Yiru Sun ushered guests into her wedding venue Saturday while wearing a gorgeous white gown, but she wasn’t getting married that day. In fact, she didn’t know a single one of her guests!
When Yiru’s wedding got cancelled two months ago after she refused to sign a prenup, she decided that instead of cancelling the reception, which she had already put a nonrefundable deposit down for, she would invite some children and families in need to attend it with her.
Yiru worked with the Salvation Army and Inwood House to find guests to invite, and what was meant to be her wedding reception turned into a pre-Mother’s Day lunch for some deserving families.
“At that moment, I started to think it was God’s plan,” Yiru said. “I cannot be the princess of my wedding day, but I can give the kids a fairy tale.”
At the luncheon some guests performed on piano and ukulele, and the children were given balloon animals and had their faces painted. Yiru also told her guests her own story about growing up poor in China before moving to America to study and winning a full scholarship to get her PhD in electrical engineering from Princeton.
“I thought it was an incredibly selfless act,” guest William Natal said. “Just to turn around and do something that helps others is an amazing show of character.”
The party helped keep Yiru’s mind off the fact that she would not be getting married that day, and she said she really enjoyed spending the day with her new friends.
“My guests feel even more happier than wedding guests,” she laughed. “They don’t need to prepare wedding gifts.”
