The 2005 movie Wedding Crashers was a comedy, but there really are people who make a game out of going to weddings where they don't know anyone, eating the food, sipping cocktails, and bringing no gift. It's not common, but it happens. Orly Minazad went to many strangers' weddings in Iran, where the crowds are big and no one minded. Fred Karger is the “World’s Greatest Party Crasher,” although he doesn't do weddings. And then there's Sean, who exemplifies the dudes from the movie.
Sean, a miner stationed in Juneau, Alaska, is one such man. Though he’s pushing 50 now, he was a prolific crasher back in the day, cutting his teeth at the fancy weddings that took place in the airy ballrooms of Anchorage’s finest hotels. He fell into crashing somewhat naturally after he and his buddies — who worked as bellmen — started noticing that the extravagant weddings that took place inside their hotel were often full of “free booze” and “babes,” both of which were often bragged about by the drunk men who stumbled down the carpeted hallways in undone ties.
Sean and his friends knew they couldn’t get away with crashing weddings at their hotel, so they developed a habit of inserting themselves into weddings at some of the fancier ones around town. Their bellmen background came in handy; as hospitality professionals, they had the “gift of gab,” and were accustomed to dressing up, striking up chipper conversations and moving around hotels like they knew where they were going.
Read about real-life wedding crashers and how they do it at Mel magazine.