Here’s Why You Should Help This Local Groom Get a Guy He’s Never Met to His Bachelor Party 

Joey, the rando guy from Seattle, and Jeff, the groom, in photos from Joey’s Go Fund Me page.

There is a local groom named Jeff Minetti—Prep grad, from Conshohocken, now living in Philly with his fiance Amy Lee—who is getting married in May, and his bachelor party is on Saturday, March 28th.

His brothers, like good organized groomsmen, started a group email chain to put the night together—mostly an evening of beers and basketball, says Jeff—and one of them, in an attempt to invite a guy named Jim DiJulio, instead invited a guy named Joey DiJulio. Joey does not know a single person involved in this bachelor party, and lives in Seattle, Washington.

Joey was going to reply to everyone to let them know he had somehow been added to the party email by mistake, but ended up being so entertained by the reply-alls that he just decided to hang out on the chain for a bit. Here is the breakdown of what happened next:

• Joey eventually waved his hands and confessed that he was on the chain, obviously by mistake.
• The immediate replies were that he should come anyway, and that all of the guys should chip in to help him get there.
• There was a back-and-forth about how the two dudes actually look like they could be related (both sides had Facebook-detectived the other by this point, of course).
• Jeff chimed in, telling Joey that he was sending him a wedding invite, and that if he made it to his bachelor party, he could make the best-man toast at his wedding.
• Joey decides it would be an adventure, calculates the cost of coming to Philly for the weekend, and sets up a Go Fund Me page to help get him to our lovely city to celebrate his new friend’s upcoming nuptials. (The page also includes an excellent telling of this whole story, complete with [PG] quotes from the reply-alls.)

The goal was actually just reached overnight—though Joey intends to use any extra to purchase a lovely gift for the couple, or, in theory, to return to Philly for the wedding! “Joe may be a Seahawks fan, but we’re going to show him a good time anyway—after all, this is the City of Brotherly Love,” says Jeff. “And he’d absolutely be welcome at the wedding. He sounds like such a friendly, outgoing guy, and as you can see from the support this has received, Amy and I have a wonderful group of friends and family who would make him feel welcome.”

{Note: While Joey would, indeed, also be welcome to make a toast, as promised by the groom, he would not be replacing the best-man speech, as Jeff’s 11-year old cousin Tucker, his actual best man, was rather incensed that the groom had given away this important duty.}

Oh, and in case you were wondering, poor Jim DiJulio did eventually get added on to the email chain once it was realized they had invited a perfect stranger in his place—and word is he, Joey, and the entire gang will be toasting to Jeff and Amy with beers and basketball come next Saturday.

You can check out the whole tale—and donate to these new best buds—here. Have fun, dudes!

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