Weddings are supposed to be a celebration of love, but sometimes things can turn ugly real quick. Whether it's a bridezilla gone wild or an unexpected turn of events, these shocking wedding moments are proof that everyone's "big day" is NOT made equal.
1. What Was She Thinking?
I worked as a wedding decorator for five years. Two years ago, we did the decor for a really pretty ceremony, and halfway through the day, we found out it was a "surprise wedding." The reality is even worse than that sounds. Basically, they were not engaged, but the bride planned the whole thing and the groom showed up at the golf course thinking he was just playing a regular round of golf. Nope.
He walked into his own wedding, saw her standing at the altar, and peaced the heck out. As he should have. Truly one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen in all my years of doing weddings, and I’ve seen A LOT.
2. An Honest Mistake
Priest here. Where I am, the only objection people can make is a law-related one. It doesn’t matter if they merely don’t approve. I had one objection at a wedding where the person who spoke claimed the groom was already married. That’s enough to stop the wedding. Turned out, they were Serbian (which I knew) and they weren't very familiar with our laws.
The groom hadn’t realized the church wedding was also a lawful wedding, so they’d married each other in a civil ceremony a few days before. That was fun to sort out!
3. There Will Be Blood
They began the wedding with the groom playing an out of tune guitar and singing to the bride. They were sitting on chairs in front of everyone, a crowd of legit no less than 400 people, and the bride was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Naturally, seeing that made everyone else feel uncomfortable, too.
That wedding also included a foot washing ceremony and, when the bride put her shoes back on, she tripped on her dress and fell flat on her face. Everyone’s jaws dropped. They hadn’t done the vows yet, and the ceremony had to stop for a full twenty minutes so that they could deal with the nosebleed she gave herself.
4. It’s A Doggone Shame
I work for a wedding venue, and the couple wanted to bring their dogs for the ceremony. The day of the wedding, everyone working has a list of jobs to do to get ready for the big day. All of my fellow employees are setting up everything, so the couple's families can get ready and relax. We set out the chairs, decorations, flowers, tables, silverware, the dining room, the Arbor, EVERYTHING!!
The only thing they had to do was hold onto the dogs. Spoiler: They didn't. We finished everything on the inside in the morning, and we were almost done finishing everything outside, when we all hear a massive crash on the inside of our massive event room. It was the dogs. One had started with the wedding cake and accompanying artsy cupcakes.
The other moved into (on top of) the beverages tables where they broke around 80 flutes, 60 stemless glasses, and around 120ish glasses, along with four crystal punch bowls and all the accompanying liquids. And they did it all within a few seconds. Needless to say, the bride and groom’s "handler" was their 15-year-old nephew.
This boy, in his eternal wisdom, thought that he would let them run around a bit before the wedding. When the bride walked out of the changing rooms and down the hall to see the noise, she was not happy at the sight of the horrors that took place. She lost her mind, blaming us for everything, screaming, “Why did you let the dogs into the room?” etc etc.
She said she didn't care how, but to get this all ready before the reception or she would sue us for all we were worth. We took the "I don't care how" to heart. We called every business within a 10-mile radius and bought, borrowed, bartered, and did everything we could. All the glasses, all the wine, the drinks. I was in charge of driving the boss’s car to the nearest bakery and forcing the bakery to make a serviceable wedding cake with everything they had.
I was a little late on bringing the cake back, but everything else had been cleaned, reset, and back to its former glory before the wedding ceremony was over. After the night was over and the bride and groom left, we gave everything back we borrowed, boxed up what we bought, and started shelling out the favors. We tallied up all the damages the dogs had caused and what the wedding cost.
It was in the five-digit range. The couple was understandably angry at the bill, so they did indeed sue…they lost. And to my knowledge, they are still leaving 1-star reviews on every rating website out there for us.
5. Too Little Too Late
I went to one a couple of years ago that started at 7 pm on a Friday night. Once the wedding was done there was a 150-person receiving line, then a 20-mile drive on local roads in the dark to the reception, which served dinner at 10 pm.
By 11:30 the cake wasn’t cut yet, and we just left…along with most of the guests by that point.
6. Get Your Fists Up
This happened at my aunt's wedding. It had been stormy all day long, but rain on the wedding day is good luck, right? Well, when the priest asked if anyone objected, thunder boomed...LOUDLY. Everyone laughed and the priest said, “Let’s try this again, any objections?” No objections the second time, but maybe there should have been. The groom was an unstable man who refused to take his meds and therefore no longer lives with my aunt.
