Strangers give dying bride her dream wedding

When Jen Bulik learned she had just months to live, she decided to get married.

Thanks to a generous wedding planner and the kindness of strangers, she wed her boyfriend of six years in a dream wedding this past Saturday.

In January, 35-year-old Jen Bulik received a fateful diagnosis.

The hair stylist from Mountain View, Calif., was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer after seeing doctors about a lingering cough. By June, she was given less than six months to live.

So, she decided to get married.

"So when I heard that, I said, 'Let's get married,'" Bulik tells NBC Bay Area. "Because I wanted to focus on life."

Bulik and her boyfriend of six years, Jeff Lang, had been discussing tying the knot before her diagnosis. Now that time was of the essence, they started planning their wedding immediately: a low-key barbecue where they would celebrate with friends and family.

What they didn't anticipate: strangers intervening to give them the wedding day of their dreams.

San Francisco-based wedding planner Erica Ota read a Facebook post about the couple on a wedding group page — a friend of Bulik was inquiring about catering and flower donations — and decided to take action:

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"Why should she settle for a barbecue when she can have so much more?"

"I just feel that in life there are opportunities every day to do extraordinary things for other people," Ota says. "This was an opportunity I saw to do something for somebody else. So why not?"

Ota agreed to help the bride-to-be plan the event, using her connections to get 40 Bay Area vendors to donate more than $50,000 worth of goods and services, all bringing Bulik's vision of her dream wedding to life — the bride had been using Pinterest to organize images of the perfect day — in just two weeks.

"I feel more gratitude than I have ever felt in my entire life," a teary Bulik told Bay City News Service last Friday. "I had no idea that people were…so giving. It's really flipped my idea of what I thought human nature was about."

Bulik and Lang wed on Saturday at a San Jose park.

"Just to see her face when she said her vows was so touching," groomsman Aaron Goodnow tells Mercury News. "They just want the day to be about celebration and love."

Also see: Touching gift for bride who lost everything

After their vows, the couple shouted, "I do!"

A New Orleans jazz marching band led 120 guests to the "rustic-chic" reception that followed at Bulik's childhood home, complete with a taco station, chalkboard signs, guestbook quilt, succulent floral arrangements, photo booth and a floral arch — all details Bulik had pinned on Pinterest.

Ota even planned the day to accommodate Bulik's need to nap, hydrate and get proper nourishment.

"I am in this place where I feel super open to possibility and allowing all that is happening to happen, and to stay in the center of it all and remain grounded in myself," Bulik said the day before the wedding.

Family, friends and strangers have donated more than $45,000 to the newlyweds to help cover honeymoon and medical expenses.

"What I think is so fascinating is that they are touched by my story, and that is just shocking, and I feel in awe about it," Bulik says.