Everyone deserves their dream wedding, even if they have only five months to live.

That’s why Liz Guthrie founded Wish Upon a Wedding, America’s only wedding wish-granting organization that grants weddings and civil union ceremonies to couples facing life-threatening medical conditions.

Chicago Marriage Examiner chats with Guthrie to learn the ins and outs of Wish Upon a Wedding, which is set to launch January 2010.

Chicago Marriage Examiner: What is Wish Upon a Wedding? What is its purpose?

Liz Guthrie: The purpose of Wish Upon a Wedding is to:

            · grant weddings and/or civil union ceremonies at destinations across the United States to couples (18 years and older) who are facing life-threatening medical conditions.

            · celebrate the courage, determination and spirit of these couples by granting their dream wedding wishes. Our hope is that chosen recipients can inspire other couples facing similar situations to find hope and strength.

Chicago Marriage Examiner: How does it work? Please describe the process.

Guthrie: The application process includes an online submission form, where the couple tells their story, explains why they’re seeking assistance, a description of their illness, how long they have to live and proof from their doctors. The application also includes a photograph and a personal letter that is no longer than one page in length and describes their dream. Applications will not be accepted however until the organization’s launch in January 2010.

[Meanwhile], the founding chapter is located in Northern California and consists of a mix of wedding professionals and other prominent business people. We are currently establishing regional chapters across the country, each with its own board of directors (11 different volunteers). Wish Upon a Wedding will grant weddings and civil union ceremonies at destinations across the United States. When a wish application is received for a certain part of the country, the wish will be forwarded to that regional chapter. It is then up to the regional chapter and their board of directors to execute the wedding planning process. That regional chapter will then call upon their database of volunteers (known as “Wish Granters”) to put together a wedding for the applicant. Each chapter will maintain a database of “Wish Granters,” based on 20 different wedding vendor categories :

    ·Wedding Planner- will oversee all aspects of wedding coordination, including timeline creation, ceremony choreography, and will work with volunteer coordinator and all vendors to ensure a smooth wedding and reception

    · Wedding and Reception Venue - site where wedding and reception will take place

    · Caterer - will provide basic meal for wedding reception - no alcohol

    · Rental Company - will provide basic rental of tables, chairs, linens, china, flatware, glassware, etc.

    · Photographer - will provide basic, four-hour wedding day photography package

    · Videographer - will provide basic, four-hour wedding day video package

    · Cake Designer - will provide basic wedding cake

    · Gown Shop - will provide basic wedding gown

    · Tuxedo Shop - will provide basic grooms’ tuxedos or suits, if preferred

    · Limo Company - will provide four hours of wedding day transportation for couple getting married.

    · Officiant - will conduct the custom ceremony, based on couple’s desires

    · Hair - will do couples’ hair for wedding

    · Makeup Artist - will do couples’ makeup for wedding

    · Stationery Designer/Printer - basic invitations, ceremony programs, menus, escort cards and table numbers

    · Florist - will provide basic flowers: bouquet, corsages, bouts and centerpieces for reception

    · DJ - will provide music and audio needed for ceremony and reception

    · Musicians - will provide music for ceremony

    · Jeweler - will provide basic wedding bands

    · Hotel - will provide up to four rooms for two nights for couple and immediate family or loved ones

    · Miscellaneous Entertainment based on couples’ wishes, i.e., caricature artist, photo booth, magician, etc.

Sometimes that may mean the ceremony will take place in a hospice or at a hospital bedside. If the applicant is healthy enough to be married at a wedding venue, Wish Upon a Wedding will make it happen. Wish Upon a Wedding will also fly up to four family members or loved ones in to the city the wedding is to be held in. If the couple wishes to marry outside of the area they live in, and the request is reasonable, Wish Upon a Wedding will do everything it can to get the couple to their destination of choice.

Chicago Marriage Examiner: What separates your non-profit from others that may be designed to carry out similar functions?

Guthrie: There is no other organization in the country specifically designed to grant wedding wishes to terminally ill patients. Wish Upon a Wedding is filling a unique void, relying on the generosity of wedding professionals’ donated time and services.

Chicago Marriage Examiner: What are you doing to get the word out?

Guthrie: We do not officially launch until January of 2010. At that time, we will be sending out press releases and hosting a launch party in the San Francisco Bay Area. We have a public relations/media chair on our board of directors, as well as a marketing chair. These two volunteers operate the Twitter page, as well as our Facebook fan page. We are working on a blog, which will feature articles from all of our chapters each month and a fabulous Web site, all of which will be publicly revealed in January 2010.

For now our primary source of getting the word out is the Facebook and Twitter pages. In the future, we hope to partner with bridal-related organizations, destination wedding locales, airlines, hotels and more.

Chicago Marriage Examiner: What other organizations are you involved in? What are these designed to do?

Guthrie: I am the producer of the 2010 San Francisco Dream Wedding Giveaway, a community service project sponsored by 45 of the bay area’s top wedding, hospitality and travel professionals. This wedding is valued at $100,000 and [rewards] one very deserving couple facing some sort of loss, illness or significant hardship.

If interested in forming a chapter in your area, please contact Liz Guthrie at liz@sanjoseweddingconsultants.com. She also is accepting donations of money, volunteers wishing to be on our “Wish Granter” database/list and seeking committee members.