He showed up to my cousin's birthday once after the divorce and tried to lock my aunt out of her own house. This led to an argument between him and my grandfather, in which he tried to punch my grandfather…Maybe God was trying to give us a sign that day.
7. What A Waste
50% of the people who RSVPed to my wedding didn't come. My brother-in-law who volunteered to DJ didn't actually bring any DJ equipment, so our reception was powered by Pandora. He also said he would capture the ceremony and create a video of the highlights of the reception, but didn't bring his video camera. The florist also forgot to deliver about 50% of the flowers. That was already bad enough, but things just kept getting worse.
The reception venue took everything we discussed and then decided to do the opposite. There weren’t enough tables and no dance floor, among other things. When we tried to get it fixed, the man who was sent to change out the tables stood outside the window of the reception hall angrily drinking from a bottle. It was an absolute mess and no one seemed to care.
I later spoke with a friend who had worked with that man, and he explained that that sort of behavior happens pretty much any time he is asked to do anything, so...We made a CD with a couple of songs on it for my brother-in-law to play before the ceremony began. He insisted that he had something better. It was two songs played on repeat for about an hour.
My immediate family was late to the wedding, including my sister who was a bridesmaid, and my mother and father. They had originally offered to help set up everything that morning, but I guess they just got a late start. My veil got lost the night before the wedding. It still has not resurfaced. After everyone was done eating and the cake had been cut, I dimmed the lights in the reception hall to change the atmosphere to more fun, party vibe and get people dancing. Everyone got up and left.
It didn't go great, but my husband and I ended up married and we're still very happy together. I guess that's the most important thing. Still, I wish I'd saved the money from the whole thing and gotten married at the county clerk instead.
8. Tuxedo Junction
Friend's wedding. The bride wanted to sing him a song, so she did a kind of karaoke thing. Now, there's bad singing, and then there's whatever the heck this was. It was soooo awkward to watch. Also, the dude had asked a professional photographer friend of ours to photograph the wedding about a year before. He got a super non-committal answer and never followed up.
Somehow, he was absolutely SHOCKED that the photographer didn't show up. I later learned that my friend had also specifically declined the invitation because he was going to be in another country. He also had the entire set of groomsmen rent ridiculously expensive tuxedos. Which is fine. Cool. Happy to be here. We all rent the fanciest tuxes we can find.
Meanwhile, he's having his tux custom tailored and asks for something ridiculous and gaudy, but when quoted the price says he can't swing that and insists that they do it for about a quarter the price. They do their best to meet his specifications within the given price range, but it's bad. Really bad. So, at the wedding, the groomsmen all look amazing, while the groom looks like a clown that didn't put on his makeup.
It was probably the cringiest thing I've ever seen anywhere, not just the cringiest at a wedding.
9. Get A Room
I worked management at a resort in a popular tourist town. When weddings are booked at our venue with the event coordinator, we can hold a certain number of rooms for guests attending. A manager was always required to check in the bridal couple, and I had been given a heads up by the coordinator that this particular bride was a Bridezilla.
First, they wanted a room on the highest floor and closer to the beach. Thing is, they were already booked into the Honeymoon Suite, which was on the third floor with ocean views. Nope, she wanted higher and closer. Had an absolute meltdown at the front desk when I explained there was nothing higher...or closer. I mean, really.
A colleague of mine ran for the event coordinator when the bride started screaming at me and her husband-to-be. The husband was very apologetic and trying to calm her down. Eventually, she was placated and sent off with keys, but fewer than 30 minutes later she was back and demanding we empty the rooms next to and below her.
Honey, those rooms cost $640 a night and we are fully booked! I was lucky enough to not be working the night of the wedding, but I heard all about her screaming at the wait staff, kicking the band out for playing a song she didn’t like, and the screaming match she got into with her mother-in-law. What a peach! All counted up, the wedding was about $40,000 and she made everyone miserable.
The groom left our front desk staff a big tip to apologize for her behavior.
10. The Hunger Games
I went to a wedding that had speech after speech. After an hour and half or more, they took a break to play a game where they ask questions and if you got it right your table could go eat. So everyone got hangry.
