Wedding photographer Lindsay Coulter has certainly seen her fair share of tearful moments from behind her camera lens. But what she witnessed at the wedding of Jo and Earl late last month was on another level altogether.
While Linsday photographed Jo and her bridesmaids getting dressed for the ceremony, disaster struck: the zipper on Jo’s wedding dress snapped. Unable to fix it, one of Jo’s bridesmaids rushed to the neighbour’s place to borrow some pliers.
“She came back with a handful of tools and some interesting information,” Lindsay reported in a Facebook post.
“The next door neighbour was hosting a family of Syrian refugees and the father was a master tailor and would be happy to help if we weren’t successful.”
The next thing the bridal party knew, they were answering the door to the tailor, who was holding his sewing kit with his young son in tow. The pair had only been in Canada for four days, and neither of them spoke a word of English.
They had been communicating with their host family using Google Translate since they'd arrived in Canada, but on the day of Jo's wedding, there was no risk of miscommunication. The tailor knew exactly what needed to be done.
He quickly got to work, expertly stitching up Jo's dress. His young son watched enthusiastically, seemingly in awe of the elaborate dress and the room full of people.
For Lindsay, the moment was a turning point.
"Every weekend I take photos of people on the happiest days of their lives, and today one man who has seen some of the worst things our world has to offer came to the rescue," she wrote.
"I am so proud to live in Canada, a country who has opened our doors to refugees countless times. I'm in awe of the families who have welcomed these strangers in to their homes and lives, and I'm inspired by the resilience of the Syrian people. We are truly blessed."
Support Lindsay's GoFundMe campaign to help Syrian refugees in Canada here.
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We need more of these stories where refugees enriching our lifes.
We just hosted a family of South Sudanese refugee children in our home for the weekend. I can't tell you how life changing it was for us. These children had suffered the most tremendous loss, destitution, starvation and been through the most horrific experiences in a true hell on earth, it is unimaginable to those of us raised in a western country. I was a bit worried at the extra work with eight kids for the weekend in our small house but they were so helpful with my little ones, just so pleased to be here and ecstatic to have their first visit to the beach in their lives. It was a truly special and life-changing time for us all, costing us so little but giving us so much, not the least of which is being grateful and thankful that by luck alone we have the privilege to be born in a country as free and rich and peaceful as Australia. We are very much looking forward to helping these children further as well as their community.
How did you organise this? It is something I'm interested in. Will you have ongoing contact with the family?