31-01-2025
Groom in Tears After Bride Recreates His Favorite Scene from 'She's All That 'During Wedding Ceremony! (Exclusive)
Kelly Hazen married Christian Avelar on July 3, 2024 at Liberty House in Jersey City, New Jersey
During their wedding ceremony, the bride surprised the groom by recreating the heartfelt staircase scene from his favorite romantic comedy . Hazen secretly had the DJ switch her wedding processional song to the 1999 movie scene's song, "Kiss Me"
"I also started tearing up myself," Hazen tells PEOPLE. "I blew him a kiss from the top of the aisle once I could see that he realized the surprise"
A groom couldn't help but cry when his bride surprised him during their wedding ceremony.
When Kelly Hazen, 32, tied the knot with Christian Avelar, 32, on July 3, 2024 at Liberty House in Jersey City, New Jersey, she wanted to make the day extra special for him. So she surprised him by recreating an iconic scene from his favorite '90s rom-com.
Videographer Kevin Fonash with Fonash Studios captured the heartwarming moment Hazen's wedding processional song switched from Disclosure's "You & Me (Flume Remix)" to Sixpence None The Richer's "Kiss Me."
"I thought at first maybe the DJ messed up the songs," Avelar tells PEOPLE. "Once the song started playing and I saw Kel start smiling I realized — she's playing Laney Boggs' song!"
Related: 'She's All That' : See the Cast of the Teen Classic Then and Now
Romantic comedy classic She's All That follows high school hotshot Zach Siler (Freddie Prinze Jr.) agreeing to the seemingly impossible challenge of transforming nerdy outcast Laney Boggs (Rachael Leigh Cook) into the school's next prom queen in just six weeks. When "the new, not improved, but different" Boggs is revealed, Siler is left in awe as she walks down a staircase. "Kiss Me" was playing during the 1999 movie scene.
"That's how I always pictured seeing my future wife before coming down the aisle," Avelar says.
In the wedding video, which now has more than 2 million views on TikTok, Hazen stands at the top of a staircase with her original wedding song playing. Avelar's expression changes from happiness to confusion when the song suddenly switches to "Kiss Me."
The bride locks eyes with the groom, who quickly realizes the song's significance and smiles tearfully. Like Boggs, Hazen left Avelar in awe as she gracefully walked down the steps in her stunning dress.
"I also started tearing up myself," Hazen tells PEOPLE. "I blew him a kiss from the top of the aisle once I could see that he realized the surprise."
She adds: "Our wedding guests picked up on the '90s rom-com cue — one guest said to me, 'That was so cute! I started falling in love with you at the top of the stairs too!' "
She then made her way down the aisle, accompanied by her father, to "Canon in D."
Hazen had been planning the sweet surprise for four months, with only DJ Ridd from Baseline Productions in on the secret.
"A couple months into wedding planning I told my now-husband, Christian, I don't think I have ever seen She's All That from start to finish, only bits and pieces. He was so insistent it was a classic and I HAD to see it," Hazen recalls. "Once I saw his reaction to the scene, I knew the song for the ceremony intro would be perfect."
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Hazen and Avelar's love story would also make for a great rom-com. The two met in sixth grade math class at Frelinghuysen Middle School in New Jersey in 2003. Their friendship blossomed into romance during their teenage years at Morristown High School when they had "nearly the same schedule" junior year.
"We fell in love flirting in Italian class and joking around together in Social Studies before graduating together in June 2010," Hazen says.
Related: Bride Leaves Groom in Tears at Altar After She Secretly Changed the Song She Walked Down the Aisle to (Exclusive)
But it wasn't until Hazen graduated from Kent State University in Ohio in May 2014 and moved back to her home state that she reconnected with Avelar. The pair started hanging out to watch soccer games, and had their first date on July 12, 2014 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.
"The rest is history," she says. "We got engaged July 3, 2021 and got married exactly three years later on July 3, 2024."
Read the original article on People
