In May, Renee Morin had royal wedding fever. All the eight-year-old girl could talk about was the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and how much she wanted to be a flower girl.
The problem was no one in their family would be getting married for a long time.
That’s when Renee’s mom Angela contacted the CISN Country 103.9 morning show to ask if anyone they knew was looking for a flower girl.
Hosts Chris, Jack and Matt put out the call and last weekend, Renee was a flower girl at Bev Lesburg’s Jasper wedding.
Lesburg was listening in May and heard the show’s plea for someone to allow Renee to join their wedding. On Tuesday, she told the morning show she wasn’t in the market for a flower girl at the time, but knew she needed to reach out.
“If I could help make a girl’s dream come true… My daughters missed that whole stage so it was perfect. I just thought: ‘Why not?'”
LISTEN BELOW: Bride Bev and flower girl Renee tell the CISN Country 103.9 morning show about Renee joining Bev’s wedding
Renee joined the wedding party and Lesburg said she became an integral part of not only the wedding day, but the planning process by helping to pick out the cupcakes and flowers for the reception.
“I say I wasn’t in the market for a flower girl, but we couldn’t have done it without her. She was amazing,” Lesburg said.
Lesburg and her new husband George returned the favour by inviting the entire Morin family to attend the weekend event in Jasper.
Renee spent the wedding day getting ready and riding to the ceremony with the bridal party, giving her the full flower girl experience.
“It was just such a great fit with our family, it was just perfect,” Lesburg said.
One moment in particular really showed what kind of person Renee is, Lesburg said. Because the wedding was in a national park, the flower girl couldn’t throw flower petals. Instead, she threw small flowers they had gathered from the area. Lesburg said by the time she arrived, Renee had made sure every woman at the reception had received a flower while they were waiting.
“She was just the best flower girl.”
Angela said it was great to not only see her daughter’s dream come true, but also to be embraced so wholly by Lesburg and her family.
“Everyone welcomed us with open arms — their friends, their family — everybody was so excited to see who this little flower girl was,” Angela told the morning show. “They sang with her and at the first dance, George invited Renee up and twirled her around the dance floor.”
For Renee, the day was exciting, but she said she was nervous before her big walk down the aisle. Her favourite part? Karaoke at the reception.