After ending her engagement, Kolbie Sanders, a 24-year-old woman from Texas gave away her wedding venue to a couple she’s never met, for free.
Kolbie wrote on her Facebook post that she has ended her engagement and wanted to help out a couple ready for marriage by giving away her reserved wedding venue. “With my engagement ending, I’ve come to find tremendous peace in knowing that I did the right thing for the both of us. With that being said, now I want to do the right thing by others and let some good come out of this decision,” Kolbie wrote on 14 October. “This is a long shot but since my wedding venue has been paid for in full already, I have decided to donate my venue valued at $3,500 to a couple to use for their wedding day!”
But this meant that the couple she would choose to help get married would need to gear up for their wedding in six days, since the venue was booked for 20 October.
Kolbie mentioned that it would be hard to choose a couple for the big day. To make it easier on her, she asked couples who were interested to send her private messages with a short backstory of their relationship.
“This is for couples who can’t afford a fancy venue or for couples who are spending too much money on their kids to be able to afford a nice wedding,” she added.
The cool thing that happened was that after Kolbie wrote that post out on Facebook, the news went viral and a lot of local businesses started offering their services for free.
“My friend/neighbor is a wonderful photographer and has decided to offer her services for free for this day as well.”
“Lets Meet Carlos has chimed in on this donation and is throwing in tamales for 150 people for this day.”
“Sprinkled Bake Shop has offered to donate 2 dozen decorated wedding cookies for this too!”
“Three more WONDERFULLY talented people have offered their services for the lucky couple! Oh_so_brittnee has generously offered to donate a bouquet for the bride and a boutonnière for the groom! Hells Belles Hair Design and Makeup Artistry has also offered to do the hair for the bride for the day of wedding! Additionally, Abigail Mejia has offered to do makeup for the bride as well!”
This wedding could not be more perfect for the couple that Kolbie was going to choose. It would be a dream wedding! Kolbie started receiving hundreds of messages from couples wanting her to pick them.
Finally, on 15 October Kolbie decided to put the names of the top contenders in a bowl and choose one randomly. She picked out a name that read “Hallie Hipsher”, a bride-to-be from Canton, Texas.
“When I chose her name, I was really excited,” Sanders told The Washington Post. “I immediately remembered her story, so I was really happy for her.” Sanders said Hipsher told her that that her grandfather was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and she didn’t know if he would make it to see her walk down the aisle next year when they had originally planned to get married.
“She ended up telling me how winning this wedding would let her pawpaw attend her wedding,” she said.
In her initial Facebook post, Kolbie had written, “This is for couples who love each other and will continue to choose each other for the rest of their lives.”
Talk about selfless giving!
