IN November last year, Glen Allen walked into The Beacon in Northbridge, not knowing his life was about to change for the better.
Having spent the past four years couch-surfing in Victoria, sustained by a diet of tinned food, he was introduced to Ivy at a Salvation Army barbecue in Wellington Square.
Fast forward six months and the pair are happily engaged and are set to tie the knot at Cannington Seventh-Day Adventist Church’s soup kitchen on June 7.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOWThe pair are regulars at the soup kitchen, but admitted they were blown away when the church offered to host their wedding.
“When I said to Pastor Ben (Tavao) we didn’t have a place to get married at, he turned around and said we could have the wedding here,” Ivy said.
“I said ‘you do realise we don’t have any money’ and he said ‘think of it as a gift’ and now they’re organising our whole wedding, from the food to the flowers.
“I was just going to shove everyone into the registry and hope for the best.”
Both Glen and Ivy had what they humbly describe as a rough twelve months, but they admitted there was a light at the end of the tunnel and Glen said the soup kitchen had been there for them in their time of need.
“When we first got together, Ivy started taking me to all these different places I never would have found on my own,” Glen said.
“The soup kitchen people are all friendly and helpful in so many ways. They give us clothes, food, sometimes we’ll have showers there, because we don’t have gas at our house to save on bills.”
Ivy, who discovered the soup kitchen almost three years ago, said it had turned not only her life around, but also the lives of countless others.
“When Pastor Ben offered to marry us and told us all this was a gift, it was a really big deal. No one has ever given me anything that big or remotely considerate. I’m forever grateful for them,” she said.
“It helps people not just in the community, but outside of the community. When you’re on your own, it’s just you and your sanity and that’s how people fail, when they turn to drugs and alcohol and everything else in between.”
The couple are headed to Bali for their honeymoon after the wedding.
No go on electors’ poll for Shelley Beach Park
