2026 Winner
LAUREN ROY-SUTHERLAND, SUZANNE STEVENSON AND LEE ANNE GENTLES
The Wedding Wish Makers, real life fairy godmothers helping terminally ill patients have their dream wedding day
Neighbours and friends Suzanne, Lauren and Lee Anne, from Renfrew, devote their time to organising fairytale weddings for brides and grooms whose dying wish is to marry the love of their life before it is too late.
Through online fundraising and donations from across the wedding industry the group have given couples a day to remember – providing everything from celebrants and cakes to dresses, flowers and pipers.
Suzanne was inspired to set up Wedding Wish Makers in 2021 after first helping a couple back in 2012. She said: “I was working as a wedding catering manager and I was approached by a man whose wife-to-be was terminally ill, about providing catering for their wedding. So I donated the catering and the wedding industry really gathered round to make their day special.
“That stuck with me, I kept thinking why does this service not exist for terminally ill people? We thought, why not us? Due to the tragic circumstances many of the weddings need a quick turnaround but each and every time the public have come to our rescue and made the impossible possible.”
Lauren added: “It’s so sad there is so much tragedy out there and a need for what we do but by doing this we have also discovered just how generous the public can be. The kindness of strangers is a powerful thing.”
Suzanne adds: “Making memories is what it is all about because our brides and grooms do not have that much time left.”