A woman who tracked down her biological mum on Facebook met her for the first time at her wedding after 23 years.<br /><br />Jenny Bergmann, 30, was adopted at birth in 1992 after her biological mum, Joanne Wojdula, 52, was worried she couldn't give her the "quality of life someone else could".<br /><br />She was brought up by her adoptive parents, Kelly, 63, and Mike, 65, in Missouri but had always wanted to meet her birth mother.<br /><br />Despite it being a closed adoption, her adoptive family shared a letter Joanne had written when Jenny was aged 10 – which revealed her full name.<br /><br />Jenny tracked down and found her mum on Facebook aged 15 but was too scared to message her until she was 20.<br /><br />After not getting a response she found her daughter, Nicole, 27, and messaged her and began connecting with her birth mum.<br /><br />They spoke for two years before meeting briefly for the first time at Jenny’s wedding.<br /><br />They developed their relationship further when Jenny was invited to Nicole’s wedding seven years later.<br /><br />In July 2023 they met in Copenhagen, Denmark and Jenny said they immediately bonded and had an “incredible” time.<br /><br />It was the first time they had spent a long time together, or been alone.<br /><br />The mum and daughter plan to meet up in October again with Jenny’s adoptive parents and her sons – Oliver, five, and Finneas, two. <br /><br />Jenny, a tour guide, who lives in Hamburg, Germany, said: “I’d just done all my make-up and it was 10 minutes until I walked down the aisle and my mum said Joanne is here.<br /><br />“She walked through the door and I thought ‘omg she is a clone of me’.<br /><br />“It was a beautiful moment.<br /><br />“On our recent trip people would just recognise us as mum and daughter because we look so alike and act so alike.<br /><br />“We make the same type of jokes. We move the same and we have the same smile.<br /><br />“I was startled at how quickly we were able to bond.”<br /><br />Joanne found out she was pregnant when she was aged 20 but hid her pregnancy after being unsure who the father was.<br /><br />She flew to Florida from New York at six months pregnant to give birth.<br /><br />Joanne, a certified wine maker, who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, said: "In my head I didn’t feel I was going to give her the quality of life someone else could."<br /><br />Joanne went on to have two daughters - Nicole, 27, Samantha, 28 - and a son - Woodrow, 25, and knew nothing about Jenny - not even her name.<br /><br />Jenny was raised by Kelly, a part time home health nurse, and Mike, a retired accountant, and always knew she was adopted.<br /><br />She said: “I didn’t look anything like them at all.<br /><br />“We didn’t talk about adoption much.<br /><br />“I always wanted to find my birth mum.<br /><br />“I knew her name from the letter she wrote me.<br /><br />“I remember sending letters to Oprah and Ellen to see if they would help me find her.”<br /><br />Jenny tracked down her mum on Facebook aged 15 but was “too afraid” to reach out.<br /><br />She said: “She had this whole life.<br /><br />“I didn’t want to blow up her life.”<br /><br />While she was in college, aged 20, she was encouraged by a roommate to reach out in 2013.
