Ten years ago, Kendra and Rob Thornton won a very special prize — they were named “America’s Most Romantic Couple” in Bridal Guide’s 2005/2006 Bride of the Year contest. As a result, the high school sweethearts won an incredible NYC wedding valued at nearly $100,000.
The winning couple then and now:
The pair met in 1992 as high school freshman; Kendra immediately developed a crush on Rob, but they didn’t begin dating until their senior year. The period after graduation tested their love — Rob joined the Air Force and was sent to Texas, while Kendra attended the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. “Being apart was unbearable, but visits and phone calls helped to ease the pain,” Kendra wrote in her entry. “E-mail wasn’t mainstream in 1996, but today, I am thankful for that, because we may be the last generation that is able to treasure our handwritten love letters, like couples have for centuries before us.”
Because they started their romance so young, they’ve had the benefit of truly growing up together. “We nurtured our love but also each other as we stumbled down life’s path into adulthood. It was, and still is, simultaneously scary and exhilarating, but somehow, we’ve found a balance between the independence needed to spread out wings and the security of knowing the other person will never let you fall.”
Seven years after they began dating, Rob popped the question with an elaborate rouse — he staged a “charity art auction,” with art donated by local artists and filling the room with plenty of romance-loving volunteers. Kendra was shocked when one of her own pieces, a sculpture of an ancient Incan sun god, was placed up for auction. The crowd went wild for Kendra’s sculpture, raising the bid quickly from a few hundred to a few thousand, until someone shouted out “$50,000.” That person was Rob. “Knowing we don’t have that kind of money and that bids are legal contracts, I was feeling faint. He jumped to his feet and said he wouldn’t pay a dime unless he could introduce the artist.” When Kendra joined him on stage, that was when she noticed a trinket box around the neck of the sculpture. Rob dropped to one knee and asked her to marry him. The crowd went wild, and the couple’s families (who had been hiding in a stairwell) rushed in to celebrate with them.
Soon after, the couple entered Bridal Guide’s 2005/2006 Bride of the Year contest, where Kendra won us over with how she describes romance:
“Romance is more than candlelit bubble baths and rose bouquets. Those things are wonderful, but they are not what are at the core of romance. Romance is something more, something deeper and harder to define. Rob and I have been together for almost nine years, and I can say that he still takes my breath away. I get to simultaneously adore the boy I loved in high school and respect the brilliant successful man he’s become. He is my best friend; we love wildly and without judgment, ever after learning each other’s deepest secrets and insecurities. He continues to give me that tingle and flutter in my stomach that I thought was only possible with new love. Our love may not be ‘new’ but it is ‘re-newed’ with every touch and kiss. To us, romance is dancing barefoot to Sinatra in the living room. It is the way his face lights up when I walk in the room, like he is seeing me for the first time all over again. It is the way I need to breathe his scent, as badly as I need air, every time we embrace. It is being equally content in silence or chaos. Romance is laughing hard, out loud, and often. Romance is not the big things you do on Valentine’s Day or anniversaries; rather, it is the selfless little things you do for each other every day without even thinking about it.”
Kendra and Rob’s wedding took place on March 25, 2006 at the famed Tavern on the Green in New York City. Every step of the planning process — from shopping for the gown to the honeymoon — were documented by Bridal Guide, which Kendra loves looking back on now as her own “unique scrapbook filled with beautiful pictures to document the occasion.” They still watch their wedding DVD every year on their anniversary!
Take a look back at their gorgeous wedding (click to enlarge):
We recently caught up with the happy couple, who are still just as in love as they were on their wedding day ten years ago. Here, Kendra shares her tips for a happy marriage:
1. Keep each other a priority. When life gets hectic and sweeps you in different directions, always remember who needs to be first in your heart and home.
2. Don’t wait for special occasions to be romantic. We believe a spontaneous surprise on a random Tuesday is much more thoughtful than a bouquet on Valentine’s Day.
3. Never stop trying to make each other laugh.
4. Continue to give your relationship the same effort you did when you were dating: compliment each other, show gratitude, dress up for date night, hold hands, and get lost in the moment.
5. Find time every day to give each other your full attention. People are so over-stimulated by technology; remember to minimize ‘screen time’ and maximize couple time.
Congratulations to Kendra and Rob on their tenth anniversary; we’re all wishing you many more years of happiness together!
—Kristen Klein
