Yahoo Lifestyle Bridesmaid Stuns Wedding Guests by Revealing She Visited Groom's Family Home to Learn More About Him (Exclusive)
Patty Wong shared the details of her trip to the Irish countryside in a now-viral TikTok video inspired by the series 'MTV Cribs'
Courtesy Patty Wong; @loveseaphotography
Patty Wong and her fellow bridesmaid, Amy, during their trip to Ireland and at their friend's weddingPatty Wong pulled off the ultimate prank on her friend's husband-to-be when she paid a secret visit to his family home in Ireland before the wedding
Wong shared the MTV Cribs-inspired video in a now-viral TikTok featuring footage from her speech at the wedding reception, in which she revealed the details of her secret visit to the bride and groom
Wong — who was a bridesmaid at the nuptials — tells PEOPLE it took her five months to plan the trip to the groom's family home in the Irish countryside
Patty Wong was willing to literally go the distance to learn more about her friend's husband-to-be. And on the couple's wedding day, Wong had a highlight reel to prove it.
During her speech at their nuptials, Wong revealed that she and her fellow bridesmaid, Amy, took a trip to the groom's childhood home in Ireland to hang out with his family members and see where he grew up. Wong recruited groom Jack's parents and sister for the elaborate prank, which she explained was executed in the name of getting to know the man set to marry her close friend.
The bridesmaids documented their trip to Jack's home country in a series of videos, which Wong edited together in the style of the hit series MTV Cribs. To the delightful surprise of the newlywed couple, Wong played the video at their wedding reception for all the guests to see, and one year later, she posted the footage on TikTok, where it reached 1.8 million viewers on the app.
As a member of the bridal party, Wong tells PEOPLE that she was tasked with the responsibility of making a TikTok video in honor of the wedding, though bride Roxanne gave no further instructions about what specific type of content she wanted.
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"I actually hadn't really edited anything on TikTok at that point. It wasn't a form of social media that I was on, so I didn't really understand where this request was coming from," Wong recalls, adding that it took her a full year to edit and upload the video. "I was just like, 'Okay, if you're only going to give me one thing to do, then I'll just take it as far as I can.' "
As Wong explains in her now-viral TikTok, it took her five months to plan out the prank. The process began when she reached out to Jack's sister, Catherine, to set it all up. The two of them worked together each step of the way, from drafting a creative brief outlining the idea to Catherine welcoming Wong and Amy to her family home in the Irish countryside.
During her visit, the bridesmaids hung out in Jack's childhood bedroom and enjoyed the rural setting with his parents. They even decorated the family's tractor with a feather boa and spent time with some sheep on their property.
Courtesy Patty Wong
Patty Wong and her fellow bridesmaid, Amy, during their trip to IrelandIn their successful effort to keep the project a secret until the wedding, Wong, Amy and Catherine had to pretend they'd never met at Roxanne's bachelorette party the following month.
"We were like, 'Oh, my god, it's so good to finally see you. I've heard so much about you,' " Wong says of her feigned introduction with Catherine. "But Roxanne would go to the bathroom and I'd be like, 'Oh, my god, I have so much to tell you. Here's everything that's happening in my life.'"
Wong wasn't willing to take the same risk with Jack's parents, though. She avoided them for the first two days of the wedding weekend to make sure they didn't spoil the surprise, which was especially difficult since she formed real bonds with her hosts while staying with them in Ireland. As she detailed on TikTok, Wong "learned to farm from [Jack's] dad" and "swam in the ocean with his mum and her besties" while recording the reality TV-inspired video.
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In playfully "getting to know" Jack, Wong ended up with meaningful — albeit unexpected — friendships with her friend's in-laws. She tells PEOPLE she even went to his family reunion months after the wedding in October.
"Honestly, if I ever get married, I'm going to have to invite his parents because they're the most precious," says Wong. "We're genuinely a real family now, and I don't think that would've happened if I had done that video."
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