Social studies teacher Kenneth Schiumo and his wife, Courtney Schiumo are already married, but after having a small ceremony in 2023, they are hoping for a big celebration in 2024 via the  “Free Love Campaign” contest that is offering a free $70,000 wedding.

“I had absolutely no idea about the campaign and neither did my wife,” Kenneth said. “My sister works at a wedding venue and she has become close with a lot of different vendors from the wedding venue that service the venue quite frequently. There’s this photographer [and she] sent this [campaign] to my sister. [The photographer] was like, ‘[they] never really had the wedding they envisioned because the baby was being expected so they should totally throw their name in the hat for this to see if they could potentially win.’”

The Schiumo’s never expected to be among the top three chosen but after being unable to have  the wedding they wanted, they hope to win a free wedding.

“[The free wedding] would benefit our family in the obvious aspect of money, but most importantly a chance for our closest friends and family to witness our love for one another,” Courtney said.  “We never thought we would have the chance to have a large wedding after growing our little family so this would mean so much to us.”

The couple has got all the help they can get from supportive teachers, students, family, and friends to vote. The voting ends Sunday at 11:59 p.m. and the winner will be announced on Valentine’s Day.

“I feel like Mr. Schiumo should get the free wedding because as [him being] a teacher, I think he deserves it,” freshman Chelsea Ross said. “He has a newborn so it’d be cool to see [him get the free wedding]. I voted for him because I really like him as a person, he’s very nice, he’s helped me get better throughout the year and I’m grateful for that.”