One lucky couple that will soon be tying the knot has just got an unexpected, but welcome surprise from a local golf course’s wedding planning service.
Castle Hill resident Amaryllis Ruiz was recently selected as one of 12 lucky winners to receive the grand prize in the Country Club Receptions Holiday Engagement Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes invited engaged couples to register at www.countryclubreceptions.com and enter a drawing for a one-hour ceremony, wedding consultation, round of golf for two, and lunch for two at Pelham Split Rock Golf Course.
Ruiz, 24, said that she was surprised to find out that she and her fiance Kane Chiang, 26, were winners in the contest, which picked hers as one of the most romantic wedding proposals for the nationwide contest. Chiang proposed to Ruiz at the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in December 2009. Chiang wanted his friends to be underneath the tree in Rockefeller Center when he proposed, but they were running late and the Christmas tree’s lights would soon be turned off. “He had to think of ways to distract me,” recalled Ruiz fondly. “He pretended to lose his wallet. Finally our friends got there, and he proposed.”
Ruiz is a Hunter College student who also works at a T-Mobile store location store in Manhattan. She met her fiance through a mutual friend. The wedding is set for March 20, 2011. They have chosen Pelham Split Rock Golf Course as the location in order to collect their prize.
“We’re pleased to announce the lucky winners of our Holiday Engagement Sweepstakes,” said Jim Allison, American Golf, senior vice president of sales and marketing, in a press conference. “Our experienced event planning staff will provide them with unique ceremony planning ideas and information, a wonderful catered lunch and a round of golf at one of our beautiful courses.”
Country Club Receptions is the online destination for all of American Golf’s premier golf properties. American Golf Corporation is one of the largest golf management companies in the world, operating over 100 private, resort and public golf courses throughout the United States, including Pelham Split Rock Golf Course.
“I was really surprised because I thought being proposed to under the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was fairly ordinary,” Ruiz said. “A lot of people get proposed to there.” A lot may get proposed to at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, but not a lot of them win a free wedding.
Reach reporter Patrick Rocchio at (718) 742-3393 or procchio@cnglocal.com.
