Q&A: How people in Saskatoon rallied to throw surprise wedding for Syrian couple

People in Saskatoon pitched in to throw a surprise wedding reception for a Syrian couplewho were forced to cut their wedding short because of bombings in their hometown.

The couple moved to Saskatoon as refugees about one year ago.Theydidn't get to take wedding pictures or have the wedding they planned.

After CBC News reporterEman Bare shared their story on Facebook, several people and businesses ralliedto bring them a surprise wedding Sunday afternoon at the Delta Bessborough Hotel.

The couple are legally married butthey original planned to return home fortheir wedding celebrations.

Barejoined CBC Radio's Saskatchewan Weekendhost Eric Anderson to share thestory:

What can you tell me about this couple from Syria?

I started taking pictures of them towards the end for my story, and the woman, Athar, just said that "I never got to have wedding pictures."I just started thinking, and I said, "Well I have a camera. If you want tomorrow, I can take a couple wedding-type pictures for you."

In about an hour, [the post]got close to 100 shares. I had people from all over Saskatchewan messaging me. They wanted to come.

The Bessboroughdonated a hall to us.A woman [Amanda O'Leary]I met yesterday at 9 p.m. gave me her wedding dress and a suit and a dress shirt and tie.

Were you surprised by the response of people in the province in terms of wanting to help this couple from Syria go through with an actual wedding ceremony?

Absolutely. I just thought it'd be some of my old university friends.

Do the couple know about this, and what is their response?

They don'tactually know. They know that we're going totake wedding pictures tomorrow.

In terms of some of the donations and getting the Bessborough on board, how quickly did that happen?

Imet them at 4 p.m., and I left their place maybe at 4:45 p.m.We had a hall booked by 5:30p.m.I honestly just askedand they were like, "Yeah, we'd love to give it to you."

I'm so excited to see how generous people are being, especially with how busy this time of year is.

Update:

For an update on how things turned out, check out our video and a photo gallery here:

• Surprise wedding reception for Syrian refugees in Saskatoon