Woman built an AI-assisted texting system that accidentally sent save-the-dates to 250 guests. Only one problem — her boyfriend hadn’t proposed yet

Alexi Cortez, a meticulous and detail-oriented client solutions manager based in Texas, is experiencing the modern-day version of embarrassing text typos. Cortez used an AI coding assistant to build a personalized mass-texting system for wedding communications. Now that she and her boyfriend await their wedding in the spring of 2027, this little mishap has turned into an unforgettable memory that will evoke spurts of laughter when they look back, PEOPLE reported on November 8, 2026.

Embarrassing mishap

The 30-year-old knew that the wedding was coming close, so she started booking the venue, hiring vendors, securing a photographer, booking a DJ, designing the wedding invitation, and charting out wedding plans with her fiancé Luke Little. Instead of relying on physical invitations, which would also be time-consuming, Cortez decided to use AI to create an automatic system to send mass invites. She ended up creating an AI-based custom texting system that would allow her to send multiple invites while still personalizing each invite with the guest's name, choice of language, and other details.

Save the date too soon

As the screenshot shared by PEOPLE showed, her system included a photo of the couple, a “save-the-date” card, and a personalized invitation message. Cortez didn’t have a clue that the system had a bug that automatically sent a “Save-the-date” card to all 250 guests without any added context or information, while she was conducting a test. “Next thing we know, both our phones started blowing up, and my face went white,” Cortez recalled to the outlet. “I completely panicked, threw my phone across the room, and was shaking so badly I barely remember the next 20 minutes.”

Their phones were flooding with texts

While their phones were buzzing with congratulations, Little hadn’t even proposed to Cortez. The proposal was planned for August during a trip to Italy before they tied the knot in a 2027 spring wedding in Mexico. But although Cortez thought she had spoiled the news, it was seemingly a normal notification for the guests. Her cousins and the rest of the guests were congratulating them for the engagement, unbeknownst to the fact that it was the mischief of a software bug. Little remained calm even as Cortez was spiraling, calling it "the biggest panic of my adult life." She even insisted they "needed to ‘call the adults,’ so we each called our parents."

A rom-com of errors

To their surprise, their parents and friends largely found the mishap funny, with some noting that guests at least had plenty of notice. Their friends also took the situation on a hilarious note. “My favorite reaction was Luke’s aunt, who, after I explained the text had gone out by accident, assured me, ‘Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,’” Cortez revealed. “Which was very sweet, considering she had no idea the rest of our 250 guests had gotten the same text.”

Software glitches are common

An analysis of 184 major technology failures found that software bugs and logic errors accounted for 38% of incidents, followed by configuration and deployment errors accounting for 16%, per Tech Informed.

'I can laugh about it now!'

Two weeks after the software glitch, the proposal went on as planned, just a little bit sweeter. Little had planned to propose to her on a hike to the Dolomites, but he ended up proposing to her on a flower-covered private boat dock at sunset in Lake Como. He gave a heartwarming speech, and they were both crying until he opened the ring box upside down, which was when they burst into laughter. “It was the perfect mix of romantic and ridiculous,” Cortez described.

As for the software, she has since switched to different wedding-planning software and added safeguards, so the misadventure doesn’t happen again. But as of now, even this mishap is making their wedding memories more colorful than they thought they would be. “As horrible as that night felt, I can laugh about it now,” Cortez exclaimed. “I guess there’s no better way to test your software than to have it fail spectacularly in front of 250 of your closest friends and family!”

More on Scoop Upworthy

Gen Z dad asked 16-year-old daughter to guess 1980s items—and it's downright hilarious

The streamer accidentally showed the restaurant's QR code during the livestream—viewers started ordering food until his bill hit $12,000

She accidentally blurted 'I love you' to a client. She feared how the client would react—until she saw his email