Couple Holds Wedding At Scottsdale White Castle After Bride Sought Solace At The Chain During Teenage Homelessness

A couple recently married outside of a Scottsdale White Castle because the bride sought solace at the chain during teenage homelessness. 

Jamie West entered the foster care system at the age of four and bounced from home to home. She suffered physical and sexual abuse in many of those homes before removing herself from the system. Instead, West turned to homelessness. 

For the next five years, she wandered the country, surviving on the streets. One day, she ended up at a White Castle, and instead of turning her away, the woman behind the counter provided her with food, water, and a bathroom to wash up.

She said that while most establishments would see a “dirty and obviously homeless” person, that was never the case at the burger chain. 

“White Castle was the only place that no matter where I was, if I saw it, I knew it was safe. I knew they’d feed me,” West told People. “I knew they’d have water. I knew I could use the bathroom. I never once got turned away.”

So when West’s boyfriend of 15 years, Drew Schmitt, proposed in 2019, she immediately knew where she wanted their wedding to take place: White Castle. And in front of 150 people, the couple exchanged vows in front of the Scottsdale location on May 5.

The wedding was medieval-themed, and West wore a dress while Schmitt wore a kilt and armor. White Castle’s phrase, “I crave therefore I am,” was written in gold Latin on Schmitt’s armor. And instead of throwing flower petals, West’s nieces, who served as flower girls, threw dehydrated onion chips as a nod to the chain’s main ingredient for sliders.

West hopes that sharing her story will help kids facing the same problems she did as a teen.

“When I was in really, really, really bad spots, it was hard to wake up the next day and have any hope of a future or think you’ll ever get out,” she told the outlet. “If I could spare one kid that and just make one kid know… that you will survive, no matter how bad the home is, you can get out. You can survive it, and you can do anything. You can turn yourself into a queen.”