Wedding Day on TNT: Holli and Steve
The first episode of TNT’s new reality program Wedding Day featured a couple from Saginaw, Michigan. Holli Munro and Steve Holdwick were only four days from their original wedding date in July, 2007 when she was in a devastating car accident. Someone ran a stop sign and plowed into her car at 45 miles per hour. For a while there were questions whether Holli would even survive. Steve stayed by her side during her 52 day stay in the hospital. Obviously the wedding had to be called off.
Holli suffered major injury to her leg and hip. Right after the accident she was in a coma. Up until a few months before the wedding she was still in a wheelchair and stated that every morning she had to “retrain” her leg on how to walk again. Steve stayed by her side during the entire recovery, even moving into her parents’ home with her to help her out. The recovery took a toll on the couple – not only physically but emotionally and financially as well. Steve had to take a leave from his job to help out in the recovery. Holli couldn’t work at all.
In comes the family and friends of Holli and Steve who nominate them for this new reality program. Wedding Day is a program that gives deserving couples the chance to have the wedding of their dreams. Hosts Diann Valentine and Alan Dunn surprised the couple with an offer to plan the wedding of their dreams for them. They met separately with the hosts to find out what would be included in their dream wedding if given the chance. After their conversations with the couple, Holli and her best friend Kelsey are sent on a trip to New York City to relax before the wedding. Steve is sent off somewhere, a location that is never given. Oh, host Alan Dunn said we’ll find out later but we never do. They probably stuck him in some motel a few miles outside of town to keep him out of the way.
Once the couple leaves the friends and family jump right in to make this wedding day their dream day. The groomsmen and fathers of the couple stay at the church (St. John’s Episcopal Church) to make it perfect for the day. This includes ripping out the carpet and refinishing the original floors (a fact that the pastor seemed to appreciate). The bridesmaids, mothers, and rest of the friends and family head off to the reception site (Horizons Conference Center) to create the vision for this reception. The vibe: New York City, glamour, couture, with a very Sex in the City feeling about it.
Alan and the fathers go off to this stained glass shop to make the windows for a gate that will be built in the church. The fathers play a very active role in making the window. While they were working, Alan asks Holli’s father what he would give her if he could. He tells Alan about their house, that if he could give them anything it would be to make the house livable. It has been vacant for more than a year and a half.
In New York City Diann surprises Holli by giving her the opportunity to make one of her dreams come true – to be able to walk down the aisle in a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes. They have several pairs picked out for her, but because of her leg and hip injury she selects this really pretty pair of flat sandals with jewels on them. They are really nice. Diann then takes Holli to Mark Ingram Bridal Atelier where she is given the chance to fulfill another dream – to wear a Badgley Mischka bridal gown. I had never heard of this collection before tonight so I went online to view their gowns. Stunning. I want one. Oops, I’m already married so that is a problem. Plus the one press article I saw in Modern Bride magazine listed a gown as selling for $15,830. I don’t think I paid that much for my entire wedding. But I digress. She selects a beautiful dress (though I liked the first dress she tried on best) and is absolutely thrilled that she’ll walk down the aisle in style.
The couple is brought to the Temple Theater when they are expecting to be at their rehearsal dinner. They get a big surprise. Nationwide Insurance footed the bill to finish up their house so Holli and Steve will be able to live there after the wedding. She is thrilled and makes a heartfelt comment to Steve that they “will get to go home.” A representative of Nationwide is at the event and makes a brief speech. I’m expecting more from him but I’m disappointed. I thought for sure we’d get a cash donation, trust fund or something else (especially when there was mention made of their financial difficulties previously). A friend of Steve’s surprises them by his presence. He had been hurt at work and didn’t think he could afford to come to the wedding. Plus Steve hasn’t seen him in more than four years. A nice surprise as he is dealer for their Monte Carlo Casino Night rehearsal dinner. Me, I just went to the party room of a local Italian restaurant.
It starts to rain a bit as Holli pulls up to the church but doesn’t the old legend go that rain on your wedding day is good luck. She has some issues with her leg cramping up as she gets out of the limo, but says that just a few months ago she was in a wheelchair so it is a dream come true and amazing that it was actually possible that she could walk down the aisle at her wedding. The stained glass window is beautiful – a dove in a tree with leaves that have turned in autumn.
The reception is amazing. There is a 60 plus foot runway in the middle of the room that features martini bars and a candy bar with more than 500 pounds of candy. As the guests entered the room they got to see pictures of family and friends as they worked to make the wedding an reception special. And a final big surprise was having Boys II Men serenade them for their first dance to the hit song “I’ll Make Love to You.”
Overall it was a nice show. I did feel badly for this couple and what they had been through but there was no oomph, nothing that really got to me. Maybe that is a shortcoming of being the first episode and the others that follow will have more to it – at least as far as I’m concerned.
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