Every woman, whether they admit it or not, dreams of a fairy tale wedding. One Corona bride had her dream come true.
After five years of dating, John Thomas Shinnick asked Kimberly Marrero to marry him and in 2010, two years after the proposal, Marrero’s wedding plans needed some help.
“I had the vision but couldn’t put it together,” said Marrero, who admitted she became lost while planning her 1920s Hollywood-themed wedding. “When you get close to the wedding you start buying new things and things started to get messy. I became obsessed with peacock feathers and pearls!”
Then, in a twist of fate while Marrero’s bed-stricken Maid-of-Honor watched the television show “My Fair Wedding” with host celebrity wedding planner David Tutera, she saw the show on We TV sought couples for their upcoming third season. Marrero, an avid “My Fair Wedding” devotee, applied and learned she had been accepted while shopping at Queens Center Mall.
“I ran out of the mall screaming,” she said, while holding back tears during the phone interview with The Queens Courier. “John immediately knew why.”
According to Marrero, she would watch how Tutera helped other brides and used it to get ideas for her own wedding. When Marrero would share her ideas with Shinnick – who she met at church because he was friends with her brother – he’d respond, “’You don’t have David Tutera money!’” she said.
But when Tutera’s expertise and money began to pour in, Marrero’s vision became a reality.
The spunky Puerto Rican optician explained that with their original budget they might have had only 80 guests, a problem since Shinnick’s large extended Irish family lived in England and wanted to attend. With Tutera’s and the network’s influence, the guest list grew to 150 people.
“I really feel that in my case David took care of everything. David is an artist,” she said and described him as sweet, sensitive, smart and fashionable. “He takes your vision and magnifies it. He puts it under a microscope, finds the atoms and adds his own personal touch.”
Anyone who has seen the show, or everyone who knows a bride-to-be, knows that some wedding details can’t be negotiated. With Marrero, she had a hard time letting go of her veil. Tutera suggested that she use one that showed off her face, and she gave in.
“I didn’t think it was going to be me,” she said. “But I realized it was important not to judge it by the looks, you got to put it on and see how it looks,” she said. “You have to be open to new things and that’s what David taught me.”
“Everything he chose was perfect,” said the happy newlywed.
The “My Fair Wedding” episode with Kimberly and John premiered on Sunday, June 20 but encores will be aired on Friday, June 25 at 10 p.m., Sunday, June 27 at 5 p.m., Thursday, July 1 at 3 p.m., Saturday, July 10 at 2 a.m., Sunday, July 11 at 1 p.m., and Monday, July 19 at 12 p.m.
