The Winners of the Say I Do! and 10,000 Couples Spring Cutest Couples are...

Paul and Bryan of Columbia, MD!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

This lovely couple takes top honor as the winner of our
Spring Cutest Couples contest with almost 170 votes when polling closed on Friday, May 23rd!

They win a feature in 10,000 Couples Magazine along with a gift card for the 10,000 couples store!

In addition, they'll be getting a photoshoot courtesy of 

Jon Fleming Photography!

We want to thank all of our couples who entered, it was a tough competition and truly everyone is a winner!

See all of the contestants here.

Thank you!!!

Love Story: Bryan and Paul of Columbia, MD

LOVE STORY

Paul and Bryan 

of Columbia, MD

Paul and Byran were married October 5, 2013 in Baltimore, MD, they were wed on the 17th year anniversary of their first interaction! Amazing!

Bryan and Paul met through a mutual friend on October 5, 1996.  Paul a junior attending Bloomsburg University, Pennsylvania and Bryan working for a non-profit organization in New Jersey shared a long-distance relationship for 1.5 years.  Our initial meeting was over the phone on a long distance phone call. We sent pictures of ourselves, through the mail, to see what eachother looked like.  As the months progressed, we had our official first date in November.  We went to see Evita at the movie theater on Route 11 near Bloomsburg University.  From October 5, 1996 to present, Bryan and Paul have not let a day go by without speaking to one another.  After graduating from college, Paul moved to New Jersey to start a new life with Bryan.  Our path has led us to Maryland, Paul, a teacher in HCPSS and Bryan, Genreal Manager for Charm City Cakes.

Love Story: Laura and AJ of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

LOVE STORY

Laura (27) and Alexandra Jean (26)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

My name is Alexandra, but people call me Aj. My fiancé is Laura. Here is our story...

Laura and I met in biology class when I was 15 and she was 16. At the time, I hadn't even considered that I might be gay or bi. Laura started talking to me on instant messenger under an alias as a male. I very quickly fell in love with this imaginary person. When she came forward and told me the truth, I was devastated at first. I felt like I lost somebody. Eventually I realized that the person I fell for was Laura and I probably wouldn't have even given her a chance as a female.

Over that summer break, Laura and I fell in love. Unfortunately for us, my mother was having nothing of the sort. I was raised catholic, so me being gay was out of the question. We fought to be together, we snuck around to see each other. It was both painful and beautiful. Eventually, we gave up the fight. It wasn't easy for either of us, but we just couldn't do it anymore.

Over the next ten years, we never forgot each other. We would talk for periods of time but lose touch. I always wanted her, and she the same, but we would never tell each other that. There would always be a reason why it just couldn't be.

In September of 2012, I moved back home after ending a serious relationship. Laura found out that I was back in the area, and she also was single at the time. She came to my house and insisted that i go have a drink with her. I reluctantly went with her, fearing the worst. I knew that if I spent time with her that I would fall in love again. I was very afraid to have my heart broken, because I knew exactly how it felt to lose her.

Laura was persistent, she just would not go away. I had no choice but to give in and love her back. She proposed by January. To most people, this seemed too fast. I thought the same thing at first. When I thought about it, I realized that I have wanted this for 10 years. She has been that one that I've compared every person to with out even thinking about it. She is without any doubt the love of my life and the missing piece of my heart.

Laura and I plan to get married in November of next year. If it is not legal in Pennsylvania next year, we plan to just have the ceremony and then legalize it at the courthouse whenever it is legalized. My mother, over the years, has come to accept that I am truly bisexual and not just looking for attention. Laura's family loves me, and mine loves her. Our life is beautiful, and love is love. 


Click here to vote for Laura and Alexandra Jean in the Say I Do! and 10,000 Couples Cutest Couple Contest

Love Story: Kaitlyn and Melissa of Baltimore, Maryland

LOVE STORY

Kaitlyn (24) and Melissa (26)

Baltimore, Maryland

Marriage Plans...

We are planning on getting married! We just got engaged on May 11, 2014 at a vineyard in central Virginia, and we are excitedly starting the wedding planning process. Our goal is to get married in August 2015, although we have a lot of details to sort out before picking our set date.

First Meeting...

Tell us briefly how you meet (your love story) and how long you've been together. -- We met online in late summer of 2013, so we've been together almost a year now. When we first started talking, we were emailing back and forth novels that took hours to write. For our first Skype date, I put on perfume and she ate a mint (we still laugh about the fact that we were both this nervous that we didn't think that these things didn't make sense for only a video date). We rearranged our schedules to meet in-person as soon as we could. We joke that we had the worst first date in history because we were both so nervous and not ourselves at all, but we had clicked so well talking that, thankfully, we went on a second date that was much better! We moved in together shortly after we began officially dating due to circumstances causing us both to need to move at the exact same time. She was living in New York, I was living in Virginia, and we ended up with an apartment in Maryland. We quickly adopted two dogs to grow our little family, and we just got engaged!

And, they attended Say I Do! Virginia!

Before we were engaged, I dragged her to the event in Northern Virginia. She was not in her zone at all, while I was having a blast decorating my own cupcake and chatting with vendors. We played up our differences, as we always do, and got some laughs from vendors who were amused by how unamused she was and how overly-enthusiastic I was. We actually ended up finding our photographer who we're now using through the event AND we won a gift card from one of the vendors, so I would say it was definitely worth it!

Vote for Kaitlyn and Melissa in our Spring Cutest Couples contest by clicking here.