Wedding Crasher Arrested After Cutting In On Couple's First Dance

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBS Local) -- A Florida man was arrested Monday evening when he refused to leave a hotel after crashing a wedding, authorities said.

Mark Alan Saunderson, 37, interrupted a reception at the Grand Plaza Hotel in St. Pete Beach by cutting in on the bride and groom's first dance, according to an affidavit.

"At first we were like, 'Is that your friend?' 'No. Is that your friend?'" bride Sadie Dajka told CBS affiliate WTSP reported.

Then she and her groom realized they had a wedding crasher.

The wedding photographer, Val Ritter of VRVision Photography, captured the unforgettable moment.

"All the guests were like, 'Did you get him? Did you get him?' And I said, 'Of course I did,'" she said.

Staff and security confronted Saunderson and told him to leave. Instead, Pinellas County deputies said he went to the 11th floor of the hotel, where he was again told to depart, WTSP reported.

Saunderson, who resides in Land O' Lakes, kept walking around the hotel, eluding security until they finally found him and led him to an elevator, deputies said.

When deputies talked with him, they said he told them he was from Ohio and gave an incorrect spelling of his middle name.

They also said he was unsteady on his feet, had bloodshot eyes and slurred his words, WTSP reported. The manager of the hotel told deputies that as far as he knew, Saunderson had not been served liquor at the hotel.

Saunderson was charged with disorderly conduct and was released after posting $250 bail.

The newlyweds have no idea why he chose their wedding, but there's no hard feelings.

"If anything, it made it better," Dajka said. "And my whole family, his family, all of our friends are like, 'This is a wedding that will never be forgotten.'"