Then, round 2 of speeches. Some of these people were like 80 and took all day to say a single sentence. But it didn’t stop there. Then we had a game the bride and groom played...then we had to wait until the bride got changed into her second dress for the dance floor to open up...at this point we just left.
You could see in everyone's faces that this was the most boring wedding of their lives. The only people who could literally sit through like hours of speeches was the wedding party, who all were friends since kindergarten and the speeches all involved them.
No word of a lie, like three hours of speeches not including the games to eat. We had our wedding coming up a couple of months later and because of this wedding we made rules regarding speech length and amount.
So ours was short, sweet, heavy on snacks, drinks, and dancing. Everyone had a blast. So I guess we should thank them for showing us what not to do.
11. Evil Stepmother
My father-in-law’s wife at the time attempted to ruin our wedding. The week before our wedding, she sent my mother an email saying that I, the bride, was too good for her stepson. She then messaged me that she had decided not to wear the dress that we had picked out together. She refused to come to the wedding rehearsal, then showed up on the day of in a garish, skimpy outfit.
She wouldn't speak to anyone and just sat there with her arms crossed for the whole day. We just ignored her, even when she threw away all the leftovers from the post-ceremony brunch that my husband and his best guys catered (they're all chefs). My father-in-law divorced her the following year.
12. Quite The Trade
My buddies and I didn’t do it at the wedding but after the engagement. The father-in-law offered to buy a house for our buddy if he married his daughter. There was a laundry list of control, jealousy, and manipulation that we saw, but he still went forth and got married. So the father-in-law put a downpayment on the house, but that was all.
She didn’t work for eight years while he worked two jobs. We rarely saw him. Then, the father-in-law chewed him out about the house, his daughter needing a new vehicle, and that he needed to raise their quality of living at one point. We knew it would be bad, but it was worse than expected. She’s now working and he’s cut back.
I don’t speak with him anymore, so I’m missing a lot of the details. They are still married, probably 18 years now, and seem happy. Still, I can’t imagine being in his shoes for the first half of the marriage.
13. With a Little Help from Her Friends
I once went to a wedding where the minister used to date the bride and gushed throughout his whole speech about how wonderful she was. He told the groom that if he ever passed away he shouldn’t worry, as he would step in and take care of her. I was shell shocked while listening to this. I so wished that I could think of a reason to ask the couple for a copy of the video of their wedding, but I couldn't quite find a legit one.
14. The Water Works
I own a gift shop and I also sell flowers. It's in a small hospital so we don't do too many flowers. Usually, it’s just small arrangements because our customers generally don't want to spend over 20 bucks. One day, one of the women who works at the hospital asked us if we would make a bridal bouquet for her future daughter-in-law.
We decided we would do it just for her. We made this beautiful bouquet exactly how she wanted it, and even added some extra embellishments. She picked it up the day before the wedding and I told her to just gently spray water from a spray bottle on it to keep it hydrated. I even demonstrated how to do it. The mother-in-law came in the next Monday and told me something awful.
Apparently, the night before the wedding the bride had literally sat the bouquet in the sink and drenched it with water which obviously ruined it. The bride wanted to demand a refund but the mother-in-law told her no because it was her own fault. So yeah, after that one I probably won't work with brides again. Too high strung.
15. Escape Plan
I traveled to NY for my cousin's wedding, along with about 30 other relatives and maybe 100 guests. We all had a huge rehearsal dinner and partied pretty late into the night. Around 8 am, my sister woke me and said our cousin had gotten cold feet and snuck away during the night.
The bride and her family were furious, not the least because they had spent tens of thousands of dollars on the reception. He wasn't missing. He called and said he was on his way to the beach.
I felt sorry for the bride. It was so messy—lots of hurt feelings and yelling. I snuck out to the airport and flew home. Needless to say, they never did get back together.
16. The Big Grift
My cousin attended a wedding where the bride and groom got scammed by the wedding organizer. One hour before the wedding event, there was nothing in the room—no food, no decorations, just a few tables, and basically an unused ballroom. The bride and groom realized the wedding organizer hoodwinked them and took the money to buy a big ol' house.
17. Ignoring Red Flags
This happened at my friend's brother's wedding. The father of the bride pulled the groom aside and said out loud: "If I couldn't control the witch, what makes you think you can?" The rabbi continued on like it was nothing. Four years later, the father passed of a heart attack, and three years after that, the friend's brother got divorced. So his father-in-law had a point.
