Vote For Travis Pellitier (Groom of Year) -- February 22, 2010 -- Collinsville, OK -- www.cvilleok.com

Travis Pelletier entered a national contest and has made the top 16 out of almost 1400 applicants to be named "Groom of the Year". Travis (a 2002 CHS Grad) would like your help to get this title and be the first to do so from Oklahoma!

Voting begins next Monday at 9am Central on: www.brides.com/groomoftheyear

The contest is set up like the NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket, only with 16 contestants, not 64 like NCAA tournament. Each week there will be rounds of voting to see who is the overall bracket winner. Whoever gets the most votes each week will move on...all the way down to the last two guys...and then the overall winner is selected.

The contest begins on March 1 so you can vote by going to the website above and submit your Groom of the year bracket.

Please Note: By entering your email address and submitting your Groom of the Year bracket, you are opting in to receive an email when each new round of voting starts. Emails will be sent on the following dates: March 1, March 8, March 15, March 22, and March 29, 2010.
**You will not be added to any other list, and will not receive any messages other than those outlined above (excludes any existing Brides.com email subscriptions). To unsubscribe from Groom of the Year voting notifications, simply reply to the email you receive, or forward it to unsubscribe@email.brides.com.

More on Travis (& Lindsey):

I grew up in Collinsville, Oklahoma and that is where I graduated high school in 2002. I went to the University of Oklahoma for college from 2002-2006 where I graduated with a B.S Health & Exercise Science. I worked for a year with a campus ministry called Campus Crusade for Christ. After that I had a 4 month internship in Chula Vista, CA at the Olympic Training Center as a strength and conditioning coach. I had the opportunity to train athletes preparing for the 2008 Olympic Trials and Olympic games and the 2010 Olympic Trials and Olympic games.

I have been working as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of Tulsa since the fall of 2008. I am getting my Masters in Business Administration. This is also where I met my fiancee Lindsey Tower.

My fiancee Lindsey Tower grew up in San Diego and moved to Edmond when she was 13. She graduated from Edmond North High School in 2004. She played softball at TU for 4 years and graduated with a Accounting degree. She completed her MBA last summer and just started working for a major accounting firm.

Travis Pelletier, BS, NSCA-CSCS, CPT
Graduate Assistant Strength and Conditioning CoachUniversity of Tulsa

Groom of the Year Contest background:

The contest was started in 2009 by brides.com. The first year had 1300 applicants but no one from Oklahoma making it to the final 16. This year I am the only contestant from Oklahoma out of almost 1400 applicants.

Note: There are several nice wedding gifts for the winner including a honeymoon trip.

On Facebook

Travis submitted essays for this "Groom of the Year" contest by brides.com in response to these two statements:

"I knew she was the one when...."

"I am groom of the year because..."

Engagement Announcement

The Essays Submitted by Travis Pelletier:

I am the Groom of the Year because I bought a one-way ticket and flew halfway across the country to surprise Lindsey with my presence, be her escort at her best friend's wedding, and ultimately propose to Lindsey at the softball fields in her hometown where she first dreamt of playing college softball as a little girl. Lindsey drove from Oklahoma to San Diego, CA with her mom because she was going to be the maid of honor in her best friend's wedding that upcoming weekend. I couldn't drive out with them as Lindsey once hoped because I was still finishing up finals for the semester.

Ever since Lindsey returned from her month long trip to Europe I had been thinking about how and when I would ask her to marry me. Then, the night she left for California, the idea of proposing to her in San Diego occurred to me and I immediately began planning how to pull it off. Over the next few days I booked a flight (keyword: "a" as in one-way), bought the perfect ring and still somehow managed to pass all of my finals. The last thing I had to do before leaving town was ask Lindsey's dad for his blessing in proposing to her. Being that her family lives an hour and a half away and considering my flight was scheduled to depart in less than 12 hours, I could have called and spoken to him over the phone, but out of respect I chose to drive the 3 hour round trip. Needless to say, I got hardly any sleep that night. When I met with Lindsey's dad I shared with him how much his daughter has meant to me, how I have enjoyed getting to know his family, and why I wanted to marry her. I caught him off-guard seeing that Lindsey and I had only been dating for 7 months but after receiving words of praise and respect from him, he gave me his blessing. It was at this point that I shared with him how I envisioned surprising her with my arrival in California and ultimately with the proposal.

