Juanita and John
Juanita and John fell in love a few years ago, and they thought they had plenty of time to plan their wedding. So, when Juanita was diagnosed with mouth and tongue cancer, they contacted My Wedding Wish. We asked them what their dream wedding looked like.
John said he wanted to marry his love on a boat surrounded by 40 close family and friends on Valentine’s Day 2018. The application was approved by the Board and the Brisbane MWW team jumped right into making that dream come true.
We didn’t have any contacts for a boat, so CEO, Lynette rang around and spoke to the awesome Keith from Freedom Whale Watch and Charters who very kindly and without hesitation, offered his amazing boat to Juanita and John – fully catered. We were stoked, and so were John and Juanita – we were all beyond excited.
The wedding planning was going well – Juanita’s prognosis at that time was one year, so we had plenty of time to make everything just perfect for them! Juanita was having a great time trying on dresses in her hospital room, dreaming of her special day. Her face lit up with excitement whenever she talked about their wedding. Then tragedy struck, on 1st January Juanita was admitted to hospital and went downhill very quickly. Because the couple didn’t live in Brisbane, John wasn’t able to get his hands on their divorce papers or ID, and the courts were closed, so on 2nd January, 2018 a small My Wedding Crew guided by Celebrant Jenny Ashen conducted a commitment ceremony by Juanita’s bedside. She smiled through the whole ceremony, her face beaming. Two days later, on 4th January, Juanita died in her love’s arms.
The Wedding Wish Supplier – who generously donated their services to support this amazing couple’s wedding:
Celebrant:
Jenny Ashen