Lesson: When someone warns you not to get married and is a credible source, you listen.
18. Some Things Just Don’t Mix
I DJ’d a wedding for a couple who were constantly throwing up red flags as to why I shouldn’t DJ their wedding. For example, they kept asking for a discount in exchange for a positive review. I don’t want or need your fake review! Another red flag was when they wanted me to live mix their special dance number.
Now, I’m fine with mixing live. It is what I do professionally, after all. But these two were not professional dancers. In the end, I obeyed their request and they did their dance. It wasn’t entirely smooth, but their family and friends seemed to love it anyway. Immediately after the reception, the groom gave me a tip and they both said I did an amazing job. I thought that was the end of it—I was so wrong.
Cut to the next morning, likely while the bride and groom were still intoxicated. The groom emails me with some “constructive criticism.” A few emails later, he is demanding that I apologize and that he isn’t going to pay me the balance of what I was owed. He then ghosts me. A few days later, the wedding coordinator contacts me to say that I have to give them a discount because they are so mad at how their first dance went.
These two people, who are not professional dancers, who awkwardly pulled off a terrible first dance with nobody who was present knowing how the dance was “supposed” to look, blamed me for...themselves feeling awkward?? I just told the coordinator where I thought the bride and groom should stick their money...
19. The Mother Of All Insults
Not a wedding shop, but we sold kitchenware. Think china, cookware, etc. It was like a Williams Sonoma store. The bride, mother of the bride, and mother of the groom were all shopping and filling out the wedding registry list. The groom’s mom was pointing to an item and said something to the bride. The mother of the bride turned to the other mother and snapped, “Your job is to shut up and wear blue".
We placed bets on if that marriage would last.
20. Maid Of Dishonor
A friend of mine’s first wedding. I was friends with both the bride and groom. From what we'd seen over the two years they'd been together, their relationship was fun and happy. She’s super sweet and just the most genuinely nice girl, a bit sheltered but fierce and ready to make the most of life.
He was quite funny and chill, could be moody at times but he would bounce back quick and was smart and fun to talk to. We're all a bunch of nerds so we met through extracurricular competitions held between our schools.
They started with a very formal religious ceremony that took FOREVER. When we got to the reception, while the bride seemed happy, I could tell something was off.
The groom was very cold and indifferent to everyone. We found this odd as we'd all been friends since grade school and it wasn't normal for him. The bride was still only 20 so too young to drink but the groom was 22 so it wasn't a dry reception, thankfully.
I left right after they dipped out of the reception for their honeymoon...I didn't hear from her for six months. When she came back, she told me the twisted truth. They’d got divorced a month later.
The groom had been sleeping with the maid of honor for MONTHS, because my friend had wanted to save herself for marriage. He confessed this on their honeymoon, after they consummated, by handing her his phone with texts from the maid of honor while he went to shower.
Nobody talks to the groom anymore, myself included, honestly I'm not even sure where he lives now. There's a happy ending though. She met a wonderful man about a year later, they have been married for like six years now and THEIR wedding was a blast!
The best one I ever attended hands down—and I despise weddings just in general.
21. You End How You Start
It started with the best man just absolutely roasting the bride and her parents. Basically, he called them gold diggers in front of several hundred family and friends. Then they cut the cake. Apparently, the groom was told under no uncertain terms not to shove cake in her face. Well, he did it anyway and she stormed off, not to be seen for 20 minutes. The chaos didn't end there, either.
The reception went on as planned, but she got wasted and passed out that night in the middle of the street while still in her wedding dress. Pure class. They’re divorced now.
22. Nature Calls
I was on a cruise back in 2015, overseeing a wedding as a bystander in the lobby of a casino, I could see the wedding ceremony being held from where I was sitting. I was just enjoying the lobby and the beautiful sea while everyone in the ceremony was getting ready. I did notice that they were drinking pretty heavily, but everyone was joking and having a good time before the bride walked in.
When the ceremony was actually taking place, the bride walked into the ceremony room and everyone was smiling. As she got in place, the pastor said something along the lines of: "If there are to be any objections, do so now politely and boldly stand up to give your statement.” At that point, some tipsy man belligerently stood up and told the room, “Sorry I don’t object, but I do have to pee badly!”
Needless to say, he was criticized, and I don't know if he really couldn’t hold it or if it was a joke, but I saw him rush out trying to find the bathroom. I was laughing my butt off.
