Couples are now letting people crash their weddings... for a price

Sneaking into the wedding of complete strangers to scoff from the buffet and down the free drinks might be seen as the height of bad etiquette.

But all that could be about to change if the latest American craze takes off in Britain – buying tickets to the weddings of people you don't know.

Thousands of uninvited guests have signed up to a US website which lets couples sell extra or unused wedding reception seats to carefully vetted strangers.

British groom Jason England and his American fiancee Kimberly Gedeon were among the first to not only welcome gatecrashers to their New York wedding but also charge them $40 (£30) each for the privilege.

Faced with the prospect of an expensive bill after failing to meet the minimum headcount for their plush venue, the couple sold 14 tickets to strangers for $40 each to boost the numbers.

Bride Kimberly said she stumbled upon the Not A Wedding Crasher website, where some couples charge up to $200 for a seat at their nuptials, and ended up being inundated with responses.

'I thought that nobody would care to come to a stranger's wedding so I charged $40 as an incentive to get people to sign up,' she told Radio 4's Today programme.

'But the requests came flooding in – I should have charged $150!'

She admitted that neither her family nor Jason's relatives, who had flown over from Nottingham, were aware that some of the guests were paid interlopers: 'They were all complete strangers, but they really came out and brought the energy.'

The paying guests had to undergo identity, facial recognition and background checks before being accepted by the

website. One, Kylie Perlow, said: 'Everyone thought I was crazy. But for $40 we had an excuse to go out, have a nice night to dress up for. We had tons of food, an open bar and an excuse to party.'

But could it succeed in Britain? Kimberly thinks so. She said: 'I think it's definitely going to catch on, but slowly, possibly first with the more adventurous folks who like taking risks.'

The Not A Wedding Crasher platform was founded by San Diego couple Jeff and Karina Besen.

The website has 24 weddings listed where couples are charging anything from $25 a head for a celebration in Charlotte, North Carolina – where guests are advised to 'avoid dark blue or navy blue colours' – to $200 a seat for a 'glamorous, high energy' wedding in Baltimore.