Jilted bride donates reception to homeless people after groom cancels wedding

oge okonkwo

January 20, 2016 11:24 AM

Dana Olsen couldn't get a refund after her January 16 wedding was cancelled by fiancé Brendan McCarthy six weeks before their big day

Dana Olsen couldn't get a refund after her January 16 wedding was cancelled by fiancé Brendan McCarthy

A jilted bride-to-be who was abandoned by her groom after he developed second thoughts few weeks before the wedding has donated her reception party to the homeless.

Dana Olsen couldn't get a refund after her January 16 wedding was cancelled by fiancé Brendan McCarthy six weeks before their big day.

READ: Jilted bride destroys dress with bridesmaids after groom cancels wedding via text message

The bride and her mum, Karen Olsen, had spent most part of 2015 planning a lavish wedding reception for 250 guests the couple had invited.

The lavish wedding in total cost at least $32,000, a source told Daily Mail.

When Olsen couldn't get her money back, she decided to hold the reception for 150 homeless women and children from the city's Mary’s Place Shelter.

As the news of Dana's generosity spread, a few people decided to make the night more memorable.

READ: Jilted bride turns $35,000 wedding ceremony into feast for homeless people

Some of the homeless women had their makeup and hair done by a stylist - Lauren Grinnell from Lala’s Cuts, while others donated dresses and jewelry.

The homeless were entertained by a live band as they were served sumptuous meals by caterers.

"I love that hopefully a lot of people will have a really fun night, I mean, if we can’t have a good night, I hope that they have a great time," the bride-to-be told news men though she didn't attend the event.

"She just wanted to marry the guy she loved, and that’s not happening, and if she can’t have that, she is very happy to share it with someone else," the bride's mother Karen said.

Dana and Brendan began dating after they both moved to Southern California though they had known each other for over 10 years since they went to highschool together in Seattle.

READ: Bride sells home, travels round the world after fiance calls off wedding

He proposed a year ago but changed his mind about marrying her weeks before the wedding.

Though the jilted bride had no idea why he called off their big day, she was happy to put smiles on other people's faces.

"I wish I knew more myself, I just wanted to marry him. I didn’t care about the wedding stuff," she told Kiro7’s Monique Ming Laven.

"Pretty much immediately I thought about the fact that my family had paid for almost the entire wedding, and I knew we wouldn’t be able to get most of it back,

So after the shock of what had happened wore off, I started to think about what to do.

READ: Lebanese groom abandons bride, absconds with wedding cash

It just felt really terrible and wasteful and awful to just have all that money and this beautiful event that wasn’t going to happen.

I just couldn’t stand the thought of it being wasted," she told KING5.

Though Dana still wished it was her wedding day, she doesn't regret the decision she made.

"I wish it were going to be my wedding, but if I’m going to have a really bad weekend, at least I want to help someone else have a really good day, " she said.

"In some small way, I can take this horrible thing and try to turn it into something positive," Dana added.

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