Bhubaneswar Couple Feeds 500 Stray Dogs On Their Wedding Day & Vows To Look After Animals

Wedding ceremonies in India are a grand affair filled with lavish ceremonies and vibrant functions. But what if you don’t take the traditional route and instead do something kind and unconventional? For instance, an Assamese couple asked guests for books as wedding gifts and even gave them saplings in return!

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Speaking of which, recently, a Bhubaneswar couple arranged a special treat for around 500 animals on their big day. Instead of hosting an extravagant feast for their loved ones, Eureka Apta, a filmmaker, and his dentist wife, Joana honored a promise they had made to each other during three years of courtship, reports the New Indian Express.

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Dedicating their wedding to a noble cause, the couple fed several stray animals with the help of a voluntary organization – Animal Welfare Trust Ekamra. They even donated money to the NGO’s animal shelter which is home to several rescued animals. In fact, two days before their marriage, they had distributed food items and medicines to the animals in the shelter.

On their special day, when they were tying the knot at a village temple in Nuagaon, volunteers of the NGO served a mix of rice and non-vegetarian items to stray animals in every nook and corner of the city courtesy of the couple. Ever since Joana started dating Eureka, both had discussed how they always wanted to contribute to a good cause.

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The couple had even saved money for charitable donations but the pandemic brought financial instability in their lives. As shooting was not an option during the lockdown, Eureka, who has shot various documentaries on rural Odisha and Jharkhand, lost a few of his projects. But, the determined couple took a loan from the bank and made the donation in order to fulfill their dream. They kept their wedding a low-key affair.

Explaining their situation, Eureka was quoted saying, “Joana even wore my mother’s wedding saree instead of splurging on a super-expensive one. We wanted to pay tribute to my mother who died of cancer.”

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The couple also wrote a letter to the animals remembering the groom’s mother and the bride’s grandmother who sadly passed away in the same year, 2017. Interestingly, one of their wedding vows was to help the animal shelter flourish. The 27-year-old groom recalled how he was moved by the sight of disabled and abandoned animals at the shelter. He said,

“Early this year, we rescued a dog which had met with an accident. That’s when we had first visited the shelter. And, the sight of helpless animals – some with injured or wounded limbs – made us feel miserable. It was then that we decided why not donate for animals instead of choosing other forms of charity.”

Well, kudos to the couple for their kind and compassionate act. They sure have set a wonderful example of how weddings should really be.

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