One Indiana bride is making headlines by using her called-off wedding to make dozens of people happy.
Sarah Cummins and her ex-fiance Logan Araujo were set to get married in the middle of July. Unfortunately, they called the wedding off the week before the big day. The former fiances were left with a reception venue and food for 170 guests that was nonrefundable. The wedding was booked at the Ritz Charles in Carmel, near Indianapolis, and was worth about $30,000.
With the blessing of Araujo, Cummins, a 25-year-old pharmacy student, decided to make a lot of people happy with all that unused food. So she called up the local homeless and veteran shelters in her area and offered to give them a fun experience.
While the average number of wedding guests is 165, Cummin’s new event had guests she hadn’t even met before, all of whom were down on their luck and appreciative of the chance to enjoy a gourmet meal.
?For me, it was an opportunity to let these people know they deserved to be at a place like this just as much as everyone else does,? Cummins explained to the Guardian.
Cummins and her mom arrived early the day of the feast and told the Ritz Charles to continue on with the event as normal. They decorated each table with the Parisian-themed centerpieces they created themselves, and personally welcomed each person to her event at the entrance. The guests were treated to the exact same menu that would have been served at the wedding reception — bourbon-glazed meatballs, goat cheese and roasted garlic bruschetta, and chicken breasts with artichokes and Chardonnay cream sauce. They ended the feast with Cummin’s wedding cake.
The bride even went so far as to arrange pickup and transport for her guests, with party buses picking up residents at homeless shelters before the event. Local boutiques even donated formal wear to make it that much more special.
?I will at least have some kind of happy memory to pull from,? said Cummins about the event, The Loop reports. ?I wanted to make sure it would be the perfect wedding.?
