San Bruno Couple Wins Wedding Atop Empire State Building

Getting married on Valentine’s Day must make any couple feel on top of the world.

For couple Lubin Masibay and Angela Vega, both San Bruno residents, that’s literally where they’ll be on Tuesday when they get married atop the Empire State Building in New York.

They are one of four lucky couples who won a nationwide contest to have a wedding planned by celebrity event designer Colin Cowie at the iconic New York City tower on the most romantic day of the year. As their prize, Masibay, 36, and Vega, 39, will get to tie the knot at their own private, lavish wedding on the 61st floor of the Empire State Building, surrounded by 40 guests and all personalized with Cowie’s touch.

Valentine’s Day is the only day when people are able to get married at the building.

“We feel very honored and lucky to have won this contest,” Vega said by phone as she was making last-minute preparations for the big day. “Just to get married there is romantic and very unique.”

Masibay, a nurse, and Vega, a nurse practitioner, met on Halloween 2005 at a party hosted by a mutual friend. According to Masibay, he was smitten at first sight, and after six years of being together, he proposed. 

The couple has never traveled to New York City together, but after countless movie nights watching films like Sleepless in Seattle and An Affair To Remember they decided to enter the contest.

In their contest video entry, they created their own version of the classic film King Kong in their living room, complete with a gorilla costume and special effects.

Most of all, they won the judges over with their fun-loving attitudes.

“It’s good to laugh,” Vega said, “because there are so many bad things happening in this world.”

Although their wedding list is limited because Cowie is planning four weddings on the same day—he is also planning a ceremony for former NFL player Rodney Peete and Holly Robinson Peete to renew their vows—Vega said they’ll still have a bigger reception afterward so that their other family and friends can join in the celebration.

To top off the dream wedding experience, one grand prize couple will have the chance to win a $100,000 cash prize to kick off their married life in style.

Following the ceremonies Tuesday, albums and video from each wedding will be posted online for the public to view and then vote for their favorite wedding. The couple with the most votes will return to New York City to pick one of fifteen envelopes, with the chance to win $100,000 among other prizes.

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