Billionaire tech CEO Anker Jain and Erica Hammond almost missed out on their lavish wedding in Egypt!
The founder and CEO of Built Rewards, 34, and his bride, 32, a former WWE wrestler and founder of Equinox’s Knockouts class, tied the knot in a lavish four-day wedding in Cairo. They were scheduled to start with a welcome party at Muhammad Ali’s Palace — but due to trouble with their chartered plane, they didn’t arrive for the celebration until 2:30 a.m.
Jain told PEOPLE that the plane fiasco began as the couple and their friends were preparing to leave on a flight to Egypt from South Africa, where they were on safari. “Everything went smoothly. When all of our checked luggage was loaded into the van and we were ready to leave, we got a call that our EgyptAir flight had been rejected by the South African government,” says Jain. .
Despite weeks of negotiation and planning to get approval for an overnight departure, the charter flight they had ultimately booked was unable to pick up the group in South Africa due to permit issues.
Hearing this news, the bride and groom were left “panicking” trying to figure out what to do next. Jayne and Hammond worked through the night trying to figure out how to make it to the wedding party in time, and even considered booking a commercial flight to another South African city to get to Dubai and then Cairo.
“At this point, we were definitely going to miss the entire opening day,” Jayne recalled. “We were worried about whether we would even be able to hold the second day, but as you can imagine, we planned this for a year. Erica was fine, but…I was devastated. ”
It wasn’t until 8 a.m. the next day that I received a PDF with the takeoff permit signed by transportation authorities. However, the new schedule means he will arrive in Cairo at 11 p.m., three hours after he was scheduled to start the opening party.
“We sent a message to the group saying, ‘Hey, we can’t make it to the party tonight…you guys have fun.’ See you tomorrow,” Jayne says. “And then right away. And our friends were great.”
“We all rallied in that group chat and said, ‘No, we’re going to keep the party going, let’s stay awake…’ We’re going to keep the party going, and you guys should come when we land. , and we celebrate together,” he continued.
But that didn’t end their complications. When the plane stopped in Nairobi to refuel, no ground staff showed up for two hours.By that time, the flight schedule had been further postponed and arrival in Cairo was scheduled for nearly 2 a.m.
Still, Jain said, the guests in Cairo were happy to wait until they arrived. Despite the 12-hour journey, the wedding guests who were on board with the bride and groom had music playing in the air as they changed and prepared for the party. They also put on an impromptu “fashion show” while Hammond applied her makeup in the back of the plane.
“Everyone from Cairo was at the bar with us while we were on our way, sending us pictures and calling us to get there,” said Jayne, and Lance Bass. He added that the dance party continued until his arrival.
Never miss a news. Sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date on everything PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to human interest stories.
They finally made their grand entrance around 2:40am. In the morning, the entire wedding party stayed up all night celebrating with a DJ playing music and performances from belly dancers and fire dancers.
Jayne told PEOPLE that despite the “chaotic” start, she was ultimately able to enjoy it as planned. “We had the best opening night and partied until 5 a.m.,” he says.
The pair first met when Jayne started working out at Rumble Boxing, where Hammond, a founding member of the celebrity-favorite gym, was an instructor at the time. However, they plan to hold a private wedding ceremony in Cairo over the weekend.
“There’s something so special about being in a totally different world environment. So our wedding was about spending moments together to celebrate a new beginning, with friends who are in another world. We decided to have a really special party,” says Jayne.
Hammond added: “It’s a once in a lifetime experience!”