Man accidentally invited to stranger’s bachelor party, flies more than 4,000 km to attend
In January, Will Novak received an email inviting him to attend a bachelor party for a man named Angelo in Vermont. The catch? Novak, who lives in Arizona, didn’t know anyone named Angelo.
Novak figured out that he’d accidentally been added to the email chain because of a typo in an email address — the people organizing the party wanted to get in touch with a friend who was also named Will Novak.
But that didn’t stop him. Novak saw the mistake as an opportunity to make some new friends and go skiing, he told said
“I do not know who Angelo is. I am a Will Novak who lives in Arizona. Vermont seems like a very far way for me to travel for the bachelor party of a guy I’ve never met,” he wrote in response to the email invite. “That being said: f—ing count me in!”
When the party planners responded, confirming that Novak was welcome to attend the ’80s-themed weekend, he set his plan into motion.
To help defray ski-rental and travel costs, Novak set up a GoFundMe to get him to the party, which quickly circulated online.
At the time of this post, he had far exceeded his original goal of $750, raising $4,375 for the trip.
According to the fundraiser page, all leftover funds not spent on Novak’s trip would be donated to be the soon-to-be newlyweds, who are expecting a child.
After a 4000 km flight from Phoenix to Boston, Novak made it to the party. And it was fun!
“When I walked in, there were fireworks going off around him, he was standing on top of a bass drum, and he was shredding some metal on a guitar,” Novak said of the moment he met Angelo and his friends. “It was quite the introduction. It was pretty intense.”
But the best part, he said, was meeting the other Will Novak, whose invitation he had mistakenly received. The Arizona man said that in addition to a name, the men had a lot in common — including taste in movies and music.
Novak spent the weekend skiing and getting to know Angelo’s friends and the groom-to-be himself — who didn’t know that a perfect stranger would be at his bachelor party until just a few weeks before.
So will Novak be at the wedding? That’s a no, he said. But he’s grateful for the opportunity and adventure this case of mistaken identity presented him with.
“When you open yourself up to the universe, amazing things like this can happen, ” he said. “Talk to your neighbor, make new friends … Talk to new people. If a door opens, walk through it. See what’s on the other side.”