When bride-to-be Andrea Coffey received a phone call at work informing her that she had won The Atlanta Journal-Constitution bridal contest, she thought it was a joke.

"My friends knew I had entered, and I thought it was one of them calling me as a joke," she said. "I actually asked for [AJC marketing rep] Amanda Jowers' telephone number, waited a while, then called her back, just to make sure."

(ENLARGE)
Andrea Coffey and her fiance, David Stewart, won a wedding gown, a bride's cake, a honeymoon trip to Cancún and home furnishings in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution bridal contest.
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Coffey and her fiance, David Stewart, who will marry on Oct. 7, had already begun planning their wedding when Coffey entered the contest. The prize package included a wedding gown from La Raine's Boutique, a bride's cake from Henri's Bakery, a honeymoon to Cancún from Vacation Express and home furnishings from Hill Street Warehouse.

"I had these ideas about the type of wedding gown I wanted, but I hadn't really begun to shop, yet," she said. "The gown I've selected at La Raine's is totally different than anything I would have picked and I just love it.

"The owner spent a lot of time with me, helping dispel myths I had about body types and certain dresses. But when La Raine [Dezenie] showed me the corseted strapless gown, I knew right away it was the right dress. It's absolutely beautiful."

Coffey's mother and several wedding attendants were with her when she picked it out. Stewart won't see the gown until the wedding day, she said.

Coffey, 32, and Stewart, 30, met through the First Baptist Church of Atlanta in July 2002, but didn't begin dating until May 2003. They became engaged on Dec. 7. Both work in the financial field — Coffey as an analyst in an investment consulting firm and Stewart as a financial analyst with a major bank. This is is the first marriage for both.

"We started out as friends, then just began spending more time together, studying for our professional examinations and things. God brought us together," Coffey said.

The couple had planned to honeymoon in San Francisco and Santa Barbara, Calif., as a "compromise, because David loves the mountains and I love the beach," she said. "When we won the honeymoon to Cancún, it was ideal. We will enjoy the beach and spend some time inland visiting the ruins, so it's great for both of us."

Winning the trip has another benefit, as well.

"Because we won our honeymoon, next summer we can visit a friend in England whose husband is stationed there. It's great," she said.

Coffey's mother encouraged her to enter the contest just for fun.

"It's been a real blessing for us," she said. "There's no way it wouldn't be. It's made it possible for us to enhance the plans we were already making."