Lincoln, Nebraska bride-to-be Hayley Stamper and her groom, Austin, thought of a fun way to include every one of their 600 invited guests in celebrating the happiest day of their lives. They'd make a spot on their wedding invitations for folks to request the one song that would get them up and groovin' on the dance floor.
It was a great idea—that is, until Stamper's ex Thomas Hoefener RSVP'd his song request:
He requested "I Loved Her First" by HeartlandHayley Stamper/Twitter
Hoefener responded to the wedding invite: "Accepts with pleasure" and to the fill-in-the-blank prompt "I PROMISE TO DANCE IF YOU PLAY," he answered, "'I Loved Her First—Heartland."
While this may appear shocking to some upon first glance, the truth is, Hayley and her fiancée, Austin, had not only invited her ex (a past high school sweetheart of two years), they had expected a humorous response from Hoefener.
As Stamper told BuzzFeed:
I knew he was going to say something like that. I knew he was going to do something witty the second we invited him.
"All three of us have always been friends, and both my ex and my fiancé were on the same football team," she shared.
But the people of Twitter wanted to weigh in on the unorthodox friendship:
@hayley_stamper @valerieprovence He’s gonna be at the reception like: https://t.co/NKxz0axW1z— Lucky (@Lucky) 1529074786.0
@yoitsMartina @JoeHogle We’re friends but not that crazy🙅🏼♀️🙅🏼♀️🙅🏼♀️😂😂😂— Hayley Reed (@Hayley Reed) 1529124133.0
@hayley_stamper So you’re a homie hopper???— #KylerSZN (@#KylerSZN) 1529079968.0
@LilDickGrady Not at all! We just dated in the beginning of high school and the only other boyfriend after him was… https://t.co/xSE3UwA9su— Hayley Reed (@Hayley Reed) 1529080496.0
@hayley_stamper Your ex at the wedding https://t.co/Tnzft7ZVVW— Kent (@Kent) 1529078067.0
Apparently, things got a little nasty both in the comments and in DMs (which is why Stamper took down her original post).
To the haters, Stamper had this to say:
Before you quote me with “why tf did you invite your ex” here’s my response!!! *We broke up over 5 years ago! Not… https://t.co/n50fA40Wuk— Hayley Reed (@Hayley Reed) 1529074344.0
Also keep in mind that we invited over 600 people to our wedding! My ex and my fiancé have a lot of the same friend… https://t.co/IfrhNpWkzx— Hayley Reed (@Hayley Reed) 1529079052.0
@rylieinglis Who else would invite their ex if their fiancé and ex were friends since high school. Oh, and you’re a… https://t.co/Vyj8ZCg2AD— Hayley Reed (@Hayley Reed) 1529171445.0
But loads of people had the happy couple's back as well:
@hayley_stamper I’m with you, Hayley. One of my exes is literally one of my best friends, and she married another o… https://t.co/81pRykjLsj— Abe (@Abe) 1530203603.0
@hayley_stamper @rylieinglis I was the best man in my hs girlfriend's wedding, and I wasn't even old friends with h… https://t.co/lSXE5F7yeT— Matt Wadsworth (@Matt Wadsworth) 1529507286.0
H/T: Twitter, BuzzFeed, The Daily Mail