Making Lemonade...

 

Everyone's heard of this phrase or seen it on a shabby chic styled sign on the wall of a gift shop....
Well recently my boyfriend's sister Jaymie has demonstrated this in the most incredible way and this post is dedicated to her. (Sorry if you thought this post was actually going to show you how to make lemonade...google it?)

 

Jaymie is more than my boyfriend's sister, she is a great friend and I was overjoyed when she asked me to be her bridesmaid when she got engaged on Christmas Day 2012. We scoured Pinterest for inspiration, discussed the important matter of which shade of coral ribbon I would use on the handmade invites and wandered car boot sales looking for vintage picture frames. We reached the five month countdown to the wedding in November and it was really all starting to come together.
Then the unthinkable happened...
Her fiancé left her and their two girls. The wedding was cancelled...

In a time of great heart ache and so close to Christmas Jay could have crumbled.

Instead she made lemonade.

The venue was booked and there was no chance of a refund, the invites had been sent, everyone had saved the date and bought their outfits. How could she break the news that there would be no wedding.

Then she had a brainwave....

What if she turned the wedding in to a charity event. Instead of giving wedding gifts the guests would donate money in return for the chance to win prizes with all proceeds going to Cancer Research UK. The charity is close to all of our hearts but Jay's grandfather is fighting terminal cancer, so it meant the world to her to be able to help raise money for such a good cause.

I set about making something we could share on social media to help spread the word of the event and find donations of raffle prizes. With the ambitious target of £3000 we needed something that would get people's attention. That's when I made the connection with the lemon/lemonade quote. That's exactly what she was doing. Taking the shitty situation she had found herself in and turning it around to something positive. That's the only way to make it through life really, isn't it.

We spread the word using this picture and #letsmakelemonade

Slowly donations started pouring in and the media got in touch. The local newspaper printed THIS lovely article to help us raise awareness of the event.

Now with just over two weeks to go until the big day I can't wait to see what Jay has achieved by putting on her strong head and making lemonade.

She is such an inspiration.

If you think so too please head to www.justgiving.com/jaymie-kennedy as even just a pound or two will put a smile on our faces. I know she won't stop until she's reached her target. There's talk of a skydive if the target isn't reached at the party! Please save her from having to chuck herself out of a plane!

Abbie x

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