You’ll Never Guess Who Crashed A Minnesota Wedding Over The Weekend
I found myself in St. Paul over the weekend djing a wedding at the St. Paul College Club on Summit Avenue. A surprising "celebrity" guest crashed the ceremony.
Two things I love about djing weddings:
- Seeing all the different venues throughout the area.
- Getting to try all the different foods throughout the area.
I've been djing for what feels like forever (a little over ten years). Every now and then something happens at a wedding that you will definitely never forget. I still can't wrap my head around people getting into a circle while 'Piano Man' by Billy Joel is playing and men will drop their pants. Apparently, it only happens in Minnesota and a lot of people don't believe me when I tell them about it.
I've also witnessed keg stands at a wedding in a small northern Minnesota town hall and once saw a man passed out in an elevator at the end of the night. Weddings can get a little crazy sometimes, but that's okay.
So who crashed the wedding?
Over this past weekend, I was at the St. Paul College Club on Summit Avenue. I'd never been there before and it was absolutely gorgeous. The Mansion has a history that dates back to 1848 and has since been expanded, and restored over the years. They have an award-winning in-house chef and host weddings, social events, cooperate gatherings, and more.
They typically due outdoor ceremonies in the beautiful backyard, however, it was a little chilly so this ceremony has held indoors. During the ceremony, a cat came waltzing into the area. Starts doing normal cat stuff like rubbing its body on the legs of the bride & groom, as well as the officiant. Everyone starts laughing and then the cat jumps on top of a nearby piano and lies down.
I'm thinking "how cute, the couple's cat was brought to the ceremony". The photographer then stopped taking pictures to grab the cat, of course, it lets out a loud 'meow', and was brought out of the room. Turns out, it wasn't their cat at all.
Everyone started saying it was Governor Walz's cat and that the cat just comes and goes as it pleases. I didn't believe it, until I looked it up. The Governor's residence is right next door to the College Club and the cat who crashed the ceremony did match the description of the Governor's cat who is named Afton.
Afton was an absolute love. He was a rescue cat, and the Animal Humane Society has a pretty good write-up on the feline. My favorite part while reading it was at the end when Walz's daughter Hope said:
I didn’t know how much I needed him until we got him. He shows so much love especially when you need it most. The best decision we ever made was getting a rescue kitty who needed love as much as us.
While I was taking a short break, I was walking around the outside of the building taking it all in. I saw Afton sitting on the steps of the College Club. He saw me, began meowing, and then looked at me, then at the front door, and then at me again. I'm pretty sure he was asking me to let him back into the wedding. I apologized to him and told him that I can't be the one to let him back in. He then started walking towards me:
The whole encounter made for a good story and the couple is writing it off as good luck that Afton came and blessed their wedding. The venue also told the couple that Afton might make an appearance as he has done in the past, however, I did not know this until it happened at the ceremony.
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