A New York City couple who sold tickets to their "wedding experience" last June has defended their actions after video and social media posts recapping their 12-hour event went viral this month.
Kareem ("Reemo") and Nova Styles were married on June 24, 2023, and the videos about their day have sparked debates on social media.
"Non-traditional things we did at our wedding, part 1: We sold tickets to our wedding," Nova Styles said in a video posted on the TikTok account "The Styles Familia" as part of a series describing the couple's unique nuptials.
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In the video, the bride said that "we had a 350-person guest list, with only 60 invites because of the dynamics of the day."
Rather than trim down the guest list themselves, the couple sold $333 tickets for the "Styles Wedding Experience" to their guests.
"They chose us," she said. "They 'hashtag' trusted the process by purchasing a ticket to attend our wedding."
In follow-up videos posted on TikTok and Instagram, the couple said their guests boarded a customized "hop-on, hop-off" double-decker tour bus that brought them to the wedding festivities – starting with the wedding itself at St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown Manhattan.
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Following the wedding ceremony, the guests went to Hudson Yards, a movie theater, and One World Trade Center for dancing, food and merriment – with photo shoots occurring along the way, Nova Styles said in the videos.
In the comments on the posts, many were critical of the couple's approach to their wedding day, with multiple people saying the couple were "greedy," "tacky" and "cringe."
"Oh you broke broke," said one Instagram user.
"Only 60 guests out of 350. That says a lot," said one TikTok user, who added that he or she "would be totally offended [at] being asked to spend $333 per guest."
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"If you can't afford it, don't do it," the same user said.
In a reply to one comment, the couple defended the ticket cost and sale, saying that the total revenue from the 60 tickets did not pay for the wedding day and that the size of the bus meant that they could only have a certain number of guests.
"It's silly to think 60 tickets could pay for the 12-hour wedding day that we had!! It DEF didn't and we paid for all of our wedding ourselves!!" the couple wrote.
Other people, however, defended the couple's unorthodox approach to their wedding day.
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"Hey, if they're willing to pay it means they wanted to be there," said one Instagram user — to which the Styles' account replied, "Bingo."
Others pointed out that selling tickets could be a new innovation for wedding days to help cut costs.
"Weddings are expensive as hell. Nigerian weddings are huge. A lot of folks end up coming late and leaving early and most don't bring a gift. This would work well culturally," said another Instagram user, who added that "$333 is not a bad way to weed people out."
The couple told the New York Post that the move to charge tickets for their wedding saved them $70,000 on the cost of the reception and that they hope to use that money to start a family.
Despite the barrage of negative comments, it appears as if the couple is taking it all in stride.
In one video posted on their social media pages captioned "The Comments Got Us Like…….," the two can be seen pretending to cry before smiling and dancing.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the couple for additional comments and details regarding their wedding day.
