Don’t have sex, win a $10,000 wedding

There seems to be one small problem with a contest that would pay $10,000 to an engaged couple — they can’t be engaged in premarital sex.

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How else to explain that in this sinking economy, no one has stepped forward to enter the Marriage for a Lifetime contest?

Did we mention the cash prize? Or the free flowers, the invitations and other bridal goodies?

The Oct. 31 deadline is fast approaching — but so far, no entries.

“Someone asked me, ‘Is anyone going to respond?’ ” said contest organizer Phillippia Faust, director of an abstinence education program for Rockdale, DeKalb and Newton counties. “In our society, it is going to be hard to find [a couple who has not had premarital sex]. … But the standard is the standard.”

Yet in a recent interview, Faust seemed inclined to relax the rules, saying couples engaging in sex can still qualify but they must acknowledge, “The right choice is probably not to have had done it.”

She will, however, draw the line at couples living together.

“If the couple is living together, definitely not, because they are set up for the kill.”

The contest is only open to couples with at least one of them living in Rockdale, DeKalb or Newton. And there are other strings attached, too. The winning couple must agree to open up the ceremony to the public (up to 100 people) and undergo premarital counseling.

Faust said the stipulations are designed to promote a marriage that will “really last a lifetime.”

“There is a romantic end of it, but we are also looking for a couple that is committed and who will work through struggles,” said Faust, director of Marriage Appreciation Training Uplifting Relationship Education, a nonprofit organization not affiliated with any church. “And we are looking for a couple that is choosing a lifestyle that is not compromising, and premarital sex is a compromiser.”

The giveaway is among a host of events with a sex-can-wait gospel. Faust, who goes by “Miss Flip,” visits schools throughout the year with a program pressing abstinence as well as teaching conflict resolution and financial management skills.

In 2006, her program, implemented through Rockdale Medical Center, was awarded a federal grant of $455,510 annually for five years (a total of $2.27 million). The wedding prize involves some of those federal funds.

In the past, Faust, a former labor and delivery nurse, has orchestrated mock weddings, contrasting one featuring young moms, money woes and sexually transmitted diseases with another that has a smiling bride walking down the aisle in a flowing white gown.

Faust said she likes to present kids an image of two beds: “The bed of poor choices and the bed of ‘We made good choices by waiting.’ “

This year, she decided to sponsor a real wedding designed to showcase a real-life couple pledging their love to each other. And she’s ponying up cash as well as a wedding photographer and plane tickets for a honeymoon.

She calls it the “unmock wedding.”

And she’s hoping it won’t be undone.

CONTEST DETAILS

• What: Marriage for a Lifetime wedding essay contest

• Requirements: Bride and groom must agree to undergo premarital education. Must agree not to serve alcohol at reception. Couple either agrees not to have premarital sex or at least acknowledge it’s preferable not to. At least one of the couple must live in DeKalb, Newton or Rockdale counties.

• To apply: Submit 600-word essay to the Mature Project, Rockdale Medical Center, 1412 Milstead Ave., Conyers, GA 30012. Deadline: Oct. 31

• More information: 770-918-3659