Hicksville resident Kathryn Keller and Lee Bertucelli exchanged "I do's" Valentine's Day on the 75th floor of the Empire State Building. The couple earned the opportunity by entering and winning a contest at Brides.com.

According to Kathryn, a graduate of Molloy College who currently teaches English in the Valley Stream Central High School District, the idea of getting married on Valentine's Day became of interest to her and Lee, a native of Brentwood, after reading her Snapple bottle's "fact cap."

"One of the facts under the cap read something along the lines of 'it is free of charge to be married at the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day.' We decided to 'Google' the fact to see if it was true and we found out about the [Brides.com] contest," said Kathryn. "We decided to enter just for fun. We entered on Oct. 30 and about two to three weeks later, on Nov. 19, found out we had won!"

To enter the Brides.com contest all Kathryn and Lee had to do was complete an online questionnaire on how they were connected to New York City. "It didn't require much. We entered and said that we are die hard NY Rangers fans, my father is a retired New York City fireman, we go into the city all the time to hang out, catch a show, meet friends, etc. and we got engaged flying over the city," she said.

"Lee's friend Anthony owns his own small airline at Republic Airport and he has quite a few small planes, jets and helicopters. Lee had been flying various places with Anthony but I had never been in one of the planes before," Kathryn said. "The night Lee proposed they both told me we were just taking the plane up for a "test flight." Of course I said no at first because the words "test flight" sounded scary, but my mother, who knew about the proposal, basically forced me to go! Lucky she did because Lee proposed after about 20 minutes into the flight, as we were banking around the Statue of Liberty!"

While Lee described getting married at the Empire State Building as an "awesome" opportunity in and of itself, the location alone bears some personal significance for him and Kathryn. "I was up there for the first time with Katie and being able to tell our children and grandchildren our story one day will be so great," he said. "Katie never really loved Valentine's Day. She was almost anti-Valentine's Day, claming it's a silly, useless holiday. Now I think she will have a different opinion."

Kathryn and Lee met five years ago while working together at the Bethpage State Park golf course. At the time, Kathryn worked as a cashier selling golf tee times and Lee was her supervisor; today Lee is assistant director. They began dating about a year and half later when Kathryn was 17 and Lee was 37.

The 20-year age difference, said Kathryn, was never a factor. "At first people were a little taken aback by the age difference, but we truly proved age is simply a number and when love is real - it's real!" said Kathryn, who is now 22. "I'm not trying to sound corny, but it's true in our case."

Lee, 42, agreed, adding that he is most looking forward to his married life with the woman he loves. "I am very excited. Kathryn is great and I feel lucky that she has chosen me," he said. "It might sound silly, but we just get along so well that I know things will always work out for us. We will have a great life together."

As winners of the Brides.com contest, Kathryn and Lee received a $7,500 wedding package complete with a half-hour wedding ceremony, two Broadway show tickets, flowers, a champagne toast, refreshments for up to 20 people, photos and a gift basket. Additionally, Lee received a free tuxedo rental and Kathryn got her hair and makeup professionally done.

On Feb. 15, Kathryn and Lee headed to Disney for a vacation they planned before winning the wedding contest.

"The trip to Disney sort of turned into our mini-honeymoon after winning," she said, adding that they will be going on a "real" honeymoon to Costa Rica after their church wedding June 7, which, like the Disney vacation, was also planned prior to the contest.

According to Kathryn, the whole contest and Valentine's Day wedding hasn't taken away anything from their upcoming June nuptials, but rather made some things a little easier. "Brides.com has been amazing with suggestions and having a wedding before the 'real' wedding takes some of the pressure off," she said. "It was almost funny to go shopping for real wedding invitations in the middle of emailing people about the Empire State Building [wedding]. I jaws buying centerpieces for the June wedding while getting my nails done for my first wedding." Kathryn added, "How many girls get to be a princess twice?"