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This bride knows how to make one powerful entrance.
Video has gone viral online of a football fanatic bride throwing herself on a table during her wedding reception, proving she's the ultimate Buffalo Bills fans.
As seen in the viral posts on Instagram and Facebook, the newlywed couple, identified as Elizabeth and Devon Van Horn, walk into their reception dancing to "Shout!" by The Isley Brothers, which is also used as the Buffalo Bills' "fight song" during their games. As Elizabeth dances, she approaches a nearby folding table and slams into it. The video then cuts to the amazed guests cheering her on and high-fiving her for her impressive stunt.
Elizabeth shared with Newsweek how her unforgettable entrance came to be. "I'm a die-hard Buffalo Bills fan," Elizabeth said. "My dad has had season tickets since before I was born. He took over the season tickets from my grandfather, so we've had season tickets since about 1963.
"I was like, 'I just want to break a table!' I've always seen it when I go to the games, but I've never actually done it," she added. "During coronavirus, we practiced breaking a table as a joke with dog beds in our living room. So I said, 'I'm actually going to break a table for our wedding!' It's because I love the Bills so much, that's why I did it."
Sports photographers Sean Gallagher and his father, Michael, also spoke to Newsweek about the bride's "epic" entrance into her wedding reception on Saturday in Chaffee, New York. According to Sean and Michael, it had been meticulously orchestrated by the wedding planners and kept a secret from guests.
"The wedding planner's husband actually made the table," Michael said. "He cut the table and he 'velcroed' it and put a pad under it for her. They went to great lengths so that this wouldn't hurt her."
"The people at the reception had no idea she was going to jump through this table," Sean noted. "As they walked in, they started playing the Buffalo Bills song. She's hyping the crowd up and her husband is shotgunning a beer at the same time. They planned for her to fall through the table, but she just full sends it and jumps. It was exciting, that was awesome."
"The people up front were like, 'Did she just do that? No, she didn't!'" Michael added.
Elizabeth confirmed that her wedding planner was instrumental in making her idea a reality. "I messaged [my wedding planner] saying, 'I want to break a table, how can we do this so that I don't actually ruin my dress?' She deconstructed it and put Velcro boards under it."
When Michael and Sean got wind of the bride's Buffalo Bills stunt, they made sure to capture the moment on video.
"[Sean] said, 'We need to get this,'" Michael. "I just put it out quick right there at the wedding...My son set up a computer where I was able to edit it real quick and throw it up online."
Michael also noted that the stunt was carefully planned and practiced to ensure there were no complications.
"The thing was when she practiced it, she bumped her elbow and had red marks on her elbows, so she was a little sore," Michael said. "I think the music, the crowd—she truly got into the moment and really did it when she was coming in for her reception. It was definitely a big change from when she was practicing doing it.
"It truly was the emotion of it that made it go. She jumped and landed, she didn't just touch the table. She got so into it. It was epic!" he said.
"I did a practice run before it actually happened before I was in my wedding dress, and I actually bruised my arms doing it that way. I said, 'Okay, I'm not going to break the table that way,'" Elizabeth added. "I ended up doing the whole shoulder...when we walked in and did it, it didn't hurt at all. It was pretty easy. I was chugging a White Claw, Devon shotgunned a Busch Light while I broke the table."
Sean agreed with his father that there certainly was a football theme to the wedding reception. "[The groom] was a Browns fan, so they had a lot of back and forth going," he revealed. "[One] groomsman walked in wearing a Baker Mayfield jersey, one of the bridesmaids walked in with an old Buffalo Bills jersey, too.
"In the bridesmaid speech, the bridesmaids became friends and bonded over the Buffalo Bills," he added. "Football is a big part of their relationships and their lives. It was awesome to be a part of that and be able to capture it for them."
"Everybody was insane. Even the Browns fans thought it was hilarious," Elizabeth said. "Devon is from Ohio and is an Ohio State Buckeyes fan, but he has a lot of friends that are Cleveland Browns fans. Everyone was excited and thought it was hilarious.
"It was cool to see kind of similar football teams come together in camaraderie. I think everybody was excited, they were giving me high fives and stuff," she added.
Sean said he did not anticipate such a viral response online. "I know the Bills mafia loves all sorts of stuff like that, so I definitely thought it was going to get around Buffalo, but I didn't think it was going to gain the attraction that it did nationwide," he said.
But Michael had a feeling that the video would get some attention. "A lot of people follow me, I'm an old-time media guy...It's not uncommon, it happens," he told Newsweek, referring to his other work with athletes like high schooler Jurrangelo Cinjtje, known for his impressive ambidextrous pitching style.
"I'm not totally shocked when something we do goes viral, it seems to have become a theme. I'm happy for the bride," he added.
Elizabeth and her husband Devon confessed that they even got emotional seeing how the video resonated with Bills fans across the country. "Originally when I did it, I said, 'You know what would be hilarious? If we actually made it famous,'" Elizabeth said. "When it actually [went viral], we were both in awe and got teary-eyed. We never actually expected it to happen and it did."
Sean was so glad to have been able to capture such a special moment for the bride and groom. "I have a couple relatives that are Buffalo Bills fans, so I know the fanbase is crazy. It was really awesome to see. Football is a big part of my life, I was all about it," he said.
Devon joked that he would only change one thing if he had a do-over: "If we could have done it over again, I think I would have thrown a football to her."
"I think we probably will do that," Elizabeth added. "We were saying how we haven't been to a Bills game because of coronavirus in over a year, and I want to go this season. I think I might actually break a table at a game that we go to."
Updated at 5:30 p.m. to include comments from Elizabeth and Devon Van Horn to Newsweek.
