Bride tears up after groom goes viral in stranger’s Bachelor Party recap

A bride was brought to tears after a stranger’s recap of her groom’s bachelor party went viral.

Luke Markham didn’t expect his bachelor party to become a viral sensation, but when he and his friends encountered another group while enjoying March Madness basketball at Uptown Social in Charleston, he met TikTok content creator Sam from Charleston (@sb.reads).

Sam ended up posting a video about their encounter, singing Markham’s praises and commending him for being so sweet and loyal to his bride-to-be, Sam Brooks. The content creator explained to People, “My friends Tane’a and Jayla were taking a selfie when Luke walked up to them on his way to the bathroom and started talking to them.”

“At first, we were all very confused,” she continued. “But as soon as he said he was here for his bachelor party, my group got so excited and started congratulating him and asking him questions about him and his fiancée.”

Markham began to gush about his fiancée, and Sam and her friends were awestruck by the way he spoke about her.

“My friends and I all love love and romance, so we just thought it was just the sweetest and most romantic thing ever, listening to him rave about his future wife. What struck me most about the encounter was how excited he was to talk about her and tell everyone, even a group of strangers, how much he loved her,” she said.

“After we took the selfie, he went to the bathroom, and my group left the bar, but he seriously made our entire night, and we couldn’t stop talking about how sweet it was.”

Inspired, she shared the sweet moment on TikTok. “I posted the video because I just wanted whoever Luke’s bride was to know just how loved she was, and I can’t believe it actually got to her.”

By the next morning, the video had gone viral, to the point that many of the bride-to-be’s friends were sending her the video. Brooks recalled, “I had just woken up, and my friend had sent it to me. I decided to sleep in because I had to work on Saturday, and my friend said, ‘Samantha. Please open. This is urgent.’”

Barely awake, Brooks had barely registered that she was watching a video about her future husband.

“I remember thinking, ‘This is weird’ when they said Sam and Luke, but there’s a lot of Sams and Lukes,” she told the outlet. “Then she said they’re in Charleston, and I thought, ‘Oh that’s funny, Luke’s in Charleston.’ And she said the bar, but I didn’t know where exactly he’d gone out that night. I wasn’t worried about it.”

After she finished the video, Brooks found herself moved. “I don’t cry a ton, but I definitely teared up,” Brooks said. “I FaceTimed him, but he was asleep.”

By the time Markham woke up the next day, Sam from Charleston’s video had garnered over 11 million views on TikTok. Brooks decided to stitch a response to the video, “Then, before I left to go to my friend’s birthday, I made a response, thinking, ‘Let’s see what happens. Maybe it goes viral, maybe it doesn’t.’”

The couple was shocked when Brooks’ video reached nine million views, crediting the viral success with the “power of the algorithm”.

“It’s really nice. We’re always running around, laughing, having a good time,” Brooks reflected. “So it’s cool for everyone to see how great Luke is. All the comments are insane. It reminds me that not everyone has a Luke and makes me realise how lucky I am to have Luke in my life.

“It’s been just amazing,” Markham added. “I think it’s a testament to how people generally are. They’re really happy to see genuine love, which I guess I conveyed my genuine love for Sam. She’s the best and I love telling people about her because I really love her.”

The couple will reportedly tie the knot in early June after eight years of dating.