SAGINAW, MI — Katrina Tokarski knew plenty of things in her life were about to change as she planned her wedding.

Her last name would change from Robinson to Tokarski, and her tax status would change from "single."

And although her wedding venue was not on that list of expected changes, a month and a half before her Saturday, July 12, wedding day, Tokarski found herself without a place to tie the knot.

"It was heart-wrenching," Tokarski said. "It was awful."

While planning her wedding on a strict budget, the 23-year-old Saginaw Valley State University graduate settled on a Bay City venue. Tokarski said she paid $300, the total cost of renting it.

"Having our wedding there seemed like it was going to be the only way to have our wedding for the budget we had planned," she said.

Tokarski was working to put together a wedding that cost $5,000 or less.

Then, six weeks before she was to marry Justin Tokarski, she got a call from a wedding coordinator saying the venue had to pull out. After the unexpected cancellation, Katrina Tokarski searched for another available site in their price range, but she could find nothing.

"I couldn't find a single place," Tokarski said. "I felt so defeated."

Just when the situation seemed so bleak that Tokarski and her now-husband considered eloping during their already-planned honeymoon, 102.5 WIOG shared the story of the last-minute need for a wedding venue on Facebook.

The post got a ton of attention, and soon Tokarski was put in contact with Martha Humphreys, the board director for Saginaw's Pit and Balcony Community Theatre.



"You're gonna get married. It's gonna be in my theater. You're not going to pay anything," Tokarski recalls Humphreys saying when they first spoke.

"It was just a sad story," Humphreys said.

In what Humphreys calls a one-time "pay it forward" situation, the Tokarskis tied the knot, free of charge, on the stage of the theater at 805 N. Hamilton in Saginaw.

"If it were my daughter, I would like to think someone would do it for her," Humphreys said.

On the day of the wedding, guests were welcomed by the sign outside Pit and Balcony announcing "The Wedding starring Justin, Katrina." Once inside, they received programs that looked like Playbills.

Tokarski said everything went just perfectly as she walked down the aisle.

"It was just completely flawless," she said. "It was amazing. "Everyone was just sobbing, and I was sobbing, and it was wonderful."

She especially expressed her gratitude to Humphreys.

"She is just the best woman in the world," Tobarski said. "She puts the 'community' in community theater."

Four Points by Sheraton, 4960 Towne Center, in Saginaw Township gave Tokarski a discount and accommodated the vendors she had booked.

"They just made my entire reception beautiful," she said.

Humphreys said Pit and Balcony would love to host other weddings for those willing to rent out the theater.

"We'd be happy to have another wedding," Humphreys said. "It was a blast."

The venue is regularly rented out for events including dance recitals, meetings and even fashion shows.



"Almost anything you can think of, we can accommodate," Humphreys said.

For information, contact the Pit and Balcony office at 989-754-6587.

— Jessica Shepherd is an entertainment reporter with MLive/The Saginaw News. Contact her at 989-996-0687, email her at jessica_shepherd@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter or Facebook. You can also hear her Fridays at 8 a.m. on 102.5 WIOG's Nate and Rachel in the Morning.