23. From Weird to Worse
I once attended the wedding of a friend of a friend's. She was a young, super Christian small town naive girl. She meets a much older married man with two kids. She falls in love with him. He does eventually leave his wife for her. He doesn't want any custody of the kids. He agrees to now marry my friend’s friend.
The wedding was held in her hometown church. His vows were over the top about how he has never felt love before, how she is the only woman that he ever wanted to marry, how he's been so lonely his whole life until now, etc. He was literally sobbing through it all. Then, her turn to say her vows comes along...and here I thought it couldn't get any worse.
She's standing there saying nothing for at least three beats. Then, she is handed a microphone and the piano starts playing. Apparently, she has made up her own song to sing to him in the place of reading her vows. So that was interesting to watch, to say the least. Especially in contrast to the heartfelt spectacle we had all just witnessed.
The levels of awkwardness and cringe were already well on the rise. You could feel them in the air by this point. After the ceremony, we adjourned to the church basement for the drinkless reception. Once there, I'm somehow roped into serving the groom's cake. It's two NASCAR car-shaped cakes made with an edible photo draped over it.
It was impossible to cut through the image without mangling the entire cake, so I had to awkwardly peel it off in front of a whole crowd of confused and hungry guests. Meanwhile, my friend is cutting the bride's cake and is serving it with a full inch or more of decorative icing on top of plain cake. No frosting.
The "buffet" was a potluck from her family. Food you'd expect at a kid's party. Pink punch was the only option available to drink. There was also no dancing because of her religion. Then they left for their "honeymoon" at the town's only hotel. This hotel was essentially like a Motel 6 level dump. Nevertheless, they rode there in a fancy two-horse drawn carriage.
24. A Wandering Eye
I worked at a church that had weddings in the DC area. The worst bride I dealt with was part of an insanely rich couple. They showed up in a Lamborghini, I think, and the groom kept asking if it was safe to park the car out front. I think he was just trying to show off the car, and he also wondered if his father's Bentley would be safe in the alley behind the church.
We were in DC, so he was lucky we had any parking at all. Then the bride was walking around talking about all the extravagant things she was wanting for the wedding, and pointing to things saying, "This will never do". The worst thing was that every time the bride turned her back, the groom kept on staring at my chest.
It was strange. His bride looked like a supermodel, and he was very good-looking himself; I don't know why he had to sleaze on church workers. After that and other demanding people, I told the church I don't want to do weddings, so now volunteers for the church do it.
25. Welcome To The Family
I once had a co-worker who was into Asian women. He was on his third mail-order bride and had invited us all to the wedding. It was in the back of convention center and there was a poker tournament being held in the front.
One of our co-workers left to enter the tournament. So we waited in this smoke-filled place while the bride was late. He had had her flown in that morning. Several of my co-workers had shown up already drinking to enjoy the show.
She finally arrived and she was really small. He was a 300-pound man and pretty tall, and it was a bizarre sight. She quickly got ready in a broom closet. I'm not sure who the minister was but he had obviously never performed the ceremony before and he might have also started drinking early.
During the vows, the groom actually said to move things along so he could get to the buffet. He had insisted on a waffle bar and his mother and sister were furiously making waffles for everyone. There was also a rotating hot dog thing like you find in a 7-11 or something.
The following night, he was back to work talking about being exhausted from not sleeping his wedding night—wink, wink. Well, it turns out he had slept on his couch because his new wife had taken over the bedroom with her cousins.
26. In It To Win It
My own wedding was a disaster. It rained so it was cold, and no one bothered to turn the lights on. The few pictures I have are dark and grainy. My parents divorced earlier that year, so my dad hated seeing my mom at the wedding and didn’t stick around to get a picture with me. My husband’s mom didn’t even take off work to attend.
The good news is that we just celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary.
27. The Wrong "I Do"
This happened to me. I met my wife after she had left a bad relationship. Apparently, the guy was always asking for money and he never held on to a job. Even after they broke up, he would periodically show up asking for some money. So, at our wedding, when we said our vows and the minister asked if anyone objected, we heard a strange voice in the back. “I do.”
It was the no-good ex-boyfriend. At that point, I was fuming. The guy was basically harmless, but he was making a spectacle out of our day. People were talking, and what should have been a good day was ruined by his idiocy. I asked him what the heck he wanted, and he said, “About $3.50.” I told him, “No way am I giving you $3.50, you monster!” and he eventually left.
