Usually, the main focus of a couple about to wed is to honour each other. But Jeannette Moore and Joseph Chambers want to honour their entire community in preparation for their nuptials.
Usually, the main focus of a couple about to wed is to honour each other.
But Jeannette Moore and Joseph Chambers want to honour their entire community in preparation for their nuptials.
The couple is taking part in a wedding contest focused on the theme of "paying it forward."
Sponsored by Wedding Saviours, an organization made up of professionals in the wedding industry and their business partners, the contest allows couples to carry out good deeds for their community with the goal of winning a free wedding where the organization and its business partners provide everything from flowers, to the venue, to the honeymoon.
Moore and Chambers learned about the contest when they attended a bridal show in Red Deer in January and decided to apply to become contestants.
"The premise is pay it forward, so you have to earn the wedding by paying it forward in your community and volunteering as a couple is one of the stipulations," Moore said.
She added they became involved as the contest provided them with the opportunity to have a spectacular wedding without the concern of having to spend large amounts of money.
"Basically, he works full time, I stay home. So trying to support a family on one income and make ends meet and pay bills and all the extras on top and then to try to save up for a wedding (is hard)," she said. "We were like, hey, you know, we’re engaged, we want to get married. How long is it going to take to save for a wedding? So we thought, hey, we’ve got nothing to lose by applying."
Giving back was an added bonus, Chambers said, since community involvement is second nature for them.
"We volunteer anyway," he said, adding before the couple moved to Olds from Cochrane last September, Moore volunteered at her 10-year-old son’s school and for his hockey team, while Chambers volunteered on Cochrane’s events society.
In late March, the couple was informed they were one of five pairs selected for the contest and their first challenge was to choose a community organization and volunteer for it together.
Moore and Chambers chose Meals on Wheels in Olds and delivered food to seniors for three weeks.
At the same time, they had to blog about their activities and Moore said they also carried out "random acts of kindness" such as giving rides to strangers in Olds and Calgary and shovelling snow for neighbours.
They also took their two boys along on food deliveries and taught them the importance of being involved in the community.
On April 14 they were interviewed by a panel made up of representatives of some of the businesses in the Red Deer area providing products and services for the wedding who asked them about challenges they’ve had to overcome, questions about their relationship and how they problem solve as a couple.
Their answers and their volunteer activities paid off as they received a phone call the next day informing them they are one of three couples in the contest’s semifinal round.
For their final challenge, Moore and Chambers have to collect as much food as possible until April 29.
Although the food was originally meant for the Red Deer food bank, Moore was able to convince the contest’s organizers to allow for the food to go to the Mountain View Food Bank.
The couple is setting up brightly wrapped boxes across Olds for food collection at the Olds Municipal Library, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, the Royal Canadian Legion,
The Bowl bowling alley, All Your Pets, Scoreboard Sports, Cowboy and Co. Coffee Café, Willow Brook Coffee House and Hair Central Salon.
They have also organized a food drive at the Westview Co-op grocery store for April 27 from 12 to 4 p.m.
"Everyone willing to donate to our cause and help us win the wedding is also paying it forward as we all work together to collect donations for the local food bank, which will in turn help so many others on a broader spectrum and will reach so many in the local community," Moore said. "There is no end when paying it forward."
The public can also vote for the couple they’d like to see win the contest at www.WeddingSaviours.ca.
Click on contests, choose the Red Deer tab and scroll down.
You’ll also be able to find the couple’s blog posts there.
Anyone wanting to donate food directly to Moore and Chambers for the contest can contact them at [email protected] or 403-791-4818.
Their goal is to collect one tonne of food for the food bank.
After the collection period ends on April 29, the winner of the contest will be announced on May 1.
If Moore and Chambers win, they will wed on Oct. 19.
Should they not win, Moore said she and her family still had a wonderful experience helping their new community and they’ll go about planning their wedding the old-fashioned way.
"We’d just go back to, this is kind of the wedding we want and you have a budget and you just keep plugging away and working towards it," she said.
