There are a few things that celebrities simply love more than the rest of us: selling hot sauces, buccal fat removal, and crashing weddings. The most recent example is far sweeter than the term “gatecrasher” might suggest: the Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood, who surprised a bride and groom during their wedding ceremony in Hobbiton, a set from the films, in Matamata, New Zealand.
We last ranked celebrity wedding-crashers a decade ago, by how welcome they’d be at the average wedding; given how often it seems to happen, we’re due another go. In the case of Wood, everyone was screaming, he came in politely and left quickly, and he was the only one not wearing hobbity clothes – so, as gatecrashers go, we can confidently say he was very, very welcome. 10/10.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z surprise a bride
While on vacation in Portofino, Italy, Beyoncé and Jay-Z surprised a bride at her wedding in 2014 and posed for photos with her. But frankly, who the hell wants to stand next to one of the most beautiful women in the world, in a bikini, on their wedding day? Also, hot people are bad at small talk.
Welcome index: 3
Queen Elizabeth II crashes a wedding during the diamond jubilee
Many of us have varying opinions on the divine right of kings, but QE2 could be pretty damn funny. In 2012, John and Frances Canning, who had selected Manchester town hall as their wedding venue, heard the queen was going to be in town on the same day as part of her diamond jubilee celebrations and sent a wedding invite to Buckingham Palace. The palace politely declined on her behalf – and then the queen rocked up anyway, Philip in tow, and derailed everything with royal pomp. That is what the youths call “queen shit” (some might also call it “a bit rude”).
Welcome index: 6 (or -1,000,000 for people who hate the royals)
The Rock and Danny DeVito serenade a bride
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This is a tricky one, given Dwayne “candy ass” Johnson appears to go through life with the intense energy of a pissed-off bride. But on the other hand, Danny DeVito rules. In this case from 2019, the lads were sipping tequila (the Rock’s brand, by the way), just having a casual night in (with a camera trained on them) when they decided to spontaneously crash a wedding in Mexico (where they were promoting a film). There was a lot of screaming. We can all agree that DeVito serenading you with Unforgettable would be pretty great. We can all agree the Rock was there.
Welcome index: 6
Tom Hanks crashes all weddings he can
Just try to keep this guy away from a wedding. These are only the times we know of: he crashed a wedding in 1993, while filming Forrest Gump; another in 2009, while filming Angels and Demons in Rome; and again in 2016, happening on a wedding while he was jogging around Central Park. In 2021, he walked over to a wedding on a Santa Monica beach to say hello to the two brides. In 2022 he asked to join a bride’s photoshoot in Pittsburgh – then just weeks later, he officiated a wedding at a fan’s house in the city because, that’s right, the second nicest man in showbiz is also ordained. He’s like a wedding cryptid; they say if you repeat his name into a champagne flute three times, Hanks appears and makes you get married.
Welcome index: 8
Keanu Reeves mingles with guests
Now for the nicest man in showbiz. Nikki Roadnight wrote a first-hand account of Reeves’ time at her wedding, in Northamptonshire in 2022, for the Guardian, and it includes some delightful details – including a guest shouting “Is that John Wick?” when they noticed him, that he stayed to mingle and the fact that Nikki’s mum shouted “Everybody say ‘Speed’,” when they did photos. Which is top tier mum behaviour (even Reeves apparently found that funny).
Welcome index: 10
