Junior criminal justice major Mac Luciani and his fiancé of almost a year, Karyn Sampson, were announced as the winners of The Westin Copley and Fox 25’s Wedding to Remember Giveaway on Sept. 27, 2012.

The couple had been one of three finalists chosen for a chance to win the $50,000 wedding giveaway and will consequently be tying the knot this Veteran’s Day 2012.

Voting for the contest closed on Sept. 26 and ended with Luciani and Sampson leading with over half of all the votes.

Luciani met Sampson on the first day of their freshman year together at The Southern New Hampshire University, and they have been together for almost four years. “Without a doubt we were best friends from the start,” said Luciani. He surprised Sampson by proposing last November while the pair was in Australia.

He had called Sampson’s friends who were studying abroad in Australia at the time and told them to try to convince Sampson to visit. Sampson (who was unaware of Luciani’s leave date) was more than surprised to see him there. “When I came out onto the balcony and put my arms around her – I’ve never been so happy in my life, and I knew she felt the same,” recalled Luciani.

Two days later while on a cliff overlooking the ocean, Luciani proposed. He said, “I knew it was the perfect time. Of course all her friends were there with cameras to get me on tape almost dropping the ring off the cliff.”

Luciani left SNHU after his sophomore year to join the Army. He said, “[Enlisting was] something I could never get out of the back of my head.” He was then deployed to Farah, Afghanistan. His military service is what qualified Sampson and him for the contest, along with his 500-word essay and the fact that he is a veteran from either Massachusetts or New Hampshire.

“[This wedding will] really help us out in the future. If we did it ourselves, there’s no way we would be able to have a $50,000 wedding, so it’s a pretty big deal … [and] no one deserves it more than Karyn,” said Luciani.