Everyone in the audience for a recent Montel Williams TV show got an MP3 player and a string of freshwater pearls.

Staff Sgt. Tra' Vendela and his fiancee, Pavillion's Tiffany Black, got significantly more.

In February, Vendela lost his legs in an attack in Iraq, and his recovery continues on pace.

On Dec. 20, the two, who postponed their March 2007 wedding in Kinnear, were guests on the Montel Williams Show, a "salute to our troops." The show aired in Wyoming on Christmas Eve afternoon.

Vendela knew what Montel had in store for the couple, but Black thought it was "just to celebrate him."

A video showed the audience some background and the love they share.

"We have quite possibly the best relationship a person could ever have," Vendela said in the video. "My first thought was Tiffany was not going to stay with me. She is the person that made me stay alive."

"We could get through anything as long as he's here, but if he wasn't here, it wouldn't matter. I don't love him because of his legs," she responded.

As the audience sniffled, Montel said, "I can't say for a nation thank you enough for your service."

Then he introduced the proprietors of the nearly completed Fountains of Loveland Event Center in Loveland, Colo., which Montel pronounced "love-land." The events facility will boast courtyards and gardens, a marble gazebo, complete catering facilities and will specialize in destination weddings.

Think Santa Claus and Valentine's Day all rolled into one on May 24, 2008.

"They are giving you a complete wedding package, everything - hair, clothes, jewelry, photography, catering, rooms, flowers - everything - a package just shy of $30,000," Montel shouted as Black looked a bit stunned.

"It's very important to us to still have the family there," Black said. "We want people there to celebrate with us. It will just really be a lot bigger than I planned."

She said there now is a seating capacity of 225 for the wedding.

"I don't know if we'll have enough people," she joked.

And just so the two can recuperate a bit after the big day, the show threw in a five-day, four-night honeymoon in St. Croix.

The couple spent Christmas in Cheyenne with her family and is in Sheridan for the weekend and New Year's Eve with his family.

Then it's back to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, for him, for more therapy and his new prosthetics with knees "hopefully within the next month," she said.

She, meanwhile, has finished her doctoral program in physical therapy at the University of North Dakota and starts a clinical in Temple, Texas, just two hours away from Vendela. Then in March, she'll do a clinical in Longmont, Colo., just minutes away from the wedding site.

Community news editor Sally Ann Shurmur can be reached at (307) 266-0520; sallyann.shurmur@trib.com or see her profile and blog at my.trib.com/Sal/blog.