A Washington man is set to travel to Philly after he was accidentally invited to a stranger's bachelor party.
Joey DiJulio of Seattle says it all started with an unexpected email back on February 11.
Joey received an invite to Jeff Minetti's bachelor party in Philadelphia. There was only one problem. Joey had no idea who Jeff was.
“I was trying to make sense of it," Joey said. "I was so confused. I was looking through different addresses and didn’t know who anyone was. I looked and saw my name on the CC and realized it was a typo. I was getting entertainment while being a fly on the wall.”
Jeff explained the mixup to NBC10.
“About fifty people had been in the email, so no one really noticed that anything was wrong,” Jeff said. “I sent a list over to my brother Michael, someone had made the mistake, I’d be happy to throw him under the bus for this one."
For a while Joey kept quiet and was amused by the numerous emails he received about some of the events for the weekend. This included gambling, shuffle board competitions and some other festivities as well. Then it all came to a quick hold.
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Jeff's brother Michael Minetti, who sent the initial email, wrote a new message, saying he needed a headcount to give the bartender for the venue. As he was calling out people he hadn’t heard from, Joey finally replied with the following message:
Hi All,
So, I have no idea who any of you guys are, but I have been enjoying being a fly on the wall hearing about the plans for this bachelor party over the last few months.
I'm assuming my E-Mail address was added to the list by mistake (perhaps a typo of someone else?).
I live out in Seattle, WA and although for a moment I thought it might be funny to just show up and be that guy nobody knows but everyone wonders "who is that guy?", buying a plane ticket for a cross-country flight just to crash a bachelor's party might be a bit over the top (although it would be epic!).
Nonetheless, I do hope you guys have a great time and I'd like to take a moment to wish the best of luck in life to the groom!
Cheers!
Joey DiJulio
Seattle, WA
To his surprise, responses in the email started storming his inbox. Despite him being a complete stranger, everyone wanted Joey to go the bachelor party, including the groom.
"I'm overnighting you a wedding invite," Jeff said. "You show up at the bachelor party and I'll make you my best man. You can give the toast even."
A friend of the groom replied, "I say everyone forks up an extra $20 and we get Joey a plane ticket to Philly!"
As everyone was throwing out ideas for how to get him to the party and wedding, Joey took matters into his own hands and created a GoFundMe page.
He posted the description and the entirety of the story and started receiving donations.
"I was putting things on my Facebook about the random bachelor party I wasn't going too," Joey said. "This is totally something so crazy. People thought it was awesome. I promoted it a little and created it myself, and figured let's see how it goes."
Joey eventually reached his goal Wednesday, raising $1,655, well above the $1,264 he estimated it would cost for the entire trip.
"The momentum just kept going, as I realized the first part of this could definitely happen and as we built a following, maybe we can use this small platform for Jeff and his bride to be, and could use some of this money for a really nice wedding gift," Joey said.
Jeff and his friends said they would welcome him with open arms.
"I'd welcome Joe to come and we are the city of brotherly love so we would love to show him a good time," Jeff said.
"If he came, it's gonna be funny, I'd have a million questions to ask him," said Jeff's brother Christopher.
Amy Lee, the bride to be, told NBC10 she's also excited about Joey's visit.
"I'm all onboard and everything happens for a reason," she said.
Lee also said her plans for the bachelor party have changed.
"The first part of festivities I am welcome too," she said. "While I was going to let the boys have fun, after this story, I would have to meet Joey. The brides are crashing the bachelor party!"
The bachelor party is set to take place on March 28. We'll let you know if Jeff follows through on letting Joey become his best man.
