About Our Cover
This year, the Valley Morning Star selected Elizabeth Banda and Steven Ritter as its featured wedding couple.
Elizabeth is a Harlingen native and Steven is from Lafayette, Louisiana. Although both were attending Texas A&M University, they actually met during Spring Break on South Padre Island three years ago.
Steven proposed to Elizabeth on April 29, 2006 under the Century Tree at Texas A&M. The Century Tree has been a major fixture on Texas A&M's campus since Old Army Days. As the legend goes, if two lovers propose under the tree, their marriage will last forever.
Both Elizabeth and Steven graduated from A&M in 2006. Elizabeth is currently pursuing a teaching career in secondary education and will ultimately earn her Master's in Administration, while Steven, a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, is presently in jet flight training at the Naval Air Station Pensacola. Elizabeth and Steven will exchange their marriage vows on August 4, 2007, which is also the date of her parents' 28th wedding anniversary.
The Star wanted to chronicle the entertaining, as well as the demanding moments of real life, soon-to-be weds. Over the next months leading up to the trip down the aisle, the Star will follow Elizabeth and Steven through the course of their engagement and upcoming nuptials via "Banda's Blog" which will be posted on the Valley Morning Star's Online Edition: http://www.valleystar.com. This coverage will be penned by the bride-to-be herself, and will provide you with a first-hand account of the good, the awful and the continually amusing activities involved with planning a wedding.
The Star anticipates that brides, grooms and wedding aficionados who read and follow Banda's Blog, will not only continue to enjoy reading the couple's experiences, but will learn from them also. In addition to Banda's Blog, the Valley Morning Star Online Edition will feature monthly prize package giveaways and other articles of interest pertaining to planning for your wedding.
Don't miss out on this new addition to the Star's Edition. Come join us---log on and enter in the fun!
