Jilted Bride's Family Feeds Homeless at Reception

A case of cold feet led to a hot plate for the homeless in Sacramento over the weekend.

After a groom backed out of his planned wedding less than a week before it was to take place, the jilted bride’s family turned a personal disaster into a civic triumph.

Kari Duane invited the community’s homeless to attend what should have been the non-refundable reception for her daughter, Quinn, at the Citizen Hotel.

The food from its four-star restaurant, Grange, was already paid for, so someone might as well eat it. Duane got the word out, and the banquet room booked for 120 guests swelled with the homeless celebrating an October thanksgiving under the guise of a “Fall Dinner Hosted by the Duane Family.”

Duane told NBC news affiliate KCRA that after the first person arrived—a woman who lives in a shelter with others too old to work or with too much financial hardship to afford rent—she knew it would be meaningful.

“I was thinking at that moment, if she’s the only person that comes tonight, this was worth it,” she said.

But others in need also came, and they dined on a menu that included appetizers and salad, gnocchi, salmon and tri-tip as part of a $35,000 wedding package.

The event somehow softened the blow of the wedding that never was. Quinn chose not to attend.

“I feel a lot of heartache and heartbreak for her, but I will take away something good from this, I will,” Kari Duane said.

The nonrefundable honeymoon to Belize didn’t go to waste, either; it was taken by mother and daughter.

-Martin Henderson; Kari Duane directs guests via KCRA