Techie groom seen working at his own wedding sparks backlash: ‘Divorce coming soon'

The co-founder of an AI startup was photographed working at his own wedding in a picture that has stunned the internet. At a time when conversations on work-life balance are taking centre stage in the discourse of modern workplace culture, this image has sparked predictable backlash on social media.

The picture in question shows Casey Mackrell, co-founder of Thoughtly, using a laptop at his own wedding as guests enjoyed a dance. It was shared on LinkedIn by his fellow co-founder Torrey Leonard.

‘Wrapping up a pull request’

“My co-founder Casey has built a reputation for himself as ‘the guy who sits on his laptop in bars’ from SF to NYC,” Leonard posted on LinkedIn. “Last week Thoughtly brought on a customer that needed to launch within 2 weeks. He [Casey] just so happened to be getting married within that 2 week window…

“So, here he is wrapping up a pull request. At his own wedding,” wrote the co-founder and CEO of Thoughtly, a New York-based startup that helps businesses build and deploy human-like AI voice agents.

The picture drew critical reactions on social media, although Casey Mackrell took to the comments section to clarify that he “got back to dancing and champagne 2 seconds later.”

‘Divorce soon’

After grabbing attention on LinkedIn, the post made its way to X (formerly Twitter), where reactions were similarly negative.

“I don’t know what’s worse: the people who asked him to work on his wedding or the fact it was posted on LinkedIn as somehow a motivation or inspiring,” wrote one X user.

“Why not do this before the wedding?’’ asked another. One person called it “horrible time management.”

Several people, both on LinkedIn and X, predicted that the marriage would not last if the groom could not spend his wedding day without his laptop.

“Can't wait till his next pull request at his divorce,” joked on X user. “Wrapping up a pull request at divorce hearing coming soon!” another predicted.