Heartbroken NY bride turns cancelled wedding into celebration for needy kids

New York bride cancels wedding and instead hosts pre Mothers Day luncheon for children and families in need — Yiru Sun poses for a photograph with some of the children who attended her pre-Mother’s Day luncheon at Harold Pratt House, New York. Image: John M. Mantel via New York Post

After refusing to sign a pre-nuptial agreement, New York bride-Yiru Sun cancelled her wedding and, instead of retreating heartbroken, the generous executive turned her sadness into joy by treating 60 needy local families to a lavish lunch-time celebration at one of the city’s top wedding venues.

She even wore her would-be wedding gown.

Yiru, Vice President of New York Life Insurance, was supposed to be married on Saturday, May 7, 2016 at the luxurious and historic Harold Pratt House in New York’s Upper East Side.

However, the single mother-of-one refused to sign a pre-nuptial agreement proposed by her betrothed and, as a result she decided to call her glamorous Upper East Side wedding off.

Yiru told the New York Post, “Initially I felt frustrated.”

However, three-weeks after the wedding was cancelled, Yiru came up with the idea to put her non-refundable $10,838 ($8000 USD) deposit and her intended wedding dress to good use, and the single mother-of-one instead hosted a pre-Mother’s Day lunch for families and children in need, donning her would-be wedding dress for the occasion.

Yiru told the New York Post, “I cannot be the princess of my wedding day, but I can give the kids a fairy tale.”

Yiru, along with the Salvation Army and American youth foundation Inwood House, invited 60 children and families in need for a lavish feast and afternoon of activities at the luxurious wedding reception venu where the cancelled wedding would have taken place. Children were treated to balloons and face painting, and Yiru even brought along icy-poles.

Yiru also shared her own personal story with her guests and expressed her belief that single mothers and their children can face hardship but still achieve wonderful things. Yiru went on to explain how she grew up in poverty in China before migrating to America and studying hard, earning herself a scholarship at the prestigious Princeton University.

“My guests feel even more happier than wedding guests,” Yiru told the New York Post before jokingly adding, “they don’t need to prepare wedding gifts.”