Planning a wedding sounds like one of the most stressful undertakings imaginable. So, the idea of planning a wedding only to have it canceled last minute seems not only emotionally devastating, but also a giant waste of effort. Faced with this mix of emotional disappointment and logistical bullshit, one bride turned her cancelled reception into a party for underprivileged kids.
Yiri Sun, a New York-based insurance executive called off her wedding last minute after she and her fiancé got into a huge fight about prenuptial agreements. Unfortunately for Sun, the $8,000 deposit at the ornate Harold Pratt House was nonrefundable. Rather than let it go to waste, she generously hosted a Saturday reception for over 60 underprivileged families as an early Mother’s Day event. The party was fully catered and included face painting for the children, a plethora of balloons, and ice pops to snack on. In other words, it was cute as hell.
Source: nypost
Although she was understandably broken up about her wedding cancelation, Sun made the decision to use the disappointment as an opportunity to give back. As you can imagine, everyone who attended was exceedingly grateful that she took the selfless road rather than basking in her romantic sadness.
During the festivities, Sun took a moment to deliver a short speech to her guests as a way of better introducing herself and hopefully giving them some encouragement.
She told the guests about her childhood growing up poor in China, saying that it was only after moving to America and working hard that she was able to get a scholarship for a graduate degree at Princeton and achieve some of her goals.
Source: nypost
She emphasized the fact that she wanted all the kids and mothers present to feel special and relaxed for the day — especially the single mothers. Sun shared that she is a single mother to a 6-year-old, making the encouragement of other single mothers very near and dear to her heart.
The guests who attended said they loved the food and ambience of the gathering, which was made possible by Sun’s refund in coordination with the Salvation Army, which reached out to low-income families in the area who might be interested in attending.
This whole situation is a prime example of making LEMONADE lemonade out of a steaming crop of disappointing lemons.
Original by Bronwyn Isaac
