As a Canadian, watching the devastation occurring in Fort McMurray, Alberta is heartbreaking. Every minute, the wildfire is spreading at an uncontrollable pace and it’s a miracle everybody made it out alive. In the midst of this tragedy though, an entire nation has unsurprisingly come together to help the evacuees. The story we’ve come across and would like to share today filled our hearts with so much joy seeing how the Toronto wedding community came together to help a Fort McMurray bride who lost her wedding gown in the fire.
Fort McMurray bride-to-be Elise Boissonneault was among the 80,000 Fort McMurray residents evacuated as a result of the wildfire. Elise was just days away from her nuptials on the Toronto Islands on Saturday, May 7th and sadly wasn’t able to retrieve her wedding dress from the seamstress in town. The seamstress’ shop was destroyed by the fire along with Elise’s dress.
“My fiancé called me and he was in the south part of town. He couldn’t get to me. He said, ‘You need to pack everything and just get out of there and go north.’”Elise told CTV News.
Now for the good part. Elise’s photographer Alex Neary of Wild Eyed Photography stepped up and turned to social media for help. Before long, hundreds of offers came in. After a quick round two of wedding dress shopping, Elise found two gowns she couldn’t decide between. Luckily, she didn’t have to as local bridal shop Lea-Ann Belter Bridal generously donated both – one for the ceremony and one for the reception.
“The first dress that I had tried on was similar to the other dress, and it just kind of overwhelmed me with emotion,” Elise said. “I just started crying, to be honest. And I think that it was best that I didn’t go with the dress that was similar.”
The bride and groom married this past weekend at the Rectory Café in Toronto surrounded by family and friends. The best wedding gift they received? The news that that her house is still standing.
And like the true Canadian she is, Elise is intending on paying it forward by rewarding all the hard-working fireworks free massages.
Congratulations to the happy couple. The Brightside Films team wishes you nothing but happiness in this next chapter of your lives. 