From a “Last First Date” to a Trip Around the World: These Newlyweds Had the Odds in Their Favor
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Beating the odds is, by its nature, very difficult. For Heather Peggs and George Igoe, the odds happened to be in their favor. Finding your soulmate on a dating app is tough. Getting called down on The Price is Right is uncommon. Winning big on Let’s Make a Deal to fund their honeymoon? That’s rare. Doing all three? Well, that’s got to be nearly impossible.
The “Last First Date”
Their story started on Hinge in October 2022. Heather was on the hunt for her soulmate and had been going on numerous dates to find ‘the one.’ On the day she met George, she experienced the “worst date of her life” earlier that evening.
To “cancel out her luck”, she decided to meet up with George to “get the bad date off the books.”
“Even if we didn’t have any chemistry, I knew that it was going to be amazing–just the conversation,” Heather recalls.
Their romance began at Foreman’s Whiskey Tavern in Toluca Lake, and they instantly sparked a connection. The couple bonded over their shared obsession with traveling and airline points, which, little did they know, would end up coming in handy in their near future.
“It was an immediate yes for me,” Heather says. “There was no drama, no games…it felt like home.”
About a month later, Heather flew to New York to attend George’s sister’s 50th birthday party. The venue? The TWA Hotel at JFK Airport—which left an impression on them as they eventually planned their wedding.
A Proposal Under the Stars
A little over a year later, in December 2023, George planned a magical proposal. Tying in Heather’s love for space, George planned the special moment at the Griffith Observatory during a “Public Star Party.”
“I was nervous about the logistics. I didn’t want to make a whole scene,” George admits. Under the cover of darkness, he dropped to one knee. “It’s so dark up there ...I think people probably thought I was tying my shoe.”
In the darkness, George took a small USB case out of his pocket that usually houses a sentimental souvenir from one of their dates. It was a total shock to Heather when he opened it and it was a ring. “I had no clue. I had no makeup on. I had a ratty shirt,” she says. After saying yes, reality set in. “I was like, ‘Hold on, can I put on some lipstick?’ I wanted to look a little bit more presentable in photos.”
The Winning Streak
Wedding budgets can get pricey, but this couple found a unique way to help with the costs. They went on CBS game shows in the hopes of funding their expenses.
The luck started with George. He was inspired when his friend got selected for The Price is Right, and realized that this could be possible for him also. George went through a few rounds of trial and error until he finally heard the words “come on down” on his seventh attempt.
George beat the odds. He not only got selected to be a contestant, but also proceeded to win the Showcase Showdown: $1,000 cash, pearl jewelry, a jukebox and a boat.
“I don’t think my feet touched the ground,” George says of the win.
Heather immediately saw a strategy. “Once he won, I was like, ‘Oh, well, George is going to sell the boat to help pay for our wedding ... So I gotta get on a game show and win our honeymoon,’” she says. “I said it in a jokey manner, but I was very serious.”
She applied for Let’s Make a Deal, where she strategically cast herself as an “engaged woman trying to win a honeymoon.” This tactic worked and Heather was picked for a “Worldwide Wednesday” episode. She played a high-stakes card game where she had to pull six hearts from a deck without finding four spades.
“I just kept pushing to try to win all of them,” Heather says. “I just was like, in my head, ‘I’m gonna go big ... this is meant for me.’ In what world would I get called to win a worldwide trip if it wasn’t supposed to happen?”
She won the top prize: a trip around the world consisting of six different vacations.
Taking Off As a Couple With a TWA Hotel Wedding
With George and Heather’s luck on a hot streak, they were able to pick the venue of their dreams. They booked The TWA Hotel at JFK Airport in New York, where Heather first met George’s family at his sister’s birthday party.
“We’re such travel nerds. It just felt very us,” George says.
They tailored the theme of their wedding to the venue and also their favorite hobby, traveling.
“The save the date was a boarding pass. The invitation was a passport. The table names were named after airport codes,” George says.
For the bridal look, Heather incorporated a mix of sentimental treasures and lucky charms. She wore her mother’s diamond engagement ring and George’s late mother’s bracelets as a way to represent both families. To top off the look, she wore the pearl necklace and bracelet that George won on The Price is Right.
Heather originally planned to use fake flowers in order to save money. Upon telling her friend Kelsea Olivia, a florist of 10 years, with her own company East Olivia that “I know I really can’t afford you,” Kelsey insisted on doing the arrangements for an exclusive price.
“Every single tablescape ... was almost as emotional for me as seeing my mom,” Heather says. “The flowers are the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen. She just nailed it”.
George added his own personal touch on the wedding day, exiting the plane and walking out onto the tarmac like the Beatles’ famous arrival from London in 1964.
“Normalize grooms having cool entrances,” George jokes.
The Hurdles & The Heart
Despite their winning streak on TV, the wedding week tested their luck. Two weeks before the big day, George broke his foot. “I got married in a walking boot,” he says. “I just kind of owned it. Didn’t stop me from doing our first dance.”
Then, four days before the wedding, George left his custom suit in the closet of their Delta flight to New York. “I’m freaking out,” George recalls. “The next day at 6:00 a.m. I got a call. He goes, ‘George, it’s Charlie from Delta Baggage Services. I have your wedding suit.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, thank God.’”
The biggest emotional hurdle, however, involved Heather’s mother, who was hospitalized the night before the wedding. “I didn’t know if she was going to make it,” Heather says, tearing up. But she did. “When she came in, everybody applauded and cheered for her. She was rolling in on a scooter and everybody was cheering. It was the perfect wedding.”
A Honeymoon Around the World
Thanks to Heather’s game show victory, the couple will be embarking on a two-part luxury honeymoon that they “would never be able to afford” otherwise.
“We would be in Hyatt Places with our points and miles... but for this, it’s really nice that we get to splurge and step it up with the luxury space,” Heather says.
Their itinerary includes 12 days in Portugal and Germany, followed by a VIP “Adventures by Disney” trip to Egypt in March that includes a cruise on the Nile.
As they prepare to finally move in together into Heather’s apartment of 23 years, they are looking forward to merging their lives and their stuff. “It’s like Christmas Vacation without the chaos,” Heather says of joining George’s family. “It’s just exactly like what I’ve always wanted.”
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