Groom with Gluten Allergy Spends Wedding Night Sick After Unknowingly Eating ‘Contaminated’ Cake (Exclusive)
"It wasn't the best end to the night you're getting married — but looking back it did make for somewhat of a funny story," Blake Shoemaker tells PEOPLE of the day
What started as a fairytale ... ended in a garbage pail.
After Blake and Bryce Shoemaker tied the knot, their wedding night didn't have the magical "happily ever after" that you see in the storybooks — in fact, it had quite the opposite due to a "major" allergic reaction.
In a video recently shared on TikTok, Blake resurfaced a clip from the pair's October 2022 nuptials that showcased the unexpected attack her groom with celiac disease experienced after he unknowingly ate wedding cake with gluten on their special day.
While Blake makes light of the unfortunate circumstance in the video now, the newlywed opens up to PEOPLE exclusively about the situation that went down — or rather, came up — that night and why she decided to share it online now.
"We had a very small, intimate wedding with our closest friends and family, which kind of just led to an overall relaxed, chill, fun vibe," Blake recalls, setting the scene of their nuptials held in Joshua Tree, California. "So it's the desert, right? And bakeries are few and far between out there."
Blake says her mother was appointed cake duty and was "able to find a gluten-free bakery," so she thought. "This was not a bakery once we arrived. I mean, it was someone's house ... it was not exactly what we were expecting maybe cleanliness-wise."
Still, the bride-to-be and her mom "grabbed the groom's cake" thinking "everything was fine" and brought it to the wedding venue for everyone to enjoy after the ceremony. Bryce, obviously, was one of those who grabbed a piece when it came time to indulge.
"I think he only had one or two bites," Blake says of his consumption of the groom's cake — though with celiac disease, she notes "everyone reacts differently" to ingesting gluten. For Bryce, she says he gets "nauseated and feels like he might throw up."
"And of course, that is what it transpired into," Blake continues, "just straight nausea three or four hours after cutting the cake." She adds, "This was probably the worst reaction ... he felt so sick and just started throwing up."
Despite the non-stop sickness that resulted, the Texas native says it wouldn't deter her husband from enjoying his celebratory night at their Airbnb afterparty in Palm Springs. "So he just pulled one of our party trash cans out because he still wanted to be in the center of the room and enjoy some of our guests that were still there."
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His optimistic wife concludes, "So, it wasn't the best end to the night you're getting married — but looking back, it did make for somewhat of a funny story." In fact, it drew them closer together!
"I feel like any instance that we've been through like this, which this is so minor compared to a lot of the things you go through in life, just makes you stronger and allows you to be equipped with handling harder situations as a team," Blake says.
And that says a lot for the couple that's been together for "almost 11 years now," having first met in the 3rd grade. "I think we make each other better in moments especially like this, just learning how to adapt and be there for each other I think is the main takeaway."
As Blake's "heart broke" for Bryce when he was having the allergic reaction on their wedding night, she says she "was trying to do everything [she] could to make him feel better." She recalls, "I just wanted to sit by him and rub his back ... because it's his night too."
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Unfortunately, she says Bryce was ultimately "down for the count" that night and wound up going straight to sleep — though Blake was able to make the most of her night. "I stayed out and had fun with our guests, friends and family — but I just felt so bad for him."
Fortunately, Blake and Bryce got that storybook happily ever after.
"We ended up staying for a few more days before we went on our honeymoon," she says. "So were able to have romantic special moments the nights after our wedding, so that was nice.
Fast forward two years later, the couple are able to laugh about the situation — which is what inspired Blake to share the video on TikTok. "It's been a while, but I feel like I will never stop sharing content from that day just because it was so fun."
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She's sure to add, "Lots of humor went into this whole thing, which I love a humorous approach!"
As for whether Blake and her family went back to the bakery after ordering a gluten-free cake that had gluten in it? "My mom ended up calling the baker and had a quick conversation with her ... and she was convinced it was gluten-free ... I wish I knew more."
"Looking back, we probably should have dug a little deeper into that, but he felt fine the next morning," she continues. "He really didn't eat that much of it."
She adds, "I don't know much about the bakery, to be honest. I just know that it was a pretty funny moment."
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Read the original article on People.