Love Is Not Cancelled | Congrats to This Week’s Giveaway Winners!

After receiving many wonderful entires, we are ecstatic to announce ten more winners of our Social Media Giveaway! In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, it is our pleasure to provide these brides-to-be with a free Azazie wedding gown of their choice. Here are their stories:

Kelly Roach

The truth is, I wasn’t ready to come to terms with the fact that this year, time with family, celebrating an engagement, a wedding, the celebration, all the details … they were slipping away from what I had hoped and evolving into something else. And in writing this email, I am finally admitting that the plan is changing, and there is such beauty in embracing the new storyline!

So let me back up for the original storyline! My fiancee and I were set up as blind dates in college. It’s a pretty hilarious story, but after hitting it off that fist November 2015, we decided to wait until February 29th, 2016 to start dating. Who doesn’t love a leap year anniversary?? It’s our favorite joke. “How long have you been dating?” … “Only a year actually!” because we divide everything by four 🙂 We got engaged on 1/17 of this year and set a date for 11/7 – the same month we met so long ago. I didn’t find my dream dress before COVID, even after a few dress appointments with my three sisters. So many brides are in this position, and so many people are in much worse positions during this time. But no matter your situation, I think we’re struggling with feelings of loss when we were hoping to only celebrate feelings of love. We’re changing, we’re adapting, we’re seeing the bright side! But there is still a little to be sad about in what you’re leaving behind, and that’s what I had a hard time admitting. 

But now, I’m fully aware of what I truly need to get married this year and it’s not a lot at all. My fiancee and I had a big wedding planned with out-of-state family and friends, and instead we’re eloping. We’re starting married life just the two of us, and celebrating next year for THE BIGGEST one year anniversary party you ever did see 🙂 So really, all that I will have on my wedding day now is my fiancee (praise GOD haha) and a dress. No flowers, no details, no venue. Just the two of us pioneering our own way. I fell in love with Azazie after wearing your dress this past summer for my best friend’s wedding, and have only fallen more in love with you since. Yes, I love your fabric and color swatches (UNREAL). But I love what you’re doing, the community you’re building. You taught me what I needed to write this email: we don’t need it all, just the right things. And that is Azazie. That is my elopement this year that my fiancee and I are gushing over, because it’s totally unexpected and exactly the right page in our story. My favorite guy and (hopefully!!) my favorite dress, and that’s all I need. 

Regardless, THANK YOU. You gave me the courage to write this and admit the new storyline. I know I’m biased, but I think it’s even better than the original one 🙂

Edna Jakubovic

I hope whoever reading this is staying safe during such a difficult time. My name is Edna and I am 21 years old. I am a newly graduating nurse and I work at a dialysis unit providing life saving treatments to patients who suffer from kidney failure.

During this global pandemic, we’ve learned that those strong enough to survive COVID-19 are suffering from renal failure. With that, my need at work has tripled. I work 16 hour days, at times don’t even come home but at the end, it is all worth it knowing that I’m useful in such a difficult situation. If people are society are strong enough to survive this, I am strong enough to help them.

I am planning on marrying my best friend, the man who saved me from abuse and at a time where I am focusing on caring for others, it would help me emotionally and mentally knowing that someone cares for me by helping me with a wedding dress.

Financially, I am paying off my tuition and all household expenses as I am the only one working. By being fortunate enough to be chosen for this, would mean more than words could ever describe.

I never imagined getting married at this time, but when is really the perfect time? From this I’ve learned that it’s always a time to love, be loved, and care for one another.

Thank you all for what you’re doing. If I am not lucky enough, I hope and pray that one who also deserves it truly wins.

Natasha Navejar

I began 2020 as a 2nd-year medical student in a 4-year long distance relationship with my boyfriend, Elliot. We had made the difficult decision to do long-distance two years prior, when medical school called me to Houston and a master’s program rooted him in New Orleans, the city that brought us together. I was just beginning my clinical rotations, the part of medical school where your learning takes place in the hospital rather than the classroom. My first rotation, pediatrics, allowed me to take part in the birth of a child, the swaddling of newborns, and the simple act of giving a child a lollipop after a round of vaccinations. As my second rotation, Internal Medicine, was just beginning in February, Elliot came to visit and brought me to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, where he asked me to marry him. The proposal was not lavish or grand, not belabored by a carpet of rose petals or a barrage of fireworks. Rather, it saw the two of us sitting on a bench and holding hands amidst the chirping of birds and the whistle of the breeze through dancing trees, pledging that we wanted to do life together forever. Elliot had to return to New Orleans soon after, but we excitedly talked about celebrating our engagement with our friends and family, looking for wedding dresses in the shop where his sister found hers, and having his other sister take our engagement pictures.

