A woman saw her excitement to despair after she ordered a wedding guest book ahead of the big day.
Tara Porter took to TikTok in disbelief after her delivery arrived. She anticipated it would simply provide space for friends and family to share well wishes with her and her husband-to-be. But what came was something entirely different.
“I get married in 12 days and today I was supposed to get my guest book, but when I opened it to my surprise I got the wrong order,” she explained in a video. “Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to open!”
Tara then positioned her camera to showcase the delivery – a thin, black hardback book, entitled, ‘Shoulder Meat’. She continued: “You might be thinking, ‘What is that?'”
However, the title wasn’t anything cryptic nor was it any kind of play of words – but shoulder meat in a literal sense. The clip, which has gone viral, then saw Tara flick through the pages, which displayed candid photos of people seemingly unknowingly stood with raw meat on their shoulders.
“These are people I do not know with meat on their shoulder,” Tara added. “I do not know these people, so if you were supposed to get this – and instead you got my wedding guest book – then I’m sorry, but I have contacted the place I ordered from.”
Thousands of TikTok users found the episode hilarious, including one person who responded: “When you said ‘shoulder meat’ I still wasn’t prepared for what came. I was thinking you got a butcher’s business album or something. Like shoulder cuts of meat. But noooo!”
A second laughed: “The other people opening up your book and immediately gasping, ‘…oh no’, knowing that a stranger received their book and won’t know how to process it.”
A third person agreed, responding: “You know somewhere a retired dad is jumping from joying thinking he’s gonna open his shoulder meat book only to be hit with crushing disappointment to find your wedding guest book.”
Whilst a fourth person shared a similar tale: “My husband’s friend had save the dates mixed up with a hilarious family portrait calendar magnet sent by mistake. I kept it on my fridge for like six years.”
Elsewhere, meanwhile, a TikTok user attempted to offer an explanation behind the ‘shoulder meat’ concept. “Omg this must be from [Canadian province] Manitoba!” they wrote. “We do this at socials and it’s called the ‘Manitoba meat shoulder’. You try and get meat on drunk people’s shoulders.”
Another concurred with the suggestion, writing: “Also a Manitoban (but not Winnipegger) and shoulder meat is 100% something I’ve participated in! Good ol’ Clandeboye hall was my meat-placing haunting ground for years.”
Canterra.com explains: “While the exact origin of the ‘meat shoulder’ remains shrouded in mystery (and probably some spilled beer), it’s believed to have started as a simple party joke. Manitobans, known for their sense of humour and love of good food, seem to have combined both in this playful tradition.
“The prank typically involves someone slyly sticking a slice of deli meat – like ham, salami, or bologna – on an unsuspecting guest’s shoulder. The goal? To see how long they’ll walk around without realizing they’ve been ‘meat shouldered’.”
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