Today – Veterans Day – eight area military couples will exchange wedding vows at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in a “Call to Wed” event.

Several local businesses have joined forces to provide products and services to make sure the 6 p.m. ceremony is memorable. Everything from wedding gowns to wedding cake has been donated.

Royal Oak’s Black the Salon is providing hair and makeup for the brides, and groom haircuts. The brides have stopped by in the past month for a trial wedding look. Stylist Laura Trumbo said the salon is prepared to give the entire group the style they want.

“We are just so honored to be a part of this,” Trumbo said. “We think all Americans should support the troops.”

Royal Oak resident Linda Lexy will be officiating the ceremony. Lexy, who was ordained four years ago, is taking the day off from work to participate. The DJ host of the Radio Bar, at the Motor City Casino, said she is proud to be a part of the service.

“My life has been blessed, and this is a good opportunity for me to pay it forward to these deserving military couples,” she said.  “I am really honored. It’s going to be pretty amazing.

In all, 11 couples were chosen to engage vows, but due to deployments only eight will participate today.

“They were going to pick three new couples, but we all decided we would rather honor [those who could not be here] in spirit instead,” said bride-to-be Kelly Dickie, 20, of Clarkston.

Dickie will marry her longtime boyfriend Nathan Hayward, 21, at the ceremony. Hayward arrived in Clarkston on Thursday morning on a four-day leave. He is stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and is scheduled to be deployed in March.

“To qualify, I had to write something saying why we wanted to be a part of this,” said Dickie, who wrote what she called “a very personal letter.” The pair met in high school in Clarkston.

“I am very excited and very nervous about the wedding,” she said.

Each couple was allowed to invite 30 guests to the ceremony. A reception will follow at the Lakeland Banquet Centre in St. Clair Shores, which is donating an elegant buffet dinner for the evening.

Dickie and Hayward do not have plans for a honeymoon after the wedding. “We won’t have time,” she said. The pair plan to wait until he returns from his deployment next fall, when they will celebrate their first anniversary with a special trip.

The eight couples called to wed are:

• Aimee Hamlin (Canton) and Phil Jeffers (Canton)
• Ashley Taylor (St. Clair Shores) and Brian Plauman (Clawson)
• Candice Holmes (Lincoln Park) and Shawn McBrien  (Lincoln Park)
• Karen Dalton (Melvindale) and Michael Chambers (Melvindale)
• Amanda Goodrich (Warren) and Tim Urbanski (Warren)
• Kelly Dickie (Clarkston) and Nathan Hayward (currently deployed)
• Jacqueline Donaldson (Detroit) and John Barber (Detroit)
• Francesca Hughes and (Romulus) Johnta Pettis (currently deployed)