COUPLE WED IN COLES!

Feeling nostalgic about the place you met the love of your life is normal for most couples. Being so grateful to the place that you actually visit it on your wedding day is a bit more unusual. Especially when that place is Coles. But Gold Coast newlyweds

it all the time! When I was laughing with her carer that Josee wanted a Woolworths party for her fifth birthday, she said: “Why not?” And so we decided to make it happen.

‘We made Woolworths tablecloths and lolly bags, and Josee’s older sister Tallara made her a chocolate Woolworths cake with the logo in green icing,’ the Queensland mum smiles.

‘When we were buying all the bits at Woolworths, I got chatting to the man at the register and he called the manager down to talk to Josee.

‘They let her choose a bunch of flowers for her birthday and she was thrilled.’

The whole community got involved and a local lady offered up her Woolies shirt, which Joelle made into a dress to surprise Josee before the party.

‘When we showed it to her, she just said: “Wow.” The smile didn’t come off her face all day,’ laughs Joelle.

Suitably dressed, Josee and her eight friends played shopping-inspired party games such as working out what item Joelle had wrapped in a Woolworths shopping bag.

‘She had a great time,’ Joelle says. ‘And because our local Woolworths had heard all about it, they offered to give Josee a full store tour and afternoon tea afterwards.’

In February, Josee arrived at her favourite place and was greeted with her very own Woolworths badge, which they’d made up for her.

‘They went all out. She got to see behind the deli counter and in the bakery, and even labelled some food,’ Joelle says. ‘All the staff came to eat doughnuts with her and they said on her next ‘shift’ they’ll be getting her her very own Woolworths shirt made. It was so beautiful.

‘It’s amazing how this is the story that has captured everyone’s hearts,’ Joelle goes on to add.

‘I’ve done a lot of work talking about Down syndrome, but it’s great that it is the story where Josee is just a normal little girl wanting a party that she loves, which has got everybody talking.’

The only problem for Joelle now is that Woolworths is the only place Josee wants to be!

‘We’ve gone from one extreme to the other,’ the mum explains, laughing.

‘Literally, the first thing she asks me every morning is whether we can go to Woolies today. Her school is right next door, so I don’t have much excuse. We probably have to go two or three times a week now!’