Weddings are famously a fantastic place to meet someone. Everyone is admiring the love of a couple, whilst internally reflecting on their loneliness… what better circumstances for a new romance to ignite?
Patrick Bruening found himself surrounded by women at a recent wedding he came to, and the photographer caught him at a perfectly comical moment in time.
It’s hard to know what’s going on in the photo. Patrick has an element of fear in his eyes, while a girl on the left looks mid-vomit. Has he said something offensive? Is he telling an awkward joke? None of the above, as he explained to us.
Speaking to UNILAD, Patrick told us about the wedding:
The bride in question was actually my cousin’s sister. I know that sounds like she’s my cousin too, but they have different dads and I explained this to nearly every guest.
I had actually never met her before in my life until the day before the wedding. Both my cousin and I live together in California and were visiting for the event.
The bride and groom had rented an amazing farm house in a small Illinois town and even let me stay in it. They were extremely gracious and treated me like family.
An hour before the wedding, Patrick found his time to shine when the officiant’s car broke down and they needed someone to go and get her.
He said as one of the ‘few sober non-essentials of the wedding’, he stepped up and volunteered to take the mother of the bride’s car to get her.
He explained the relevance of this part of the story:
I secured the officiant in my vehicle and got back to the wedding with 15 minutes to spare.
I’m including this part, because I happened to be explaining this story to the nice ladies in the photo while ‘enjoying’ a tequila shot.
A part of the photo that the eye is drawn to has to be the woman on the left who appears to be extremely uncomfortable. It’s funny to think that it’s something Patrick said, but the truth of the matter is she’d just downed a tequila shot.
Patrick said that most people on Reddit missed the fact everyone was mid-tequila, they kept calling him Ricky Bobby ‘because it looked like I didn’t know what to do with my hands’.
Apparently this was true in a way, and he didn’t know ‘how to hold a lime, salt, and a shot’ in his hands.
Patrick told us what he was talking to the girls about:
A few minutes prior, the girls were actually giving me a crash course on how to properly take a shot of tequila.
Regarding the moment it was captured. Did I know a photo was being taken? Absolutely not.
If I had, it would have turned out much worse. As most of my friends, family, and DMV know, I cannot pose for a photo.
As for the reaction to the photo, Patrick was overwhelmed with how many people came back to him with questions and memes, with many comparing him to Brendan Fraser or ‘Fat Toby Maguire’.
Talking about the reaction his photo had, Patrick said:
Multiple Redditors called me a younger Brendan Fraser. I love him and he was in my absolute favourite episode of Scrubs. I loved being compared to him. Fat Toby Maguire came up as well.
One Redditor, who I assume is my mom, said I looked like Tom Hardy. I don’t see it, but I’ll take it.
People made memes that were absolutely disgusting to see, but I appreciated the thought that went into them.
I had to explain to a lot of people messaging me that I wasn’t gay (as well as a few of the more rural wedding guest members). I just took it as a compliment.
Hilariously, most people said he looked terrified, which he said he ‘definitely was’.
“It’s not easy being one of the only single guys at a wedding. Just kidding, it absolutely is.”, Patrick joked.
He spoke about the difference between these girls compared with those in California:
I’m used to being single in Southern California, where the women are a bit more focused on the car you drive and the amount of money you make.
However, the women at the wedding seemed to be quite content with my sense of humour and horrible dancing abilities.
I started out with my normal approach at weddings, I flirted with all the aunts first, then the bartenders, and worked my way to the actual guests.
I’m literally the worst at most social interactions, but I can usually make most people laugh (at the expense of myself).
Having a few drinks didn’t hurt either. To my surprise, I had multiple women approach me which came as a bit of a shock. I held up like a champ though, I was kind, polite and kept mixing up everyone’s name.
The only thing he’d change is getting all the women to wear name tags. I guess it gets confusing when they’re surrounding you.
The question on everyone’s mind was did he get with anyone! His answer is the best thing ever:
I know the one thing Reddit wanted to know was if I got with any of those girls or someone from the wedding that night.
A true gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.
But no… I didn’t. Not even close.
Just like every other single guy at every other wedding that’s taken place this summer. Hey, there’s always next year.
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