North Texas newlyweds forced to downsize wedding donate catering to food pantry

DALLAS - Newlyweds Joe and Amanda Monty started out with a wedding guest list of 125 people, then came the pandemic.

Photos show the result of their decision to delay and significantly pare down their plans. 

"We had to make some adjustments pretty quickly," Amanda said.

"Kind of cut the guest count in half at that time, and then really, two weeks before the event, we cut it down again to 30 people to make it COVID friendly," Joe added. 

Their caterer, Jolie Bree Bailey, of Low Country Quisine, rolled with the Monty wedding changes by minimizing the original vision, but not before a setback of her own.

"Right before their wedding, we found out that our team had been exposed to COVID at a prior wedding. It was my entire team, so we had to go into quarantine for 10 days," she explained. 

The outcome, which ended up being a small, elegant affair, left the couple with a hefty catering credit to the tune of thousands of dollars.

That’s when Chef Jolie came up with a suggestion, which the Monty’s and two other client couples quickly agreed.

"I think we both thought it was a great idea, being able to give back at a time when so many people are going through so much more than just having to move a wedding date," Amanda said.

Their combined generosity will make for a big donation to feed struggling families instead of them receiving a cash refund.

Vendors also pitched in.

"Because of their combined kindness, we’re going to be able to donate 52 cases of food to Minnie’s Food Pantry, and to my understanding, that comes to about 3,000 meals that we’re going to be able to donate," the chef explained.

"We started seeing those images back in March and April when things started to turn south, and we were able to give back a little bit at that time as well. So this was a way to continue doing that but in a bigger way," Joe said.