NEW ORLEANS — Two weeks ago, the popular Instagram account Look at This F&@$% Street announced a contest to win a wedding officiant, photographer, and cake.
The only caveat? “The couple has to be willing to get legally married in a pothole in New Orleans,” said the man who anonymously runs the account. It publishes photos and videos of potholes, cracked roads, neverending construction, and leaning power poles from around New Orleans.
He explained that two of the vendors had approached him first and that he is “always open to collaborating with local businesses, local individuals, as long as they can tie what they want to do to potholes.”
Around 700 people entered the contest. Last Wednesday, he selected a winner, who turned the offer down, and then another who did the same. Then, he contacted Monica Resh and Kevin Nguyen.
“She announced, running down the halls, giggling, that we actually won. Then it got very real very fast,” said Nguyen. The couple has been together for more than four years and had discussed wedding plans in the past. “We were just gonna go to Spain, elope, travel around Spain.”
But when given the opportunity for a unique, paid-for wedding, they jumped at the chance. “It’s fun, it’s exciting,” said Resh. “I think we've honestly gotten a large outpouring of love from both family and friends,” said Nguyen.
That includes friends at WWL Louisiana. Resh is a Marketing Producer for the station. WWL had nothing to do with the competition and, in fact, had contacted the account to set up an interview with the future winners before they were announced. “I will need to put my vacation request in now, by the way,” Resh joked.
Now the couple will have to plan their wedding quickly. They have it tentatively scheduled for a date in late winter. Luckily, their unique plans have caught attention.
“Since announcing the contest, we've actually had tons of other businesses reach out and offer other services like flowers, hair, makeup, and drone photography,” said the account owner.
There is still the matter of the… venue, however. “We'll just be doing some location scouting with my front bumper,” said Resh. “Every day I drive around New Orleans now, I'm looking like, oh, there's a pothole. What does the greenery look like? Is there a water feature?” said Nguyen.
The account owner said he may or may not have another wedding contest in the future. “I think that maybe doing it again would take away from how special it is doing it the first time, so I think maybe for this one we'll do it one and done.”
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