There won’t a be head table, gift or cake table, but there will be seating for about 170 guests.
They just won’t be Sarah Cummins and Logan Araujo’s friends and family.
Cummins, who had planned a $30,000 wedding for the last two years, called it off for reasons she prefers not to say, according to the Indianapolis Star.
"It was really devastating," said Cummins, a 25-year-old pharmacy student at Purdue University. "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,"
But she still had a nonrefundable deposit for a reception for 170 people at the Ritz Charles. So she talked to the hotel and, after making some changes, contacted homeless shelters in the area.
"Some people throw parties, some completely walk away, but none have ever done anything this charitable," Maddie LaDow, at the Ritz Charles, told the Star.
Cummins called homeless shelters in the Indianapolis area to fill the seats. She organized buses to take guests to the dinner.
"Being homeless is stressful for an entire family," said Cheryl Herzog, with the Dayspring Center, a homeless shelter Cummins contacted. "I suspect having the chance to experience a delicious meal with your family in a beautiful space like the Ritz Charles will be very special for them."
Araujo is grieving for the loss of the couple and his mother, who had recently died.
"I'm happy through my grief and also Sarah's that she was able to make a selfless and very thoughtful decision in such a hard time," Aruajo told the Star.
Cummins always wanted an outdoor wedding, so guests will be dining in the hotel’s garden pavilion. The menu includes bourbon glazed meatballs, goat cheese and roasted garlic bruschetta, chicken breast with artichokes and Chardonnay cream sauce and wedding cake.
"I will, at least, have some kind of happy memory to pull from," Cummins said. "I wanted to make sure it would be the perfect wedding."
