Sask. couple without much family invites 'strangers from the internet' to crash Winnipeg wedding
Pair put call out for guests on Reddit in February saying they had few living family members to attend
It wasn't your typical wedding scene when Vanessa Yawney and Derek Loewen exchanged vows Friday in Winnipeg's St. Vital Park.
Surrounded not by relatives but relative strangers, the pair said their 'I do's' inside a warm-up shelter by an ice-covered duck pond, more than 400 kilometres from their home of Canora, Sask.
In the months before, they posted on Reddit looking for at least two witnesses and an officiant to attend their Winnipeg nuptials.
"They wanted to have a wedding really with a whole bunch of strangers from the internet and I think that's really just such a cool story," said Joey Dearborn, who donated his officiating services after finding out about the couple's story.
Their story started in Moose Jaw, Sask., four years ago. They've been together ever since. They have two daughters, ages one and two, and a couple dogs.
In their appeal to the strangers of the internet, they explained how neither of them have much family. They wrote how most of Yawney's family members had passed away; Loewen grew up in foster care and had no family to join in either.
"We are hoping by miracle that you all will be able to join us, April 7, 2023 at the St Vital Park picnic shelter for our marriage," reads the Feb. 4 Reddit post.
Their daughters, along with Yawney's cousin and his girlfriend, were the only family present on Friday.
About a dozen strangers showed up, including Dominique DeGagne, Dylon Kornell and their daughter. They said they were shocked and impressed by the idea.
"Hopefully they make a lot of friends and enjoy Winnipeg," said Kornell.
Scott Newman also answered the call.
"I think it's Winnipeg showing not just them but hopefully the wider community, ourselves maybe, that we can show support for people who are in this sort of position," said Newman.
Yawney said she was happy with the turnout and unsurprised a group of Winnipeggers who don't know them would show up.
Winnipeg is the couple's go-to place for vacations and they plan to move to the city.
"Other times we've come to Winnipeg people here were really nice," said Yawney. "It's just a big friendly city."
The dressed-down affair may have been without the normal wedding hoopla and months of meticulous planning, but it wasn't without its hiccups.
Yawney planned to get her hair styled and makeup done Friday morning. But the dye job she got at the hairdresser Thursday didn't turn out as planned. They also forgot her wedding dress back in Saskatchewan and were having issues with their hotel accommodations in Winnipeg.
"So even if you don't plan your wedding things are still going to go wrong, but you just make the best of it," Yawney said with a laugh.
"We're just hoping that this is memorable not just for us but for everybody."
After a brief reception in the shelter, they planned to take their two girls to the Assiniboine Park Zoo.
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With files from Bartley Kives and Radio-Canada