Bride Turns Cancelled Wedding Into $30K Homeless Dinner

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — After calling off her wedding a week before the ceremony, a woman in Indianapolis found herself on the hook for a $30,000 event at the Ritz Charles in Carmel, Indiana.

So she decided to turn her personal heartbreak into an act of kindness, throwing a glitzy shindig at the Ritz for nearly 200 homeless people.

Families poured into the glamorous Ritz Charles ballroom Saturday night for a meal of bourbon-glazed meatballs, goat cheese bruschetta, chicken with artichokes and Chardonnay cream sauce followed by wedding cake, according to the Indianapolis Star.

According to the newspaper, Sarah Cummins, a 25-year-old pharmacy student at Purdue University and her fiancé had been planning their dream wedding for two years, but when Cummins called it off, they realized their contract was nonrefundable.

"It was really devastating," Cummins told the newspaper. "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."

That’s when she reached out to local homeless shelters to put together a special night for the area’s homeless population. With the help of shelter officials, she arranged a bus to shuttle families from the shelters to the Ritz Charles.

Officials at the Ritz Charles had never seen anything like it. Occasionally weddings are canceled at the venue, and couples all have different ways of dealing with it.

"Some people throw parties, some completely walk away, but none have ever done anything this charitable," Maddie LaDow the Ritz Charles’ event planner told the Indianapolis Star.

Cummins' act of charity proved contagious, and several local businesses donated suits and dresses, according to NBC.

Charlie Allen, who lives at the homeless mission wore a donated jacket to the dinner.

"I didn't have a sport coat," he explained to NBC. "I think I look pretty nice in it."

For her part, Cummins deflects any praise for her generosity.

"I will at least have some kind of happy memory to pull from,” she told the Indianapolis Star.

Photo: Public Domain via pixabay