When hundreds of Croatian soccer fans swallowed up the street outside Philadelphia City Hall during their wedding photo shoot in June 2026, Ashton and Zachary Smith had a choice to make. They could reschedule, or they could let the party happen around them. They chose the latter, and four months later that decision bought them a second honeymoon across the Adriatic coast, courtesy of the very fans who crashed their photos.
A City Hall Shoot Turned Street Party
Ashton Smith, recalling the moment while in Split, Croatia, in October, said locals had warned the couple that the street outside City Hall had been taken over by soccer supporters, but they pressed ahead with the shoot anyway, calling it “the best decision that we ever could have made,” according to CBS News Philadelphia. The newlyweds, married in June 2026, were married just as Philadelphia was deep into its run as a 2026 FIFA World Cup host city, and the viral photos and video of fans swarming their shoot quickly spread across social networks.
The gathering outside City Hall on Friday, June 26, 2026, was not a random crowd. Hundreds of Croatian supporters converged on Center City ahead of Croatia's final group-stage match against Ghana at Lincoln Financial Field the next day, part of a rally that included flag-waving, smoke flares, and synchronized chanting down Benjamin Franklin Parkway, per KYW Newsradio. The following day, Croatia beat Ghana 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 68,324 at Lincoln Financial Field, with goals from Petar Sucic and Nikola Vlasic sending the team into the knockout round, according to WHYY.
Philadelphia's Turn as a World Cup Host City
That match was one of six Philadelphia staged at Lincoln Financial Field between June 14 and July 4, 2026, including five group-stage games and a Round of 16 fixture on Independence Day, as the stadium was temporarily rebranded Philadelphia Stadium for the tournament, per DiscoverPHL. The city also ran a 39-day free FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill Park in Fairmount Park from June 11 to July 19, serving as a gathering point for international fan delegations, as Hoodline previously reported. That same park later received a $4 million legacy upgrade tied to the tournament's lasting footprint.
The fan group behind the City Hall rally, known as Mi Hrvati (We Croats), follows the Croatian national team around the world and is recognized for hauling a custom 100-meter-long checkerboard flag to its matches. The group displayed that flag in North American host cities including New York, Dallas, and Toronto throughout June 2026, according to the Dubrovnik Times. The chance encounter outside City Hall stuck with the group, and the shoot ended up forging a friendship between the Smiths and the Croatian fans who crashed it.
From Viral Moment to Sponsored Honeymoon
Mi Hrvati representative Daniel Pedisic said the fans' spontaneous embrace of the newlyweds reflected the hospitality of Croatian culture, a sentiment that led the fan association and the Croatian National Tourist Board to coordinate the couple's return visit. The Smiths already had a honeymoon planned before their wedding, described as laid-back and relaxing; this second trip, organized around the fans who found them in Philadelphia, has been active and fast-paced by comparison.
The itinerary carried Ashton and Zachary Smith through Split and Sibenik on Croatia's Adriatic coast, with a sailing trip and a guided tour of Krka National Park, before planned stops in Dubrovnik and the capital, Zagreb. Zachary Smith said he had never expected to visit Croatia at all, let alone as the guest of the fans who turned his wedding shoot into a street celebration.
Marching the Riva Before Croatia Faced Spain
In Split, the couple joined Croatian supporters marching along the city's Riva waterfront toward Poljud Stadium, with fans singing and a band playing as the procession moved toward the stadium, echoing the energy of the Center City parade four months earlier, according to the seed CBS News Philadelphia account. Ashton Smith described the fans' welcome as amazing and called the atmosphere immaculate.
The march led into a UEFA Nations League fixture on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, in which Croatia took an early lead through Ivan Perisic before reigning European champion Spain rallied for a 2-1 win at Poljud Stadium, per Al Jazeera. Win or lose, the Smiths were there with the crowd that had first found them outside Philadelphia's City Hall, a full ocean away from where their story began.
