Couple ‘flew across the world' and shelled out thousands of dollars on destination wedding — turns out they were never invited

New York Post

3 days ago

They were accidental wedding crashers.
A flabbergasted couple flew 14 hours and shelled out over thousands of dollars to attend a destination wedding, only to realize after booking that they weren't on the guest list.
'We flew across the world for a wedding we technically weren't even part of,' Yasemin Sarli told People Magazine.
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4 'Once we realized we were essentially wedding-adjacent, we just pivoted. We were like, 'okay, secret vacation it is,'' said Sarli.
Instagram/Yasemin Sarli
The nuptial debacle reportedly went down in 2023, but Sarli only posted about it recently in a TikTok video, which has since amassed over 1.7 million views.
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She and her then-boyfriend of two years had reportedly been excited to fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina — where the knot-tying ceremony of her beau's college buddies was.
'The wedding came up casually in conversations between my boyfriend and the groom,' Sarli told the Daily Mail. According to her, the groom had described the soiree as a 'small wedding with family and close friends,' which her BF had interpreted as 'you're definitely going.'
However, despite receiving an early save-the-date text, the pair had never actually received an official wedding invite.
Nonetheless, her former flame was so confident that they'd been invited that he 'booked everything.' He reportedly dropped $1,500 on round-trip flights and another $3,000 for five nights at a lavish hotel where they'd heard the other guests were staying, according to the outlet.
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4 The couple wore costumes so the wedding guests couldn't identify them.
Courtesy of Yasemin Sarli
However, Sarli felt something was awry in the days leading up to the bash as they didn't receive any nuptial updates.
'The red flags started waving a few days before we left,' she fretted. 'There were no follow-up messages, no schedule, no 'can't wait to see you!''
4 The couple reportedly shelled out over $4,500 on flights and accommodations.
Instagram/Yasemin Sarli
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That's when it dawned on her that they'd never actually been invited.
However, by that point, it was too late to back out. The uninvited guests felt that it would be 'too awkward' to mention to the bride and groom at that point, plus canceling last minute meant losing a ton of money as the trip was non-refundable.
'Once we realized we were essentially wedding-adjacent, we just pivoted. We were like, 'okay, secret vacation it is,'' she declared. 'I was just happy to have uninterrupted time together.'
4 'At some point, it honestly felt like we were starring in our own mini secret spy movie — 'Mission: Avoid the Wedding Guests,'' said Sarli.
TikTok/sarliunlimited
So the couple jetted from Frankfurt, Germany, to the Argentinian capital in what would become an unintentional wedding crash for the ages.
However, to avoid getting caught, the couple went 'undercover' to keep their unauthorized attendance under wraps.
They avoided vacation updates on social media and even made sure to work around other guests' schedules.
'If we found out the wedding group was hanging by the pool, we stayed in our room or booked spa treatments,' said Sarli. 'We ate super early or super late to avoid dinner overlap. We even planned random day trips just to make sure we wouldn't randomly bump into anyone.'
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Like matrimonial espionage agents, they even donned disguises so that guests couldn't identify them.
'At some point, it honestly felt like we were starring in our own mini secret spy movie — 'Mission: Avoid the Wedding Guests,'' said Sarli while reflecting on their surreptitious soiree.
In retrospect, the unintentional crasher — who split with the guy shortly after the trip — said she's glad she embarked on the trip, which she described as 'chaotic, awkward, kind of tragic, and hilarious.'
Sarli concluded that it was 'just one big misunderstanding that turned into a great story.'