“Good Day LA” Reporter Amanda Salas Gets Married on Five-Year Anniversary of Being Cancer-Free: 'Celebrating Life'

Salas exchanged vows just one day before her five-year anniversary of ringing the bell to signify the end of her chemo treatments

When Good Day LA reporter Amanda Salas was diagnosed with rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in June 2019, she found herself grappling with questions about the future. "I was at my lowest," she tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. "Your life flashes before your eyes. I thought, 'Will I get married? Will I have kids?' "

Five years later, 39-year-old Salas not only got married — she did so as a cancer-free woman, embarking on a new chapter of life sparked by hope and resilience.

"I wish I could go back to the woman I was when I was diagnosed," she muses. "I'd tell her, 'Hey, you know what? You are going to get your special moment."

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Salas' special moment took place on Oct. 12, 2024 in Big Bear, California — a destination significant for she and her now-husband, Randy.

"That is where we took our first weekend away together. It’s where we said 'I love you' for the first time. It’s where he popped the question," Salas says. "When we started planning the wedding, I thought, 'Okay, we have to finish our story here.' "

While Salas and Randy, who works as a prop master, had known each other professionally for years, it wasn't until after her diagnoses that their relationship turned romantic.

"He was by my side the entire time I was going through chemo," she says. "One night we went to The Hollywood Bowl to watch a movie as friends, and he asked me to be his girlfriend."

Throughout her treatment — which entailed several grueling courses of round-the-clock chemotherapy — they only grew closer. On October 13, 2019, Salas rang the bell at cancer research and treatment facility City of Hope, signifying the end of her chemotherapy treatments.

The date has become so significant to Salas that she planned her wedding to coincide with its anniversary.

Her Big Bear wedding venue even had a bell — one Salas rang to signify the new chapter in her life.

"The day after the ceremony, we hosted a remission brunch, where we had guests wear all white. I'm celebrating life now."

There were plenty of other celebratory moments sprinkled throughout the wedding day — and others that were tied to Salas' cancer journey.

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Her officiant was Dr. Alex Herrera, the hematologist who oversaw her cancer care.

"I wanted someone who knew something about 'in sickness and health,' " she says. "So a year ago, I got a box of his favorite Cuban pastries and I wrote him a card: 'You gave me a second chance at life. Will you help me become a wife?' And then he said yes."

In addition to Salas' Good Day LA colleagues, she also invited some she met after her diagnosis — like a mom who lost her son to the same kind of cancer.

"I met her through this journey and we remained such close friends," Salas says. "This year, she found out she’s pregnant — so she gets a second chance to be a mom. The darkness brought us together but now we both get to celebrate all things light."

The celebration also included plenty of lighthearted touches — the ringbearer was the couple's dog, January Bones — while the "flower girl" was Salas' 98-year-old grandmother.

Salas walked down the aisle to a song that helped her through her cancer journey — "Song for Zula" by Phosphorescent — and a late-night taco truck following a seated dinner helped guests ensure they had plenty of fuel to keep them going on the dance floor.

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Other symbolic moments added personal touches to the big day. Salas' dress was one she stumbled upon by happenstance.

"I was shopping for dresses with my mom and grandmother and couldn't find anything. So we stopped for breakfast and I looked on Yelp and there was a shop I hadn't heard of down the street," she says. "I walked in and saw a dress with a butterfly on it — that was my symbol when I had cancer — and it had pearls, my birthstone."

When she tried it on, she was shocked to find that it fit perfectly, needed no alterations, and that she had been the only one to try it on.

It was when she tried on the dress for the first time, she says, that the magnitude of the moment hit.

"I cried — because there had been so many moments I didn't think I'd get here," she says. "Hope, faith, time, patience — these are the themes of the wedding. This is my happily ever after I wasn't sure I'd get to have."

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