A lesbian couple from Asbury Park is looking for the LGBT community’s votes to help make their dream wedding come true.
Jaimee Nadell, 32, and Caitlin Miller, 30, are the first same-sex couple to be a finalist in The Knot’s Dream Wedding giveaway’s three-year history. They are one of six couples chosen out of more than 1,400 entries vying for a live-streamed, all-expenses-paid wedding.
Dubbed by The Knot, a renowned wedding-resource hub, as “the proud romantics from Asbury Park,” Nadell and Miller first met in Rehoboth Beach, Del., on Memorial Day 2013. Nadell was working as a prosecutor in The Bronx at the time. They didn’t see each other again for several months, but even before their first date, Miller, a Philadelphia native, said she had a feeling that “they would become best friends, the kind of best friends who get married.”
A cross-country road trip from Philadelphia to San Diego about three months after the first date proved to be the trip of a lifetime for the couple.
“Everyone we knew thought we were insane since we barely knew each other,” Nadell said.
They maintained a long-distance relationship, with Miller living in Philadelphia, before moving in together in New Jersey last Memorial Day weekend.
They got engaged in November; Nadell used Post-It notes to propose to Miller and, a few weeks later on Thanksgiving Day, Miller proposed back to Nadell.
“We’re jokesters, both of us,” Nadell said. “We like joking around; we’re fun, light-hearted people.”
The couple decided to enter the contest after they saw last year’s winners on TLC’s bridal-reality show “Say Yes to the Dress.”
“It seemed like an amazing opportunity,” said Nadell. “To have your wedding planned by professionals, and paid for. As two young professionals building our careers, we could sure benefit from saving on the expense too.”
Nadell is an attorney for a Monmouth County law firm and Caitlin is a registered nurse at a Monmouth County hospital.
As part of their entry, the couple had to explain how they met and submit a video — which shows pictures of the couple from various stages of their relationship.
“Cait is truly the best person I know,” said Nadell in their video entry. “She is beautiful, smart, kind and thoughtful. She makes me want to be better every single day. I couldn’t love her more and I can’t wait to marry her.”
“She is the most amazing woman I have ever met,” Miller said of Nadell. “She is one of those types of people who is brilliant in everything they do. She grounds me. I am my best self with her.”
As marriage equality heads to the Supreme Court this spring, the couple thought it would be perfect timing to try to be the first same-sex couple to win the national contest, exposing their story to The Knot’s predominantly straight audience.
“It feels like impeccable timing,” said Nadell. “As the Supreme Court hears the arguments and hopefully puts the issue to rest, that a nationwide bridal site — where the majority of couples visiting the site are straight — shows people what a same-sex wedding looks like, would help them get used to it. It would show people just how meaningful the celebration of a wedding is to same-sex couples.”
Since the wedding will be live-streamed on TheKnot.com, Nadell said their wedding would be sure to entertain.
“We love to party. We love dancing and going out. We are both fun and entertaining to watch — we’re not boring people,” she joked. “We’re definitely very entertaining.”
Vote for the couple on www.theKnot.com through Feb. 14. They have also created a Facebook page — www.facebook.com/caitlinandjaimee — to spread the word.
The winner of the contest will be announced April 6. TheKnot.com fans will then vote each week on various wedding details like the attire, cake and flowers. The wedding will be live-streamed June 4.