An Indiana woman didn’t want her canceled R400 000 ($30,000) wedding to go to waste, so she threw a dinner party for the homeless.
Purdue University pharmacy student Sarah Cummins, 25, had spent the past few years planning her dream wedding with Logan Araujo. They spent years saving and working overtime to pay for the $30,000 extravaganza.
But last week they called off the wedding for reasons they would rather not say. Not only was Cummins left with a broken heart, but she was also left with a nonrefundable contract for a reception at the the Ritz Charles in Carmel on Saturday night, which includes plated dinners for 170 guests.
“It was really devastating to me. I called everyone, canceled, apologized, cried, called vendors, cried some more, and then I started feeling really sick about just throwing away all the food I ordered for the reception,” Cummins told the IndyStar.
The thought occurred to her that she could use the food to serve those less fortunate and bring something positive to her pain.
She worked with Ritz Charles event planner Maddie LaDow to rearrange the reception area, and she started contacting homeless shelters in Indianapolis and Noblesville to invite residents to the reception.
Cummins arranged for two buses to pick up about 150 residents and their families.
“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 said.
Charlie Allen, who’s spent three months at a homeless mission, received a donated jacket.
“I didn’t have a sport coat,” he said, tugging gently at the lapels. “I think I look pretty nice in it.”
Like other guests, Allen said he was grateful for the invitation.
“For a lot of us, this is a good time to show us what we can have,” he said. “Or to remind us what we had.”
Three of Cummins’ seven bridesmaids, along with her mother and aunts, came to support her at the event. Guests also dined on chicken breast with artichokes and Chardonnay cream sauce and for dessert, the wedding cake, of course.
“I will at least have some kind of happy memory to pull from. I’ve worked so many weekends and so much overtime to pay for this, I wanted to make sure it would be the perfect wedding,” Cummins told the IndyStar.
Araujo, who is grieving from the recent death of his mother and heartbroken after the cancellation of the wedding, says he thinks what Cummins is doing is beautiful.
“I’m happy through my grief and also Sarah’s that she was able to make a selfless and very thoughtful decision in such a hard time,” Araujo said.