A Night of Their Dreams Published Aug. 12, 2015 By Susan Cormier Parker Lifestyle magazine Parker, CO -- Staff Sgt. Brian Thorne, 5th Bomb Wing safety, and his wife Heather Thorne, 5th Medical Group radiology technician, consider themselves among the luckiest people in the world. Not only did they just get married, they were able to tie the knot at one of Colorado's premiere wedding venues - for free! Brian and Heather were the winners of a complimentary 4th of July wedding in honor of the military, provided by Villa Parker and its preferred partners. The couple had already planned to have their ceremony and reception at Villa Parker, located in Parker, Colorado. "Honestly, we had absolutely no idea about the Marry the Military wedding. We had researched venues once we got engaged as to where we wanted to get married," Heather said. "We knew we wanted to get married in Colorado, so we looked on The Knot, which is a wedding website. Villa Parker was the only venue that Brian and I could agree on. I had gone to check out the venue and I fell in love with it." Every year the Villa Parker does a Marry the Military wedding. They put up a Facebook poll, and all of the couples who are eligible go on Facebook and people vote for who they want to see get the wedding. When they committed to July 2 being the big day last November, their event planner Karen Schafer, director of sales at Villa Parker, said she couldn't stop thinking about the couple. As the director of sales for Villa Parker, she knew about the upcoming wedding giveaway and wanted it to be awarded to the couple. She told the owner she couldn't think of anyone else she wanted to give the wedding to. She didn't want to do a Facebook poll; she just wanted to give them this gift. "For four months straight, all I could think about was (Heather), Karen said. "She's one of those people you instantly connect with." Heather apparently felt the same connection. "Karen made the whole experience so stress free and made me feel so comfortable," Heather said. "And the venue itself is simply stunning. We are so completely humbled by this amazing blessing and still feel like this is all a dream. We cannot thank Karen, Villa Parker and all the amazing vendors enough for this incredible experience." Brian stated in a Facebook post to Villa Parker's business page, "We really can't thank you all enough, from the bottom of our hearts. It's a beautiful thing seeing the kindness and love of others, especially in a world where it isn't shown very often." The couple received a wedding valued at $20,000 that included the donated venue, food, photography, flowers and entertainment. "It was absolutely amazing and so humbling," Heather said. "It was incredible and we're still walking on cloud nine." (Information from writer Susan Cormier, Parker Lifestyle magazine was used in this article.)