Meet the Philly couple who had their wedding photos crashed by Croatian World Cup fans

This story originally appeared on WHYY’s Billy Penn.

Ashton and Zach Smith just wanted to get the classic photos of their wedding party outside Philadelphia City Hall, in between their ceremony and reception at the nearby Crystal Tea Room on Friday evening.

“We were walking [out of the Wanamaker Building] and they’re like, ‘Hey, there’s a parade going on. The road’s closed. I don’t know if you guys will be able to get photos.’” Ashton recalled.

The couple’s wedding photographer, Lynsey Reynard, urged them to try anyway, and they agreed.

That decision led to the group being surrounded and celebrated by fans of the Croatian national soccer team, in one of the viral moments of this summer’s FIFA World Cup.

“It’s so funny because I think a lot of the headlines are ‘Croatia crashes wedding party pictures.’ And I’m like, ‘Actually, we kind of crashed their parade.’ They were there first.” Ashton said.

Croatia played Ghana on Saturday in the city’s fifth group stage game of the tournament. Like the previous fixtures, each nation’s fans made their presence known to the city the day before.

After gathering at Con Murphy’s Irish Pub and Capriccio Cafe and Bar on the Ben Franklin Parkway, the thousands of Croatia fans from all over the world carried a 330-foot flag down to City Hall.

Bosko Katic, a Croatian native living in Dallas, was one of the people leading the fan procession as a “barjaktar,” or flag bearer. By the time he arrived at City Hall, he just wanted to find a place to rest for a moment after hours of waving a giant red and white checkered flag and playing a drum.

“I saw this beautiful building and I start walking towards there,” he said. “I see these bridesmaids and and groom and a bride walking, and I’m like, ‘Okay … do I do it or do I don’t do it?’”

He chose to do it, running up to the couple waving his flag and singing. Within seconds, hundreds of other soccer fans joined in.

Katic said Croatian weddings traditionally also have a “barjaktar,” who leads the singing and makes sure that every guest drinks some homemade “rakia” — fruit brandy.

The chanting outside City Hall switched from football songs to wedding ones.

“If you translate it word for word, it’s like saying, ‘Hey girl, come out. Hey girl, come out. We want to see you just for a moment. We want to see you. We want to kiss you. We want to hear your voice,’” Katic said, describing one of the songs.

They then shifted back to Croatia’s trademark fan celebration where everyone gets low and quiet, before exploding up in a craze.

After all that, the wedding party managed to break away from the soccer fans and headed down Broad Street to take their photos, then returned to the Crystal Tea Room for the reception. Ashton said some Croatia fans asked to join the rest of the night’s wedding celebration. She politely declined those requests.

“By the time we made it back into the reception where the rest of our family and friends were, people were coming up to us like ‘Oh my god, did you guys see? You’re already on Twitter and Instagram,” Zach remembered. “By that point it was like already going viral, so it was cool.”

The couple, both 26, met and started dating freshman year at St. Joseph’s University, where they were both on the track team. Ashton is from Scranton and Zach is from Collegeville in Montgomery County, where they live now. They got engaged last June in Sea Isle, N.J.

“When we were looking at the wedding venues, we wanted to pick where our story started and get married back in Philly,” Zach said.

They had been aware of the World Cup this summer, both as sports fans and keeping in mind how it might disrupt their summer wedding. Neither of them have Croatian heritage, but it’s a team and a country that will be in their hearts for the rest of the competition, and beyond.

The Smiths tuned into the Croatia game on Saturday and jumped around when the team scored and defeated Ghana 2-1.

“I was like ‘Zack, they won. I think we’re their good luck charm,’” Ashton said.

Later on in the weekend, they were appearing in interviews for television stations in Croatia.

The newlyweds already have a honeymoon set up for St. Lucia this month, but Croatian groups are trying to raise funds to send them to Croatia one day.

“One hundred percent we would love to go. So, we’ll see what happens. It looks awesome.” Zach said.

Katic said that if the Smiths end up visiting Croatia, they might be greeted with another welcome parade.

“That’s how the Croatians are. We just have big hearts,” he said. “When it comes to soccer, passion, love and it’s all about being humble, loving the moments and just being there for each other.”

For now, the Smiths  — or “Smithic’s,” as Croatians may start calling them — will be starting out married life together, following the World Cup games while honeymooning and trying to buy some new Croatia gear.

“We’re going to get those jerseys, I promise,” Ashton said.