The joyful wedding celebration of Paul and Sherida McCallum turned sour at the reception when their wedding donation box was stolen. This box held about $10,000 in cash gifts, which the couple had planned to use for their honeymoon.
Distraught by the theft, the couple later made a serious allegation to WSB-TV. They suspect the thief is Kendarries Powell, the wedding decorator they hired for the venue.
“To end on such a negative note, it broke everyone’s heart. It didn’t just affect my husband and I. It affected the entire family,” Sherida told the outlet.
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The couple hired Powell based on several positive word-of-mouth recommendations from loved ones. As she explained, “When you’re planning a wedding, you want word of mouth, someone you can depend on.”
The couple, however, told the outlet that they found the opposite of a reliable person. They claimed that during their reception, which followed their September 2024 wedding ceremony in midtown Atlanta, they started receiving complaints about the decorator.
Paul recounted to WSB-TV that he initially requested the decorator to leave the reception, saying, “He’s by the bar, and he’s not acting professionally. He’s drinking all the alcohol. He’s intoxicated.” However, Paul eventually permitted the decorator to remain.
He admitted that he didn’t realize the severity of his error until he and his new wife noticed that the donation box—which was intended for family and friends to contribute money toward their honeymoon fund—was gone.
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the wedding donation box began to unravel the day after the ceremony, when the newlyweds returned to the event hall. Determined to understand what had become of the container, which held financial gifts from their guests, the couple requested and reviewed the venue’s security footage.
The footage, as described by the couple to WSB-TV, reportedly showed Powell entering the reception hall. Powell was allegedly seen carrying a tablecloth. As Powell left the hall, the donation box was visible, partially hidden within the folds of the tablecloth.
Paul recounted, “And when I saw the camera spot that box, the hair on my skin went up. You can tell when someone is suspicious. He looked around very quickly to see what was going on.”
Paul described his attempt to reason with Powell to WSB-TV, stating, “I spoke to him and said, ‘Hey, be a man. Let’s meet at the station and talk about it.’ He refused. He never showed up.”
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The couple reported that the wedding decorator vanished after the incident. After filing a criminal complaint with the Atlanta Police Department, they were informed by a detective that an arrest warrant had been issued for Powell.
The Atlanta Police Department arrested Powell on November 19, 2024. People confirmed that the arrest was based on an “outstanding warrant for theft by taking related to this incident.”
Despite the negative experience at their wedding reception, Paul and Sherida have chosen to move forward with a positive outlook. They were able to proceed with their honeymoon as planned, even without the stolen funds.
Paul shared with WSB-TV that they are choosing to “focus on the good memory of our wedding. We don’t want this to take away from the hard work we put in.”
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