In March 2015, Annette and Lior Solomon were set to get married at the Harmonia Bagan event space, in Israel. Annette’s father passed away the same week, resulting in many relatives and friends assuming the event had been cancelled and therefore an empty wedding hall. In an attempt to save the wedding, Annette’s cousin posted the following to Facebook to the general public:

“The bride, lost both her parents in the last two years. Her father passed away a month ago, and now there is no one there except for a few relatives. You don’t need a gift, you don’t need money. Just come fill the auditorium, fulfill a mitzvah, and make a bride and groom happy.”

The response was rather enthusiastic as up to two thousand random strangers rocked up and joined in the celebration.

Rivka, a relative of the groom told Ynet news in Israel following the event, “These are the Israeli people at their best. The groom and bride cried. Understand, at the wedding canopy they were alone. After the story was published, people came to make them happy.”

Some guests didn’t even know which names to write on checks. One guest, Dana Yaakovian, told Ynet: “I live in Yavne and someone from Yavne shared the post on Facebook and we decided to come. I arrived with my boyfriend, Liad Hajaj, to the event space. We saw the post at 10:30pm and arrived after half an hour. There were already hundreds of people when we arrived, lots of music and people. People didn’t stop arriving until midnight and made the groom and bride happy.”