Groom Goes Viral After Being Photographed Working on Laptop During His Own Wedding Reception

Torrey Leonard — who co-founded the company Thoughtly with groom Casey Mackrell, shared the photo on LinkedIn

For tech mogul Casey Mackrell, the work never stops — not even on his wedding day.

Mackrell has gone viral after being photographed typing away on his laptop during his wedding reception. Fellow entrepreneur Torrey Leonard, with whom he co-founded the AI-powered call center platform Thoughtly, shared the photo on LinkedIn. It shows the groom sitting in front of his computer with a drink at his side while wedding guests dance and celebrate in the background.

"My co-founder Casey has built a reputation for himself as 'the guy who sits on his laptop in bars' from SF to NYC," Leonard wrote alongside the snapshot. "Last week Thoughtly brought on a customer that needed to launch within 2 weeks. He just so happened to be getting married within that 2 week window."

Related: Server Takes a Break from Work to Dance with a Bride at Her Wedding

"So, here he is wrapping up a pull request — at his own wedding," he continued, adding, "Congrats Casey — now please, go take some time off."

Not surprisingly, the photo sparked some criticism among LinkedIn users, who questioned Mackrell's work-life balance.

"This has to be one of the most depressing posts I've ever seen on LinkedIn," one person wrote.

Another commenter added: "This isn’t the flex you think it is."

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Someone else even joked, "Divorce papers being sent to his LinkedIn inbox so he actually sees them… 🤣," before adding: "In all seriousness, though, this work ethic should neither be publicized nor applauded."

Leonard later clarified that what was actually happening in the photo.

“In this very moment that the picture was taken, Casey needed to push one thing to a server. There was a code on his laptop that a colleague needed to access,” Leonard explained to TechCrunch.

Related: Groom Goes Viral After Realizing His Zipper Was Down During Entire Wedding Ceremony (Exclusive)

“For 30 seconds, Casey was clicking a button: He logged in, clicked a button, done," he continued. "And you can see in the picture, too, people are laughing.”

Still, Leonard defended Mackrell's hard-working ways, saying they're typical of the tech start-up community.

“Last year, we would spend time in San Francisco, and I’d be talking to friends at a restaurant or a bar, and there Casey would be on his laptop — and other people as well, because it’s San Francisco, right?” he told TechCrunch. “This founder-mode mentality, it’s very inspiring to a lot of people in the tech space.”

"Founder mode," a concept first coined by Y Combinator founding partner Paul Graham, refers to when a company's founder remains hands-on with everything as opposed to transitioning to "manager mode" and delegating tasks.

Leonard said Mackrell's wife, Grace Thoenen, wasn't fazed by her husband whipping out his laptop at their wedding, and the pair later headed off to enjoy their (hopefully work-free) honeymoon together.

Leaning into the viral moment, Thoughtly made merch — including hoodies and T-shirts — printed with the photo of Mackrell and the words "Founder Mode." In a post linking to the clothing items for sale, Leonard wrote that "as requested by the happy couple," all proceeds would go to support Hurricane Milton relief efforts.

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