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Readers, I have a challenge for you. I dare you to find me one person who saw Wedding Crashers and said to themselves, “You know what? That looks kind of lame.”
Good luck — because everyone I know who saw that movie walked out of the theater bright-eyed and excited, saying, “I SO have to do that!”
After traveling from Umbria, Italy, via taxi, train, two flights, a car ride from a friend I made on the plane, subway, Greyhound bus, and local bus, I had made it to my destination — a Doubletree hotel in the suburbs of Philadelphia — for the wedding of my dear friend and college roommate Kelly Anne.
It was a crazy weekend at the hotel, and as I made my way to the breakfast table with my college buds, I dodged a group of raucous groomsmen in purple ties, already swigging from a bottle of Jagermeister.
“There’s another wedding here,” I told my friends. “I bet there’ll be a big party here later.”
“There are actually six weddings here tonight,” Shannon told me.
SIX WEDDINGS IN ONE HOTEL! Turns out that even though April isn’t peak wedding season, this is common practice throughout the year. (Take my advice — book a hotel room ASAP.)
The ceremony arrived, and Kelly was so beautiful — some girls are born to be a bride.
But things really cranked up once we got on the hotel shuttle to the reception venue and realized that half the people on board were actually on their way to one of the other weddings. Our venue was host to two wedding receptions that evening.
“KEVIN!” I whispered loudly to my friend next to me. “WE HAVE TO CRASH! THESE ARE IDEAL CRASHING CONDITIONS!”
Kevin readily agreed, and we calculated our moves carefully. The other bride and groom were there by the time we arrived, so they were likely ahead of us in time — we would have to move soon, but not too soon. We decided to make our move after the dinner ended at Kelly and Dave’s wedding.
Giggling nonstop, we walked down the hall to the other ballroom.
“Wait!” Kevin stopped me. “Don’t we need background stories?”
“Venture capitalists,” I said automatically.
He shrugged.
“We’re dressed up. We don’t need to do anything. We can just merge our way onto the dance floor.”
And with a deep breath, I pushed open the door.
Right away, I saw we had our work cut out for us — this wedding was less than half the size of Kelly’s (granted, hers was HUGE), and there weren’t a lot of people out dancing.
THAT SAID — “Livin’ on a Prayer” was playing, and few songs make it easier to merge your way onto the dance floor.
After easing our way in oh-so-discreetly, we were tapped on the shoulder by the groom, resplendent in a white vest and tie. “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey…” he said, a smile creeping across his face.
“Heeeeeeeeeey….congratulations!” I chirped, giving him a hug. “Big day, big day! You’re handsome!”
He laughed at my enthusiasm. “Have fun tonight,” he said as he shook Kevin’s hand.
And of course, we had to document the evidence:
Foiled within ten seconds of crashing the wedding — but only the groom knew that.
We could hit up the other guests, like the lively groomsmen dancing in front of us.
“Ohhhhhh, we’re halfway there, OHHHHHHHH! LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER!” Singing out with our hands in the air, we made a natural addition to their circle.
“Hey ginge, I love your hair!” I yelled out to one of the guys.
His friends started laughing. “You really like his hair?”
“Of course I do! You’re Prince Harry!” From then on, we were IN with the groomsmen.
The next song was the absolute best song we could have hoped for — “Shout!”
(The reason why my hands are the only ones up here are so that I could hold the pose for a photo — believe me, everyone else was shouting!)
“So….” Kevin ventured. “What next?”
“We need to get a photo with the bride.”
“Um, she’s right next to the groom. He knows we crashed.”
“I don’t think it matters anymore,” I admitted. “So what if she knows? We have to get a picture with her! It’s the ultimate souvenir of wedding crashing!”
And with that, we walked up to the bride. “You look so beautiful!” I told her. “Can we get a picture with you?”
And we did:
Mission accomplished.
One more shot for posterity:
What worked about our crash is that we did it respectfully — we didn’t go in to drink their booze or eat their food, but just to dash in, dance a little bit, take pictures, and wish the best to the bride and groom.
As I headed back to the wedding I was actually invited to, I realized the universal truth — there is no need to crash a wedding when the one you’re at is so much better.
I mean, come on — our groom actually flew!
We had a few crashers of our own that night — but unlike me and Kevin, these crashers from the other wedding were stumbling all over themselves with half-empty Yuenglings in hand, heading straight for the bar. They were unceremoniously thrown out by Kelly’s older brother Jeff.
At the end of the night, my bride, arms around her wonderful groom, Dave, still bubbled over with praise — “You two were classy crashers! I love you for that! I wish we got classy crashers!”
Classy crashers indeed. Now that I’ve finally crashed a wedding — with as much respect as style — I can’t wait to do it again.
