Saturday, December 06, 2008
After placing wedding plans on the back burner for almost two years due to the declining health of a family member, Jo Rodriguez and Daniel Vicknair finally set the date for January 2009.
They made arrangements to have their wedding at a Houston venue, but four months before they were to say “I do,” they received the worst phone call imaginable.
“In September, I got a call from my wedding planner who said that the facility had gone bankrupt, and they weren’t going to be able to give our money back,” Rodriguez said. “It was almost $7,000 that I had put into this place.”
Rodriguez, an SFA senior majoring in interior merchandising, and Vicknair, an SFA criminal justice senior, were among about 50 couples who lost wedding deposits after two Houston venues filed bankruptcy following Hurricane Ike, she said.
“I basically ran my parents dry with this wedding and had nothing to show for it,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was going to say to my parents. I was trying to figure out ways to repay them that money, because that was taken away from their retirement funds and future financial things they wanted to do, and it was for nothing. I felt guilty. We both felt guilty that we had wasted that much money.”
But two months later, Rodriguez’s life was turned upside down again when she received a phone call from an executive producer of the Rachael Ray Show who wanted to meet with her, Vicknair and the other couples who had lost their money due to the bankruptcy.
“She told me she would be flying to Houston and asked if I would be willing to drive down there to meet with her,” Rodriguez said. “So, Daniel and I agreed and we went.”
Many of the other soon-to-be brides, who Rodriguez had interacted with in an online blogging group, and their fiances were present during the meeting.
“A bunch of the brides that this had also happened too formed a blogging group, and we all kind of kept in touch with each other as far as filing lawsuits and going to bankruptcy court and just trying to find out if there was any way that we could get our money, because a lot of us did not purchase wedding insurance,” Rodriguez said. “It was nice to meet people who you had been talking to for a while.”
After being directed to a room where cameras were “everywhere,” the couples were interviewed, she said.
“They just asked us our side of the story and what we were going to do now, and we didn’t know what we were going to do,” she said. “That was our answer.”
But then, the unthinkable happened.
“They had two large-screen TVs in one room and then Rachael appeared and told us that the next Sunday, which was Nov. 2, she would be throwing a wedding for all of us and it was going to be at Minute Maid Park,” Rodriguez said. “They were going to be paying for our dresses, our rings and tuxedos, and there would be more surprises along the way.”
The couples then had 24 hours to decide if they wanted to be apart of the wedding ceremony, she said.
Because Rodriguez’s father, who was suffering from pancreatic cancer, would be undergoing surgery the following week, they decided to move along with the wedding plans, she said.
“We just wanted to make sure that we were all together doing something positive for all of us before we jumped this hurdle,” Rodriguez said.
The week leading up to the wedding was “full of excitement” as Rodriguez was fitted for a wedding dress, Vicknair was fitted for a tuxedo and final preparations were made.
“Daniel was filmed getting fitted for his tux, and I was filmed at 6 in the morning at a David’s Bridal in Sugar Land getting fitted for my dress,” she said. “They told me I could pick out anything I wanted.”
On the day of the wedding, the couples showed up at Minute Maid Park at noon, she said.
“They did my hair and makeup, and there was a stylist from the Style Network,” Rodriguez said. “She actually helped me put my veil on and helped me into my dress. And Rachael Ray was there watching us get ready and talking to us. She was the nicest lady.
“The week leading up to it, I was really camera shy. And then when it was time to get married, it didn’t matter who was watching or who wasn’t watching. I was getting married and that was the most important thing.”
Each of the brides were escorted down the aisle by their fathers where their grooms were waiting, she said.
“I was actually the first bride to get married,” she said. “This was the biggest day of my life, and I was first. They had us all walk down the aisle individually, and we all lined up and took turns saying our vows and doing the ring exchange. They had preachers and pastors from every religion, and they did whatever we could to make sure it was what we pictured.”
By 7 p.m., Vicknair and Rodriguez were man and wife.
“(Each couple) could only invite 10 family members,” Rodriguez said. “I come from a family where the siblings are five, so I took up most of the guest list.”
Each couple had their own table, food and cake, she said.
“Wynonna Judd (a singer) sang at our wedding and Jeff Ross, a comedian, gave the best man speech,” Rodriguez said. “Rachael’s husband was there, too. They ate and drank and mingled with us. It was like we really had invited them.”
They also received surprises that shocked them all, she said.
“We had a fireworks show, and they gave us a room to stay in Houston on our anniversary,” she said. “The paid for our photography. They gave us a honeymoon to Mexico, and a videorecorder to film it all.”
During the week following the wedding, Rodriguez’s father had surgery.
“It was very successful,” she said. “They think he is in full remission.”
Rodriguez said her family is now planning to participate in an Austin marathon that will benefit pancreatic cancer research.
“I’m so glad somehow all of this worked out,” she said. “My dad was sick, then I wasted all of their money. I was feeling really guilty about all that. Once I couldn’t stand it anymore, in a matter of a week it was all better.”
Rodriguez said the wedding that Ray threw for the couples “reinstated the value of good people.”
“They say in weddings ‘go big or go home,’ and we definitely went big that day,” she said. “It was really the best day of my life. I’m so happy I got married that way. Seven-thousand dollars could not have paid for all that.”