousands more than they intended to spend before learning about the contest.
The splurge: The $4,100 over the original limit that Katie bid.
The getaway
A week in Riviera Maya in Mexico was included with the wedding package.
Behind the Scenes
The following companies donated goods and services:
Venue
The Omni Hotel at Independence Park, Philadelphia
Cake
Classic Cake of Cherry Hill
Rehearsal dinner
Ristorante Panorama, Philadelphia
Beauty services
Lux Spa & Fitness at the Omni Hotel, Philadelphia
Videography
Video by Louis Anthony, Philadelphia
Photography
Majestic Images Photography, Philadelphia
Centerpieces
Arrangements Unlimited, West Conshohocken
Wedding bands
Barsky Diamonds, Philadelphia
Dress
HMTQ Her Majesty the Queen, Philadelphia
Music
Synergetic Sounds, Philadelphia
Tuxedos
Men's Wearhouse, Philadelphia
Honeymoon
Dreams Tulum Resort & Spa, Mexico
Continental AirlinesEndText