Fake Weddings Are a Big Business In Argentina

It used to be that if you wanted to go to a fake wedding, you’d have to pony up $100 bucks to watch Tony and Tina get married while you ate cold spaghetti and paid per drink at the “no host bar!” In Argentina, however, people who love a good party now have more options than half-baked dinner theater and crashing weddings: They can pay $50 to go to a fake wedding, complete with lots and lots of partying.

Falsa Boda, the company that specializes in bringing you to the pseudo-wedding of any guest’s dreams, was started in 2013 when five friends staged a fake wedding and found that people actually really liked going to parties where they could drink, dance, and meet others without having to buy a wedding present. And with 600-700 guests at each wedding, it’s a very lucrative endeavor.

Here’s what a wedding party arranged by Falsa Boda might look like:

Falsa Boda hires actors to play the bride, groom, and priest. The guests are treated to a ceremony, which usually includes a dramatic twist. In one wedding, a man declares his love for the groom before the couple exchange their vows, leaving the bride to flee in tears. The ceremony didn’t go to waste, however, as the two men got married instead. Once the ceremony ends, the guests who’ve paid to be there can party until 6am the next morning.

One of the main reasons that Falsa Boda is such a success is that fewer and fewer people are getting married these days. The five friends who started the company actually had the idea to stage a fake wedding when they realized that not as many friends were getting hitched as they’d like and yearned to attend someone’s, anyone’s, nuptials. Why? No idea. Maybe the parties in Argentina are more fun than the ones in Chechnya? Personally, I’d just rather send a gift card and stay home. In Argentina, though, people can’t get enough of fake weddings.

From The Guardian:

“The girls were euphoric, as if a cousin of theirs was really getting married, but it was just an actress,” said Pablo Boniface, a 32-year-old marketing manager who recently attended a fake wedding in Buenos Aires. “When the bride arrived, everyone went crazy, pulling out their phones and snapping pictures like she was a Hollywood star.”

Organizer Acerbi says that women are the prime movers of the events. “They’re the first to buy tickets. The romanticism around weddings is clearly still alive, at least in that respect.”

Aside from the drama and the partying, there’s also one other element that’s present at all Falsa Boda weddings: the bouquet toss. With so many people in attendance, though, it’s surprising that Falsa Boda hasn’t been accused of causing grievous bodily injury. Maybe people just wear the scars with pride.