Woman Perfects New Plan on Canceled Wedding Day

A woman online has made the best of a devastating situation.

In a TikTok video, creator Jessica Buchanan (@makeitjess) went viral for capturing the number of times she cried on her would-have-been wedding day after her ex-fiancé called it off. She spoke to Newsweek about the plans she made instead: Attending a Taylor Swift concert by herself. Since it was posted, Buchanan’s video has received over 3 million views and 392,000 likes.

“It’s okay,” she captioned the video. “I can laugh about this now.” In the video, her grand total of times crying equaled nine.

Buchanan, 32, from Toronto, Canada, said she and her ex had been together for six years and friends for years before that. As their wedding date got closer, though, their differences began to run deeper.

“We had been discussing what we wanted out of life and marriage, and we were not aligned on what we wanted,” she said. “Through therapy we realized we were heading for a difficult marriage.”

Buchanan said she still wanted to get married because she believed no relationship was perfect. She said she felt ready to put in the work. Her ex-fiancé, though, decided to call it off anyway—just over two weeks before the wedding date.

“It’s always been a bit of a thorn in my side that he was the one who wanted to propose, and then he changed his mind, and that he took so long to do it,” Buchanan said. “The entire wedding was ready to go. I’m a DIY bride so I had made all our centerpieces. I then sold everything on Facebook Marketplace afterwards.”

Finding Comfort in Taylor Swift

Buchanan found a break-up companion in an unlikely place.

“Taylor Swift was going through a breakup at the exact same time as me, with Joe Alwyn,” Buchanan said. “It felt like a blessing or somehow meant [for] me: that we were going to go through a huge break-up together. I listened to her songs and cried, but it also helped me process my emotions.”

As Buchanan’s wedding date inched closer, so did Swift’s Eras Tour. As she grieved the relationship, she made a big—and expensive—decision. She spent $3,000 on a ticket to Swift’s Houston concert.

“Because it was going to be a really tough day for me. I knew I needed to be alone for it. I didn’t want anyone else’s emotions affecting me that day. I needed the day for me,” she said. In the time leading up to the concert, she made bracelets to hand out to people and make friends at the gig.

A Healing Journey

It’s been a year since Buchanan’s break-up, and it’s been a tough one, she said. But, ultimately, she is doing all right.

“This breakup was a blessing in disguise…I’ve cried a lot over the last year, but I’m also really thankful it happened. I’ve really come out as a stronger person because of it and I’m really proud of how I handled the situation. I think I handled it with a lot of dignity and grace,” she said.

Buchanan has also come out of the experience with a new holiday to celebrate on her would-be wedding day.

“Me and my friends refer to my wedding day as ‘Taylor Swift Day’ now,” she said. “‘Taylor Swift Day’ 2.0 is coming up and I’m having a big party to celebrate the one-year anniversary. We’re watching the Eras Tour, having themed cocktails to each era and we’re making friendship bracelets.”

Buchanan and her friends will have a new album to play on ‘Taylor Swift Day’ this year. The pop star’s new album The Tortured Poets Department was released today.