28. Some Not-So-Friendly Competition
The most awkward wedding that I’ve ever attended was probably my cousin's. The food was really bad. And I mean REALLY bad. Things that were supposed to be warm or hot were ice cold and completely undercooked. There was music, but nobody was allowed to dance because "we don't want people to be distracted by dancing at our wedding."
There were also no drinks served. Not a single drop. But the worst thing was the seating arrangement. They didn't plan on families or friends sitting together. I don't know what they were thinking. I was sitting at a table with complete strangers. They even separated our grandparents from each other. None of us had any idea why.
After an hour, my grandmother stood up, walked over to my grandfather’s table, and they both declared that they were leaving now to the restaurant down the road to have something good to eat. I joined them, as did my parents. It didn't take too long for people to notice that our seats were empty. It was really easy to figure out, since nobody was allowed to dance or walk around in general.
We soon got a call from one of my uncles asking where we were at. After we explained why we had left, he said "You are right. This is ridiculous!" We ended up with 20 guests from the wedding in that small restaurant having a fun evening together. Let’s just say the couple who got married didn’t invite us back to any other events of theirs any time soon…
29. A Bull In A China Shop
Do Groomzillas count? I used to work as a bridal registry consultant for a big department store. I had several nightmare couples and family members, but I always think of this one guy. The bride was pleasant enough and very polite. She expressed great excitement when discussing the plans for the wedding, while the groom just seemed bored.
She was very excited to pick out fine china—and that’s when the groom snapped. He yelled at her and called her an idiot, then told her that there was no need for expensive things like that. He said they would never use them, while she insisted that she would find reasons to use them so they wouldn’t go to waste. She also said that her family insisted on her picking a pattern and they would all chip in to get the set.
She was nice enough and patient enough with this jerk that she even kept asking him what he liked. Well, the groom didn't like anything and kept yelling at her, telling her that she was "wasting his time" and that she was stupid. It was getting really uncomfortable at that point. I tried to intervene as much as I could, but this groom was complete scum.
Eventually, he stormed off and I tried to keep everything light-hearted and happy for the bride. I hope she didn't go through with that wedding.
30. Good Plans, Bad Execution
My cousin's wedding was a hot mess...literally. First of all, it was an outdoor wedding in the summer. It had to be at least 90 degrees, humid, and we were at a park on top of a hill with very little shade.
There was an air-conditioned building but it had a capacity of 24 and there were well over 100 people in attendance. They did rent tents to extend from the building for additional tables and chairs, but the rental people put them in the wrong place and no one corrected them.
Despite the bride insisting she didn't want any help, on the day of everyone's running around trying to decorate the venue, set up the food, I even had to go to the store to pick up the shoes for the flower girl about two hours before the ceremony was supposed to start.
She had this vision of tulle and fresh flowers everywhere, lanterns strung through the trees. It was just too much to do with not enough time or help. They spent so much money on this beautiful venue with a view of the city, food trucks, charcuterie boards with hundreds of dollars’ worth of fancy meats and cheeses, candy buffet, etc and didn't get to enjoy any of it.
Her and her husband spent all of their time getting their pictures taken. They never mingled with the guests and only got something to eat when the food truck people said they were getting ready to leave.
And in all that time she barely got any pictures with her side of the family. There's a group photo of all the cousins that her and her husband, the guests of honor, are not in. But they have pictures with every guest of his that was there.
She's never shared her wedding photos. Supposedly she hates them according to my grandmother and the only picture she has with her dad from that day is one that I took. But that’s not the worst part. There was no music, no dancing, no toasts...nothing you'd expect to find at a reception.
Someone eventually hooked their phone up to a speaker so there was some sort of entertainment. Her husband comes from this highfalutin family in which she does not feel adequate. The first thing she said to me after telling me about her wedding plans, was that her future mother-in-law thought it sounded tacky.
It just felt like the wedding was a giant photoshoot for the couple with a party to impress his family, and she wouldn't have cared if her family was there.
The whole thing lasted maybe three hours tops. Towards the end, someone started tearing everything down, throwing away food, decorations, and even people's personal property away without care.
31. I Don’t Get Paid Enough For This
I was a DJ for a wedding that was just rough. To start, the groom wanted to have the Raiders emblem projected on the ceiling during the reception. They had hired me, as well as a band. The groom's family insisted that the band play first and only play cumbias and that my set be exclusively Latin music. The bride got mad, but she didn't hire me. So I tried to compromise the best I could.
