Contest Winners Looking Forward to Saying 'I Do' at RTC

When Mindi Walker and Philip Laster walk down the aisle on May 28, it will be a wedding at the and of the Reston Town Center.

Walker, 30, and Laster, 23, are the winners of a "Win a Fantasy Wedding" drawing organized by Reston-based A Splash of Elegance Wedding Consultants.

The drawing was held on Valentine's Day.

"I thought, 'Reston has everything a bride would want,' " Victoria Wagner, owner of A Splash of Elegance, says.

She was correct. Nearly 100 couples from all over the country entered the contest. One pair even entered 137 times.

In the end, Laster, a Marine currently stationed at Camp Lejune in North Carolina, and Walker, a Capitol Hill staffer, were the lucky winners.

Walker says winning a wedding like this is a perfect fit to the whirlwind that has been their relationship. The couple met in November and was engaged on New Year's Day.

"When you know, you know," says Walker, who lives in Old Town Alexandria. "I really was happy bachelorette, but then I met this amazing man and my whole life changed."

A Splash of Elegance is coordinating almost everything for wedding, which will be in the Pavilion at Reston Town Center on May 28 at 11:30 a.m.

Wagner says area businesses have donated nearly $25,000 of goods and services for the event. The couple will, of course, get wedding planning services from A Spash of Elegance.

It will also receive, among other items, a catered reception from ; hair and makeup services from ; a cake from ; champagne from ; flowers from Graceful Flowers by Patricia; a custom-made gown from Bridal Silhouette; wedding bands from teeth whitening fromat Reston Town Center; photography from Jones Photography and music from Music Unlimited.

There is even a local therapist offering premarital counseling, gratis.