Media

The Story Behind That Viral Photo Of The Downtown Wedding Party And Detroit Rappers

July 25, 2014, 2:22 PM

Amy and Ian Hicks saw their unique wedding photo and the story about it everywhere in recent weeks — in People magazine, the New York Post, the Daily Mail and of course on Reddit, where the tale went viral. But they didn’t recognize what they were reading, reports Kiratiana Freelon in the Washington Post.

Amy, 25, and Ian Hicks, 28, live in Washington, D.C, where she works in government relations and he works in sales for a furniture manufacturer. Their wedding took place at the Colony Club Detroit's downtown theater district because Amy is from Michigan.

The articles all said different things, but the thrust was that the couple in the photo had accidentally sent a text message to a stranger inviting him to their wedding photoshoot. The invitation circulated. Supposedly, when the bride figured this out and tried to uninvite the stranger, she got message saying “we still coming,” which became a trending Twitter hashtag, #westillcoming.

The photo accompanying the story in People showed the dude wasn’t lying. The wedding party in the photo was surrounded by a a group of new friends.

It just didn’t happen. “I really wish they knew the real story,” Amy Hicks said in an interview with The Washington Post. “It’s amazing how many legitimate news publications will post anything online.”

No publication called them to get the real story, they said.

In essence, it was a chance encounter with a local rap group named 7262 filming a video. A seemingly obvious tip-off missed or ignored originally in media accounts was that the supposed text message (above) shows a residential party address, while the photo has a clearly nonresidential background. 

For 15 minutes Amy, Ian and their bridal party danced to the “Anthem” rap song, all the while being filmed for the video.

The video is below. Heads-up: The language is raw.


Read more:  The Washington Post


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