TV: Good Morning, Bride and Groom

By Stephen M. Silverman

Monday June 25, 2001 01:00 PM EDT

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It wasn't exactly your typical church wedding for Peggy (Margaret) Beeuwsaert and Lorenzo Abundiz, who tied the knot last Friday on live TV during ABC's "Good Morning America," reports PEOPLE. After being selected by the show and by WeddingChannel.com to be the lucky recipients of a complete wedding package, the couple exchanged their vows during morning rush hour on the concrete island in front of the "GMA" studios in the middle of New York's Times Square. "I'm speechless," said the teary-eyed bride, who waited some years to marry her hero (who first had to battle a rare cancer). "I feel like someone should wake me up any minute." Actually, the morning traffic should have done that. An altar was set up in the middle of the island, and as trucks and cars zipped by an orchestra played. Guests included the mother of the bride and Abundiz's fellow firemen from the couple's native Southern California. After the "I do's," a horse-drawn carriage collected the pair, though not before Beeuwsaert tossed her bouquet, which was caught by her mother. The couple decided to forego their honeymoon to Ireland and instead donate the money to the families of the New York firefighters who were killed in a June 17 tragedy. "GMA," however, contributed $10,000 to the families so that the couple could travel as planned. "There is only one power on earth that can bring back happiness and health to those who have lost it," said the grinning groom. "That power is love."