Canceled wedding: Woman says impact of story is ‘overwhelming’

Her fiancé called of the wedding less than a week out. She spent her honeymoon in a foreign country with mom.

But, Quinn Duane, 27, isn’t thinking about any of that.

“I feel like, a lot of times people want the story behind it and they want it to be personal, but that’s not the focus,” she said. “The focus should be charity and doing something great.”

Left with a $35,000 bill but no wedding, the Duane Family could have let the day pass. Instead, they contacted the Sacramento shelter Next Move, which helps hundreds of homeless women and families each day.

On Oct. 17, dozens of homeless men, women, grandparents and children filled the reception hall at the Citizen Hotel. All were treated to a four-star meal.

“It was my parent’s idea, I was pretty emotional,” Duane said. “But, as soon as they asked me if I’d be okay with that it, I was like, ‘oh absolutely!’”

“When you have a ton of food, what better way than to give it to those who need it,” she added.

The story went viral and soon Duane’s voicemail and inbox were filled.

“The most overwhelming thing is to see how many people were positively impacted,” she said. “People across the country have been reaching out saying how they’ve been inspired. And, that was not something I ever expected.”

Duane understandably chose not to attend the reception that night, and instead spent it packing for her nonrefundable honeymoon. The next morning, she set off to Belize with her mom by her side.

“It was just good to spend time with my mom. We had a really good time,” she said. “Belize is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. I love to travel, it was a passion of mine so we had a really good time.”

Duane doesn’t see herself as a role model or particularly exemplary. In her eyes, she’s just someone who did the right thing when she had the chance to do it.

She hopes others will do the same.

“Doing something positive, it doesn’t need to be over complicated,” Duane said. “Mine came out of a bad situation. But regardless, it’s important to pay it forward and do positive things in the world — put positive energy out there.”