Now after I arrived back at my house I just had 6 hours until my departure, so with the ring burning a hole in my pocket and plane ticket in hand, I was San Diego-bound. I initially had planned for no one in San Diego to know I was coming so I could surprise everyone, but unfortunately those plans fell threw, so I had to work out a scheme with Lindsey's mom. While Lindsey was off doing maid-of-honor stuff, her mom came to pick me up at the airport on Friday morning about 11am. I called Lindsey to "check-in" for the day and to get an idea of her plans for the rest of the afternoon. Since she talked about going for a run around nearby Miramar Lake, I had her mom drop me off there so I could wait until she arrived. About 30 minutes later, Lindsey pulled into the parking lot. After stretching for a few minutes, she started down the trail in the opposite direction from me. Leaving my hiding place, I started after her and quickly came up behind her. As I jogged by, I slapped her on the butt and said "Come on! Let's go!" I kept jogging another 10 yards or so before slowing down and when I turned around I saw her stopped dead in her tracks with the priceless 3-in-1 pissed off, disgusted, and embarrassed look on her face. I could tell it took a second to register with her what had just happened, but after the initial shock wore off she bounded down the trail and from three feet away jumped into my arms and exclaimed, "What are you doing here? How..?" She was beyond surprised and excited to see me and was now able to help me put places and faces to the events and people from her childhood. You see soon after we started dating Lindsey knew about this trip and wanted me to come with her to see where she grew up, but I was unable to commit because of my schedule with school and coaching.

That afternoon, Lindsey took me to see Cypress Canyon Park, the park where she grew up playing softball. I was originally planning on proposing to her at the beach, but once I saw how beautiful this place was and that it was very personal to Lindsey I knew this was where I would "pop the question." So, the morning after the wedding Lindsey and I were deciding what do on our last day in California. I suggested we go back to Cypress Canyon to "play catch". While Lindsey was finishing getting ready, I recruited one of her friends whose house we were staying at to follow us to the park and take pictures of me proposing. When we arrived at the park there was a girls' softball clinic taking place and this was when Lindsey told me that it was in this park where she first dreamt of playing college softball as a little girl. We found an open area in the outfield to play catch. I was so nervous while we were playing, not about asking her, but that the ring was going to fly out of my pocket and the surprise would be ruined. After playing catch for a while, Lindsey's arm got tired so we came back to the middle of the outfield and stood together watching the girls' clinic. I kept trying to maneuver Lindsey so she wouldn't see our friend hiding like a stalker in the bushes taking pictures of us.

As we were talking, Lindsey gave me the perfect lead into the proposal when she asked if her dad had known about me flying to San Diego to surprise her. I said, "He did know because I drove to your parents' house the night before I flew out to talk to him about surprising you and also about something else." She was caught off guard and confused for a minute, but then it hit her what that "something else" was. At that point, I began to tell her about how much I had enjoyed our relationship up to this point and all the things I have grown to love about her. I went on to say that I understood it was her family that brought her to Oklahoma, but it was softball that ultimately brought her to Tulsa and eventually to me (she played softball for the University of Tulsa and we met on the first day in graduate school). Finally, leading up to the big question; I told Lindsey I thought it was only fitting to bring her back to the place where one of her childhood dreams began to hopefully make another one of her dreams come true in being the man that she would spend the rest of her life with. Then as I proceeded to get down on one knee I took the ring from my pocket and with her hand in mine I said "Lindsey Blair Tower, will you marry me?" Lucky for me and my one-way ticket she said yes! I was wondering if Lindsey thought at this point that I would kiss her, because when I first had the conversation with her on May 10th about dating her, I told her the next girl I will kiss will be the woman I marry. I did not kiss her at this point, but I had a plan…

Later that afternoon we FINALLY made it to the beach! Thankfully, despite a very gloomy day it turned out to be one of the most beautiful sunsets either of us had ever seen. In addition to being an amazingly beautiful sunset, it was special for another reason. It was during that sunset that I kissed Lindsey for the first time. We were laughing afterwards about what if one of us had changed our mind about the engagement post-kiss?? Talk about blunt trauma to the ego! Needless to say, I don't think either one of us will ever forget that trip to San Diego because, as country music singer Darius Rucker's latest song perfectly describes, it was "history in the making."

I knew she was the one when:

May 10th, 2009 "The beginning"
It was on this evening when I had a significant conversation with her where I told her my desire was to be more intentional with our relationship and I wanted the relationship to transition from us being "just friends" and "getting to know each other better" to her being my girlfriend. I wanted to take the proper steps in going from friends to something more so there was no confusion, heartache, or frustration during any part of our relationship whether it would have developed into something or not. I am very happy and blessed that it did develop into something more. It was at this time when I had confirmation that Lindsey had all the potential of being "the one" that I could be with the rest of my life.
October 26th, 2009 "Europe"
On this day, Lindsey and I said our goodbyes as she boarded a plane to travel throughout Europe for a month. I had prepared 30 days of notes, poems, songs, jokes, and devotionals for her to read; one for each day she was away. So although we were not together physically I could still be a part of her day, bring a smile to her face, and travel along with her on her journey. It was during the time while preparing these materials for her trip and throughout her trip to Europe that I knew she was the one.
- I knew she was the one from how I spent so much time in being creative, thoughtful, and planning every day what I wanted her to see and read.
- I knew she was the one from how I felt when I could not see her pretty green eyes, hear her sweet voice, or hold her in my arms after coming home from a long day at work and class.
- I knew she was the one because each day that passed only made me miss her more and left me anxiously anticipating her return.
- Finally, I knew she was the one because in my heart the Lord confirmed the potential I had sensed back in May was now a reality. She was no longer someone I could be with the rest of my life, but someone that I knew I would be with the rest of my life…if she would have me.