Over 90 homeless single folks, whole families with their newborns, and several grandparents showed up to the Citizen Hotel in Sacramento, California, where the reception for a cancelled wedding was thrown open for them.
The California coupled was supposed to hold their wedding and guest reception this past Saturday, but for reasons best known to them decided to call it off. The family of the bride-to-be thought it would be better to invite the homeless to a feast, and that was exactly what happened.
Kari Duane, the mother of the would-be bride, commented that instead of cancelling the wedding reception which had been billed and paid for at the Citizen Hotel, the family decided to give homeless folks once-in-a-lifetime treat at the venue.
The 27-year-old bride called her mother about five days to the wedding date that both she and her fiancé would not be through with the wedding anymore, and since the event was a non-refundable reception, the bride's family thought it best to invite the homeless to party.
"Even though my husband and I were feeling very sad for our daughter, it was heartwarming to see so many people be there and enjoy a meal," Duane said. The meal included appetizers, salads, gnocchi, salmon, and tri-tip among other delicacies.
The paid-for reception was for 120 guests, but nearly that number of folks still turned up. One attendee, Erika Craycraft and her husband and five children attended the free-for-all reception.
Meanwhile, a non-refundable honeymoon had been paid for in Belize, so the mother and daughter took off for Belize on Sunday.
"I hope that when she looks back at this, she knows she was doing something good with a bad situation," Duane said.