Most people visit Sandhill Wines in Kelowna for some Okanagan wine tasting.
Today, though, is February 14th, a day that celebrates love, and something completely different is happening at the winery.
“We’re super excited. We’re doing 19 free weddings today for Valentine’s Day. We’ve got free hair and makeup. We’ve got music and cupcakes and décor,” said Kelowna 4 Love organizer Sue Cairnie. “It’s basically like a pop-up wedding where these lucky coupes get everything for free.”
This is the first year for the event, the brainchild of two local officiants and a wedding photographer.
“As wedding vendors, we all came together with the same idea. We believe diversity makes us stronger,” Cairnie said. “Love is love and we are here to celebrate it.”
There are similar events happening in other cities that sparked the idea for Cairnie and her team.
“We were inspired by Love in the Square. So that’s something that happens in New York, Vancouver, places around the world where you get a free wedding,” Cairnie said. “You show up in the square and just donate to a charity.”
Kelowna 4 Love is focusing its fundraising efforts on supporting the local LGBT2Q+ community.
“We’re raising donations for Kelowna Pride,” Cairnie said. “And then they’re being tunneled into the Etcetera Youth Group. So this group provides a safe and accepting place for LGBT2Q+ teens and their peers.”
Each of the 19 couples getting married has a unique story.
“We’ve got some pretty great diversity. Two of my favourite are a pair of seniors. They both have disabilities and they are low income,” Cairnie said. “We’ve got some LGBT2Q+ couples as well who really jumped on the event. A few of our couples are blended families. We also have a few expectant mothers.”
Juno Bebbington is one of the many people exchanging vows at Kelowna 4 Love.
“We’ve been wanting to get married in a couple of years and just waiting for our finances, and we came across it,” Bebbington said. “She said yes and here we are.”
Bebbington says the environment created through the event has made the experience comfortable for the couple.
“It’s absolutely amazing. I think it’s great that they chose this day of all days,” Bebbington said. “And it’s nice how they’re promoting Kelowna Pride, especially for me. I identify as gender fluid and I’m also bi-sexual, so it’s very nice to have this kind of support.”
Bebbington says the whirlwind romance with bride J-Lyn has come so far in such a short time.
“It’s only been a short year and a half for us and we managed to have a six-month-old baby together. We’ve moved in together,” Bebbington said. “We’ve come through all kinds of struggles.”
The newly married Bebbingtons exchanged vows in front of their close friends and family, as well as their infant daughter.
“Believe it or not, two years ago, I was living in a tent outside my friend’s house in the backyard and I was not doing really well in life and just kind of struggling through. J-Lyn and I were just kind of sitting outside on the patio chair one day and we just started talking and I looked into her eyes and she looked into my eyes and the rest is just history,” Bebbington said. “Today means everything.”
Although J-Lyn did have some anxiety on her wedding day morning, she says with the love of her spouse, she was able to overcome them and walk down the aisle.
“It was just perfect,” J-Lyn said. “It means the world to me.”
Organizers of Kelowna 4 Love expect the event to be an annual one and have also heard of other cities wanting to replicate the experience.
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