By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — When Brian Vrieze first asked Ashley Johndro out in high school, she wasn’t allowed to date until she was 16; un-phased, Brian replied that he’d wait.
Photo contributed by Cuppy Johndro
Being engaged since October, when Brian Vrieze proposed to bride-to-be Ashley Johndro while home on leave from Iraq, the Caribou couple has entered the Real Maine Wedding of the Year Contest and needs community support to win the wedding of their dreams.
The two became best friends and eventually boyfriend and girlfriend — titles they recently traded for “fiancé” this October after Brian asked Ashley to be his bride while home on leave from Iraq.
The future Mr. and Mrs. Vrieze have entered the Real Maine Wedding of the Year Contest and are hoping that folks from Aroostook County will cast supporting votes to help them win their dream wedding.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Caribou couple had enough votes to be ranked third place behind two couples from Massachusets. Despite an impressive 9,889 votes, The County’s own contest entry is still 636 shy of the front runner.
“Right now it seems like we’re so close,” said Cuppy Johndro, Ashley’s mom, “as we get closer to the end, it actually seems like it’s in reach.”
Brian and Ashley’s video entry can be seen at www.realmaineweddings.com/itemlist/category/2.html.
Voting is open until Friday, and as long as Brian and Ashley stay in the top three, odds are good they’ll be selected as one of the three finalist couples; after March 12, it’s a voting sprint to the end of the month and whoever wins the vote will be given a wedding valued at $100,000.
For the Caribou couple, a wedding with a price tag that large is unimaginable.
“Last year’s contest winners made a three minute video showing clips from throughout [the bride’s] day — I’ve probably watched it every day because I can’t even fathom something like that,” Ashley said.
As Brian won’t be home for a few more months, he’s only given Ashley one stipulation about wedding plans.
With a wide smile, Ashley explained what it is.
“He said ‘as long as your dress isn’t poofy,” she said.
So while the University of Maine at Presque Isle student continues hitting the books, she’s also looking for a dress that’s more elegant than frilly while excitedly anticipating the homecoming of her future husband.
While the past few years have kept Brian and Ashley apart —half the world apart during Brian’s Iraq tour — the distance only strengthened the couple, (which makes them pretty strong, given the fact that they’ve been friends since the eighth grade).
Brian began his military service in 2009. While saying their goodbyes before Brian boarded the van to Basic Training, he told Ashley that he would write her. Understanding that basic training would keep him more than busy, she didn’t think much of it.
“I got a letter every day,” Ashley said. “Every day. In the mail, I would get a letter,” she emphasized.
She would, of course, write back.
With Ashley still in High School and Brian an enlisted soldier, the young couple grew through the written correspondence; they started sharing more personal information, including their feelings about each other.
With their relationship and themselves growing so much so far away from each other, Ashley remembers that the couple experienced a brief, but slightly odd moment when Brian first came home on leave.
“I remember we were sitting in the car and it was extremely awkward,” she recalled. “I just looked at him and said ‘are you going to hold my hand or what?’”
That was all it took for the best friends to fall back into their dynamic after so much time apart, and their reunions have been nothing but joyous ever since.
When Brian first returned to the states from Iraq (two months before he proposed while home on leave), Ashley and her mom drove down to Bangor so that they could spend a two-hour layover at 6 a.m. with the returning soldier.
She first spotted Brian as he was making his way down the ramp and tried her best to be patient, but soon found herself sprinting toward her then-boyfriend.
“I wrapped my arms around him and he said ‘whoa!,’” Ashley remembered. “I said ‘I missed you.’ — it was funny. We had a good time in those two hours.”
When asked what she loves the most about her future husband, Ashley says it’s his candid honesty.
“He’s 100 percent honest — if he thinks you’re doing something wrong or if he doesn’t agree, he’ll tell you straight-up and he’ll express his opinion in such a nice way,” Ashley said.
Adding to their storybook tale, Brian not only asked Ashley’s parents for permission to marry their daughter, he asked them back in the high school days if he could date her.
Like all storybooks, this one needs a happy ending; to win the Real Maine Wedding of the Year Contest, Ashley and Brian need all the votes they can get.
Don’t forget to vote by visiting www.realmaineweddings.com; click on the “2012 Contest” tab and send your vote for Aroostook County’s couple.