And then COVID-19 hit. While I had no wedding date get postponed, the excitement of our engagement became overshadowed by a looming cloud of fear and worry. I went to the hospital every day–on the sub-rotation of Infectious Disease, no less–wondering if I would become exposed to the virus and bring it back to my loved ones. Flying, the main route by which Elliot and I visited each other, no longer seemed safe. I tried to focus on my studies, knowing that my tests and deadlines were still a very real concern. The excitement of going to pick out a dress, taking engagement pictures, and celebrating surrounded by friends and family was suddenly a distant memory.

2 and a half months later, I have accepted the gravity of COVID-19, and feel grateful for what I have. I was taken off my clinical rotations along with medical students around the world. Although I cannot go dress shopping or assemble my friends and family altogether in one space to plan a wedding, I have the time to appreciate the meaningfulness of my future career, the blessing of a loving fiancee, and friends and family who are only a phone or video call away. 

I appreciate you doing this giveaway and taking the time to hear all of our stories. I enjoyed reflecting on this unprecedented time, and am thankful for the kindness that I see everyday people and companies like yours sharing.

Chelsea Lollar

I am a nurse at Stanford Healthcare working on the frontlines of the COVID 19 pandemic and my fiance Kyle is finishing his last 2 weeks of school online though SF State, soon to receive a bachelors degree in criminal justice. We had our first date on May 3, 2014 at our senior prom and have been together ever since. Last March Kyle’s mom was diagnosed with brain cancer (glioblastoma) since her diagnosis she has had her tumor removed and finished her first round of radiation and chemo – after her diagnosed though we decided there is no better time than now to celebrate our love and get married on May 3, 2020 to assure his mother would be at our wedding, and it was also the 6 year anniversary of our senior prom. With the recent pandemic though our dream of this wedding has been postponed to currently November. Kyle’s mother is doing well now, but we have had to take extreme precautions around her since I work on the frontlines. I am reaching out to you because receiving a bridal gown that I could wear on my big day would add A little spark of happiness in our lives during this hard time for everyone. Thank you for listening to my story.

Dailisia Smith

Good evening, my name is Dailisia and my fiancee’s name is Shevon. We have been planning my wedding day since 12/25/2017 the day I got engaged. I have always been the type of girl to think that I would never get married or have a big family wedding. But as soon as I met my fiancee all of that totally went out the window haha. We agreed on the date 4/20/2020 to give his family from Trinidad enough time to get passports and things in order for our big day. We also needed to give his mother time to go through chemotherapy and thankfully recuperate because she wanted nothing more than to see her youngest son get married to the love of his life. Throughout this wedding planning journey I had Diy-ed most of my decor and worked with my planner on creating a beautiful hanging flower display and a beautiful backdrop made of tiny handmade wooden flowers. Well as we rounded the curve to the last leg of the wedding planning race Covid appeared and now we are stuck with some hard decisions to make. All of my fiancee’s family won’t be able to make it to our new date of 6/29/2020 the day before his birthday. But it’s either elope with a micro dinner party after or wait until next year and find a new venue as my venue took a big hit financially and won’t be around in 5 months or so. With all of the planning that has gone into this wedding it feels like the wind has been knocked out of me. Thank you for listening and making me feel heard💙

Cynthia Greenlee

I am writing in regarding the bridal gown giveaway.  I am writing on behalf of my absolutely amazing future daughter in law, Miss Cynthia Greenlee from Tracy, CA.   She is a pharmacy tech/shift lead for Walgreens and continues to work tirelessly daily putting her our life at risk to serve the community and her family.  She not only works LONG busy hours but when she is home she keeps up the house work and she makes care packages to send to family.  She goes above and beyond to assure her loved ones are happy and healthy.  Her heart was broken when her wedding dress shopping appointments were rescheduled twice and then finally cancelled, due to the Corona Virus.  It is so heart breaking that she is not even sure she will be able to find a dress by her wedding date, (and still unsure if the wedding will actually happen due to Corona, the wedding is in the fall).  She gives so much to the world and so deserves to have something special like a free bridal gown.  I really hope you will consider Miss Cynthia Greenlee  for your free bridal gown.  She is an amazing human being and my son (AND our family) are so very lucky to have her in our life.  

Corryn Chase

First of all thank you for having this contest! I know I appreciate every brand that is willing to help out in any way during this strange and difficult time we all find ourselves in.

My fiancé and I have been engaged since June 2018 and I always dreamed of having a spring wedding. We even moved in with my parents to help save for a dream wedding. Our original date was supposed to be 5/15/20 (cute right? I made sure to reserve that date the minute the venue opened up the 2020 calendar haha ).

We live just outside of LA county who recently extended their stay-at-home orders too, you guessed it, 5/15. After many discussions and a few tears, we postponed the wedding to 7/1/20. July 1st is actually one day before we officially met in 2014 and later got engaged in 2018. It was almost a blessing as this feels like a better And more appropriate day for us.

Now I just hope and pray every day that we can all get back to a somewhat normal life by July. Otherwise it’s back to the drawing board. 

Thank you again and thank you for reading my story.

