5 awesome left-at-the-altar outcomes

Angela Burrow was all set to marry her boyfriend of three-and-a-half years on New Year's Eve 2012. The wedding included 40 guests, a seven-course reception and Scottish bagpipers. But just days before the wedding, Burrow received a heartbreaking text from her fiancé: "The wedding's off." Burrow, who's still not sure why he called it quits, says she spent three days crying. She then decided to carry out the reception as planned.

Video: Unique bridal party gifts

"We were going to end the year on a high," Burrow said, "so I resurrected it as a new beginnings party. The people who are came are my close friends."

-- By Kristin Wong

"The dress had arrived, the flowers were done, the menus were chosen," said Kyle Paxman, a bride who was jilted just six weeks before her Virgin Islands wedding. "One hundred and eighty guests had tickets from all over the country," she explained. Instead of mourning and/or plotting revenge on her ex-fiancé, who Paxman discovered was having an affair, she turned the wedding into a charity benefit.

Video: Celebrity brides left at the altar

Paxman invited 125 women to have cocktails and dinner at her would-be wedding. In turn, she encouraged them to write checks to two charities of her choosing. Paxman admitted that it wasn't easy to throw the benefit amid a painful breakup, "but the end of my story now isn't so awful," she said.

Marilyn Chivetta was set to marry her fiancé, Peter DeLuca, in a $70,000 ceremony back in 2003. Six days before the wedding, DeLuca called everything off. Deciding it was too late to cancel the ceremony, Chivetta turned it into a "Broken Heart Ball." The soiree was open to anyone suffering from a broken heart.

Video: In pictures: Break up songs

Years later, Chivetta turned her own heartbreak into a career, becoming an inspirational speaker and author. "If I can transform my life, I want the world to know that anyone can do it," Chivetta said.

After his bride left him at the altar, Franz Wisner decided to take his brother Kurt and go on the honeymoon anyway. But they didn’t come back after a week or two. "We quit our jobs, sold our homes, gave away our clothes, threw our cellphones into the trash and continued to honeymoon for two years and 53 countries," Wisner writes on his website. In those years, Kurt and Franz traveled and confided in each other about their "lives, frustrations and fears."  "It allowed us to forge a new and improved relationship," Wisner told MSN. "I lost a fiancé, but I gained a best friend." Their two-year adventure resulted in a New York Times bestseller, "Honeymoon With My Brother."

Bing: Franz Wisner

Sandeep Singh might not have been left at the altar, but he still has an awesome rebound story. Days after his girlfriend dumped him, Singh won the lottery. It was a $30.5 million win. "She broke up with me, but right now, I'm not really worried about it," he said at a press conference.

Video: Brides search for inspiration on Pinterest

"I was heartbroken at first, but now I'm getting over it." You can't put a price tag on mending a broken heart, but $30 million probably doesn't hurt.