I swapped flower girls for ‘beer boys’ at my boozy wedding ceremony
Newlywed Aleah Tompkins fancies herself a “nontraditional bride.”
So, for her seaside nuptials in Costa Rica on March 3, Tompkins balked at the idea of flower girls waddling down the aisle in puffy pink dresses while an organist played the “Wedding March” ahead of her arrival.
Instead, the brunette wanted her grand entrance to create a little buzz — and she knew just the man for the job.
“We had my husband’s frat brother serve as the ‘beer boy’ at our wedding,” Tompkins, 31, a yoga instructor from Grand Rapids, Michigan, told The Post.
The #BeerBoy trend, which has amassed nearly 30 million views on TikTok, is a post-COVID wedding phenomenon that’s skyrocketed in popularity among Gen Z and millennial brides in recent years.
In contrast to the #DryWedding movement — in which newlyweds are taking the plunge at alcohol-free bashes — the “beer boy” craze sees unconventional couples ditch the tradition of bloom-tossing flower girls and, instead, tap their adult male friends to pass out booze before the bride’s debut.
“Who doesn’t want a beer at a wedding?” Tompkins, who was newly pregnant on her big day, said with a laugh, adding that she never drinks.
A week prior to tying the knot, she and husband Austin asked his larger-than-life college pal, Austin Hoyt — who the couple refers to as “Hoyt” because he shares a first name with the groom — to hand out cans of Costa Rican lager and pour pre-mixed shots of vodka and cranberry juice down the throats of their 50 guests.
He wore a snug pair of hip-hugging shorts, a sleeveless tuxedo jacket sans shirt and a beer harness, which held six cans, around his waist while dancing down the aisle to AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.”
As an ever-dutiful beer boy, Hoyt also had a small cooler of cold ones in tow, from which he pulled more cans for guest consumption.
“We’re a really fun couple, and we wanted to create an exciting atmosphere for the people who attended our wedding,” said Tompkins. “Hoyt passing out beer and shots helped break up the seriousness and emotions that typically come up at a wedding.”
And online, it seems the more silly and outlandish the beer boy, the more viral hype for the couple.
In August 2021, New Hampshire sweethearts Brendan and Kimber DeKemper had a barefoot beer boy toss tins of ale at their “#SipIntoSummer”-themed I Do’s.
In April, rapper Yung Gravy, 27, filled the saucy role at a friend’s wedding, earning him 3.8 million TikTok views on footage of him doling out brews from a beer harness strapped to his waist.
“Anyone need a flower girl/beer boy?” the musician wrote in the closed-captions of his post.
And New York bride Nikki Corsini, 28, posted footage of her chums issuing beers from buckets hooked to their chests for a TikTok clip captioned, “#BeerBoys instead of flower girls are a must at your wedding — my boys killed it.”
According to a 2022 study from TheKnot, 67% of Gen Z and 49% of millennial brides reported wanting to make grand entrances through bold “statement moments” that surprise and delight their guests.
And Tompkins tells The Post that Hoyt as her beer boy did just that.
“Everyone had a riot,” said Tompkins, who watched the sudsy spectacle from her nearby bridal suite.
And Hoyt, 34, said he, too, had a blast keeping guests in high spirits.
“I loved it,” he told The Post. “I tried to be as gregarious and over the top as I could in order to give a stupendous f- -king performance.”
California bride Kristina Quiroz, 41, brags that her beer boys — her cousins Christian and David Ayala — gave an equally stellar showing at her April 8 reception.
“My guests absolutely loved the beer boys,” Quiroz, an office manager, told The Post. Visuals of the Ayala brothers gifting the crowd cans of Modelo to the sounds of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” scored more than 242,000 TikTok views.
She and husband Armando exchanged vows in front of 250 loved ones in the courtyard of the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California, and toasted their covenant by taking shots of tequila at the altar.
“We are very nontraditional,” said Quiroz, who described her big day as “short and sweet.”
“We didn’t want our guests to sit there bored to death,” she added. “Having beer boys was the best way to get the party going before the [reception] party even started.”