Tara Guzman

Like most people 2020 was supposed to be my year. My boyfriend after 8 years proposed in June 2019 and I was so excited to FINALLY married.

Well little did I know just two months later I would get injured and tear  my ACL/Meniscus playing in a  football league. 

I had my surgery November 2019, recovery has been awful to say the least but 6 weeks later post surgery I decided to set my wedding date for Sept 11, 2020.

It give me a time frame to be able to have the opportunity to learn how to walk again. 

Fast forward February 2020, I had to have a second  knee surgery on my birthday because I wasn’t healing. The frustration and depression has been real. 

 I decided 3 weeks after my surgery I would be able to book an appointment to get my wedding dress with my crutches and knee brace.

Well COVID 19 shut the down real fast. 

Just 2 weeks ago I made the hard decision to cancel my wedding date  this year because the way California was going there was going to be no chance of me being able to find the “perfect dress” with everything closed.

During my  time of healing, I have had the opportunity to serve along side my very own mother, a nurse practitioner, to combat the coronavirus. She leads a team of six nurses who serve relentlessly on the front lines. I will attach some photos of our team.

Truth be told, I still have a road to recovery ahead of me. I’m getting stronger everyday and STILL learning how to  trust my knee. 

I can’t wait for the day I can “walk” down the aisle literally and figuratively.

Amanda Conway

I have been dating my now boyfriend for 2 years. We had our first non- work trip planned together for Spain and Portugal in March/April 2020. I have been working as a nurse practitioner for just over 3 years at this point and had only taken one full week off at that point, so I was very much looking forward to this trip with my boyfriend to have a break from taking care of others as well. 

10 days before we were supposed to leave, the Covid pandemic came and we had to cancel our plans. I had to then trade my vacation to working at Madison, Wisconsin’s Covid only clinic as a NP screening and caring for patients affecting by the coronavirus. 

Working more weekends, I had Friday, April 3rd off. My boyfriend tells me that he is going to take off the day to spend with me since he wasn’t able to see me much on weekends. We go for a walk around our state Capitol to get some exercise, and halfway through the walk he got on one knee and asked me to marry him! This day we were supposed to be in Portugal overlooking the ocean. He had this absolutely romantic day planned that was of course canceled with Covid. He wanted to keep the day the same because you don’t stop loving just because of a pandemic!

I am now at the planning part of my wedding, which of course is at a halt because of the pandemic. I’ve always wanted a spring wedding, so we are hoping to do spring 2021. However, I am still spending my days doing what’s best for my health system. I’ve worked at 3 different clinics going at a moments notice when there is need in about 4 different roles that are needed for NPs during this pandemic. It is what is best for the patients and community. 

I have had an Azazie dress as a bridesmaid and was obsessed with it! I am truly looking at your dresses as the pandemic and my work with the pandemic makes it near impossible to go to a salon. Your home try on is fitting my role with this pandemic. Plus, I know the quality is absolutely amazing. 

I am hoping you’d consider me for this contest as not only Covid completely changed my engagement and wedding planning, but it affects my work daily as I have put myself at risk and had to isolate myself from absolutely everyone but my fiancé by taking care of those at highest risk who need me as a healthcare provider.

Maegan Foster

Hello! My name is Maegan and this is how COVID -19 has impacted my wedding. I originally didn’t feel like I deserved to share my story and enter this giveaway because I haven’t had to cancel or postpone yet. My fiance and I got engaged in November of 2019. We were unsure of when to plan our wedding because I am finishing my degree in elementary education and student teaching in the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021. We want to be married in May of 2021 after I graduate.We had toured venues right before the lock down, and the place we wanted to book is now not responding to our emails. It’s a very small, very new venue (only been open for about a year) so our parents are all strongly discouraging us from putting a deposit down. We have no idea how to continue planning. Dates for next year are starting to get booked up so we’re scared of either starting over on our venue search (while still not being able to travel to visit venues, as our families are 6 hour apart and we’re trying to find some place in the middle but obviously we can’t tour under stay at home orders), or putting a deposit down on a place we love but could very possible go under before our wedding, and that’s if they respond to us. I also recently lost my job a daycare due to COVID. I’m only able to work full time from now until August when I begin student teaching, and then I will only be able to work part time until graduation. My fiance and I are paying for everything out of pocket on our own, and I’m terrified that I won’t be able to pull in enough money to afford the dress or wedding that I’ve been dreaming of. While we haven’t been forced to cancel or postpone, we’re in a complete standstill and unsure of how to move forward, as well as trying to cope with the burden of limited income. 

I have been so impressed with how much Azazie cares for their community! My bridesmaids will be ordering their dresses from here and I’m so excited to work with such an amazing company. Even if I don’t win the giveaway, thank you so much for the chance, and for doing all you can to help so many brides who have been impacted by such a hard time.

Thank you to everyone who shared their story! We will have more stories to come on the Azazie Blog next Friday!