Imagine, for a moment, that you’re about to get married to your beloved. The wedding is six weeks away and as far as you know, the company planning your wedding has everything ready to roll by the special date. But instead of being as enthused and ready as you are, they go out of business instead. And keep all that money to paid them, despite not providing the services they promised. What does one do? Well, if you have a Twitter account, you tell your followers about it on Twitter (while also probably bawling in private). And if you have amazing followers on Twitter, they will pitch in to make sure your wedding goes off without a hitch, even get it some celebrity attention. This is what happened to Lauren and Dan Welch. Get ready for your feel-good story of the day!
The couple had put down a £4,500 deposit (about $7,100) to a wedding planner and could not have foreseen what happened a month and a half before their February 25 wedding date. The company folded, taking the couple’s deposit with them, and leaving them with just a few weeks to start planning from scratch. On January 5, Lauren took to Twitter, saying their money had been “stolen,” and she and Dan needed help trying to reorganize. She repeated her appeal, and everyone started retweeting. Eventually, her message made its way to celebrities — Davina McCall and Dannii Minogue, with about a million followers between them.
They were hardly looking for freebies, but Dan and Lauren soon started hearing from companies and individuals with wedding-related things they could offer up for free or at a discount — photography, catering, jewelry, the cake, wardrobe, makeup, and even other wedding planners, offering up their services at the last minute. The couple guessed that they’d received about £10,000 ($15,800) in services, only having to spend another £5,000 ($7,900) of their own money.
The result: Dan and Lauren were able to throw a “lovely” wedding, and don’t seem to know how to fully express their gratitude for all the help they received. But they, and their friends and family, no doubt, are eternally grateful for the completely voluntary assistance to a couple of strangers.
It’s always so nice to find out that the internet can be used for good.
(The Guardian via Mashable via Yahoo!)