Classy Crashers. I love it! I’m going to a wedding this weekend. I’m really hoping there are multiple weddings so I can crash one. You looked like you had an awesome time!
we actually had a few wedding crashers at our wedding last summer that stumbled down from the bar above the reception site. I didn’t even notice them, but they signed our guest book poster “AWESOME WEDDING!” and “SUPER FUN SHINDIG!” and “Had a great time, thanks for the inivte!” My aunt had a total freak-out on them, but it makes me laugh every time I look at the poster 🙂
Hahaha! I can’t believe they signed the poster! How did they sign it, “The Crashers”?
No names, just comments and smiley faces. I find it hilarious.
What a weekend! Legendary! We had 2 crashers at our wedding, friends of Sean’s sister, and they were classy, too. It must be a Massachusetts thing 😉
Ha, I remember those crashers! They were awesome!
That’s awesome! Not sure I would have had the courage to do that but looks like a lot of fun!
I pseudo crashed a wedding once, and it was the best one I’ve ever attended. I say pseudo cause my date was invited just by herself, yet she brought me anyway. I knew the bride from school, and as she came around I got the “Deeeej….Surprised to see you here…”
Hahaha! Awkward moment…
As always, another great post. I don’t know if I have the guts to do that, but at least I can live vicariously through you.
What fun! I have yet to crash a wedding but it’s on my to-do list. My husband crashed several at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and didn’t get busted. I’ll be sure to use his strategy of mingling and yours when it comes to congratulating the bride and groom.
Mingling — another smart idea. “My boyfriend used to work with the groom…”
HAHAHA..I LOVE crashing parties myself! I do it whenever I can. A few years ago, for my birthday, I decided I wanted to crash a party, and it turned out to be awesome.
Congrats on getting caught and basically left alone to have fun. Ive never crashed a party where I didnt get caught…it always just depends on who catches you, and how you act when you get caught. If they think you’re going to be fun and respectful, you almost always get to stay.
Also, if you bring beers it helps 🙂
CHEERS!
Good advice…how you handle getting caught is what matters!
And this is why I’m getting married in a venue with only ONE ballroom. 🙂
You guys did it right. Classy crashers indeed. Those classless so and so’s who crashed our wedding were lowlifes. They broke a glass on the dance floor, grinded with 16 year olds, and belittled me when I tried to block them from entering the room. Going in to dance with some folks and be nice: good idea. Going in to cause problems: unceremonious tossing!
Oh, so THOSE were the guys who broke the glasses? Classless.
Ha ha ha, thanks for the morning chuckle. Classy crashers, indeed! Have to know: what the bride say when she found out? (Obviously, she took it well as she’s smiling in the picture!)
I think the bride had had a bit more to drink than the groom!
This is hilarious! Sounds like you had a great time, and love it that the bride and groom took it so well.
Sounds like you had a great time, and I love the strategy of crashing weddings responsibly. At my cousin’s wedding in Mexico last year we had some little kids crash our wedding. Of course we were on the beach for the dance, and these little wedding crashers were just cute when they started dancing with us.
Haha awesome! Crashing a wedding is still on the bucket list. We’ll have to go your route and attempt to be “classy crashers.” Well done!
hahaha! : ) love this : )
actually crashed 2 weddings, myself ; )
This is so cool. Your right, as soon as I saw the movie Wedding Crashers, I’ve been wanting to do so since. I still have not had the guts to do it, although not many easy opportunities to pull me in either. But now you got me thinking again. I may be looking a little more closely, I’m jealous of you now and must crash a wedding. With class of course!
This is hilarious! I’m guessing that there wasn’t any motor boating going on. I’ll have to add this to my bucket list. Thanks for the inspiration! lol
Haha awesome! Definitely plan to crash a wedding one day.. adding that to my bucket list!
If you want to crash a wedding, fine, there’s definitely a sense of socal “acceptance” to this after Wedding Crashers, but don’t act like you did it in any sort of “classy” or “respectful” way. There is no such thing as being classy or respectful when you are basically making a mockery of someone’s wedding that they’ve spent years (or likely a lifetime) planning (and then have the audacity to post pictures of these unsuspecting people on a gloating blog post), regardless of whether you consumed their alcohol or food. I hope for your sake the bride doesn’t stumble upon this post one day, beause I doubt she would find anything you wrote here “classy” or “respectful.” Put yourself in her place.
As for your friend who actually invited you to her wedding, I feel bad for her, because any outsider reading this can clearly tell you cared much more for your crashing exploits that night than her wedding. I guess that’s not too surprising, because people who have to say they are classy over and over are the ones that are quite lacking in that department.
HAHAHA YESSS you legends! Great story, and especially because you took evidence. I have crashed plenty of parties just flying solo, but never a wedding. Now its not just siting on my list as has been, but at the very top haha Cheers.
Great blog Kate
WOAH! Probably wouldn’t have the guts for that!
I do NOT think I would have the guts for that, especially after realizing the reception was so small. I probably would have faked being lost, turned around, and left!