The perfect wedding for Pamela Lucier of Lunenburg, and her fiancé Joshua McKenna of Leominster, would begin by taking place in Boston.

    “I always thought that if it was in the city the ceremony would be in Old South Church or Trinity Church,” Pam said.

With neutral colors, perhaps blush tones, cream, gold, but “probably something on the inexpensive side.” They would be happy just for the opportunity to celebrate their wedding day in front of family and friends.

    But then Pam found a contest for US Weekly’s Annual Dream Wedding Contest. Every year couples are given the opportunity to win $100,000 for their big day.

    So Pam signed up.

    “I figured sure, why not,” she said.

    They ended up being chosen as finalists for the contest and competing with nine other couples for the grand prize.

    “That was pretty cool, it was an honor [to be chosen], it meant someone liked your story enough to be the top 10 out of however many couples that actually entered,” Pam said

    Pam and Josh met each other at a Jimmy Buffet concert in September of 2007. Josh was a member of the 82nd airborne division at the time, and was at home on leave when they met.

    “We had an instant connection and made it work long distance ever since,” they wrote for their contest entry.

    "For the first two and a half years of our relationship, I was either in Iraq or stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, while Pamela was in Massachusetts," explained Josh in the couple’s USMagazine.com profile.

    According to the profile for Pam and Josh on the UsWeekly Web site, the couple are raising Josh's 11-year-old disabled son from his prior relationship.

    "Connor has a condition called septo-optic dysplasia," explained Pamela. "He is blind, cannot walk and can only say a few words. He has the learning capacity of a 2-year-old, is on several medications and needs constant care."

    Despite the challenges, "I could not imagine my life without Connor," said Pamela.

    The couple told UsWeekly, they can’t "afford the wedding of our dreams, but standing up to say our vows in front of our friends and family is the most important thing to us, no matter how we do it."

    Pam said she had texted him to tell him that she had signed up for the Dream Wedding contest, “I told him I entered and he was like ‘yeah, OK.’ But then when I told him we were in the finals he was like, ‘Oh wow! OK!’”

    Entering the contest and becoming finalists still did not change their wedding plans.

    “Winning would let us keep what we have been saving for the wedding; it would bring us closer to buying a house,” said Pam.

    But that didn’t stop Pam from daydreaming “a lot” about what their absolute dream wedding would look like if they won.

    Pam said the couple had originally been planning for a longer engagement.

    “We just thought it would be nice to wait a while,” as well as to save up the money for a wedding, explained Pam. “I’ve been living with my parents in Lunenburg to help save up. But if we win, we won’t have to worry about the money, it can be our day.”

    The contest was set to reveal the winners on August 17. Late in the afternoon, Pam hadn’t known if they had won yet.

    “They never said how we would find out whether we had won or not,” she said.

    She admitted, “I’ve been checking the Web site; I hope I don’t find out by looking on the computer…”

    Then the date on the Web site was changed, “Come back on August 18 to find out who won their dream wedding!”

    “It’s so frustrating!” Pam said after the first setback.

    And it was even more frustrating when the results were again postponed. Pam was attending the wedding for a close friend when the winners were finally revealed on August 20.

    Pam and Josh had won their dream wedding!

    “I saw it on the Web site, and they finally contacted me,” Pam said. “We both just couldn’t believe that they picked us. Josh and I were so excited when we found out. We are really honored and still kind of in shock!”

    Pam went down to New York on Thursday to meet with the people of US Weekly and weddingchannel.com.

    “They haven’t given me any info yet, I haven’t even spoken with the wedding planner. I’m kind of out of the loop,” Pam said on Monday. “They haven’t given me a specific date that we are to be married by; I just know it is going to be in the next couple of months. Our original date was June 2012.”  

    “We are glad to be getting married earlier!”

    Indeed, Pam and Josh now have the keys to their dream wedding, and will be able to use their savings for other things.  

    The gears are currently shifting from dream wedding to reality wedding.

    “I think it is slowing sinking in that we won.  But it seems very surreal.  Neither Josh nor I have ever won anything before so it is still unbelievable,” the bride-to-be said.

    The profile for Pam and Josh can be found on USmagazine.com under Dream Wedding 2010.