The bride got sloshed and started dirty dancing a little too heavy with some guys. The groom went to fight the bride. She swung and missed, hitting the maid of honor, who ended up on the floor with a bloody nose. It turned into an all-out ghetto brawl with guns being pulled out. I packed up and left as law enforcement arrived.
32. A Song For The Ages
My cousin objected at the wedding where the woman he loved was going to marry another man. It worked. They are still together and they've had kids. He made a country music song about it. It’s called “Crazy” by Thomas Martinez. Sometimes, selfishly wrecking a person's wedding doesn’t always end in disaster.
33. What a Nut Case!
I was at one wedding where the menu for the reception was advertised as nut-free, coconut-free, and lactose-free in order to accommodate a whole host of allergies among the many guests and children in attendance. Despite all that, the chef for the buffet arbitrarily decided "Contracts can’t tell me what to do!"
He took the liberty of putting nuts in EVERYTHING. There were almonds in the salads, pecans in the desserts, walnuts in the chicken. Nuts everywhere! It got really awkward really fast when the bride found out. See, the bride and all of her sisters have severe, life-threatening nut allergies. As a result of this, she ended up having to eat a take out meal from Burger King at her own wedding.
Meanwhile, her sister, who was eight months pregnant at the time, shot up her epipen and snuck out to rush to the ER with anaphylaxis. The cringey, awkward thing was watching the groom try to soothe and cheer the bride up after all this. It was all kinds of awkward. She was seething with just pure unadulterated rage and the guests could only look on helplessly.
The day was saved some two hours later when the bride and groom's kids got silly and hyper, distracting the bride from her anger. It was really tense though, to the point where a lot of people left early because they couldn’t handle it anymore.
34. Horsing Around
I worked for a small regional newspaper. It must have been a quiet week for stories, so my editor sends me off to cover the wedding of the son of one of our biggest advertisers. I make contact with the family to get details, and get told to meet them at a carpark behind the community hall, as the bride would be riding a horse up the main street to the quaint little stone Anglican church (how romantic! swoon).
So I get there and here's the bride in a massive, poofy, white fairy princess dress. The bride had to hoist the dress up to her armpits to get on the horse and ride with it bunched around her hips with her legs from the knee down poking out beneath. Apparently the decision to ride was a rather last-minute one. But what's this? There are two horses!
It seems the mother-of-the-bride wanted some of the attention cough I mean, she wanted to be part of her daughter's special day. So the mother is in a lovely lilac jacket, white blouse...and a very tight knee-length skirt. The sort of skirt that makes walking hard, let alone stepping up to a stirrup or swinging your leg over a saddle.
Oh, and huge stiletto heels that she refused to take off, even to get on the horse. The mother ended up having to roll her skirt up to her belt and get two hefty blokes to hoist her onto the horse. Then roll her skirt back down enough so she could tuck it under her butt and not be flashing her knickers up the main street. And away they went.
It was early afternoon in a pretty touristy town, so the echo of clip-clopping hooves brought everyone out of cafes and shops for a look. Took some very creative photography to cover that disaster discretely!
35. The Loneliest Time
My own wedding. It was the beginning of lockdown. Over the course of the last days before the wedding, we first were allowed 10 people, then four, then two, then no one other than the official and my husband. We had to wait for half an hour, because we were early and the official was late.
Ten minutes of ceremony and we were married and out of the door again. I still wish I hadn't done it. I wanted my family and friends to be there. When I told him I wanted to postpone it, he said: "If you don't marry me now, you don't need to marry me at all, because then you don't love me enough".
It took me two years to figure out how horrible he was. Now I am happily divorced and starting to pick up the pieces
36. The Greatest Show On Earth
I have officiated a few weddings, only one of them really went badly. The bride was raised Jewish, and the groom was raised Catholic, but both were atheists. He only proposed because his family pressured him. She only said yes because he asked in front of her family. Her family was quite wealthy, and they had hired an impossible wedding planner. The whole thing was destined to be an expensive circus.
The only aspect the bride and groom got to control was hiring me, their friend, to conduct a custom ceremony. We wrote something together that they liked and signed off on. The rehearsal was held at botanical gardens, which were beautiful. However, we did not get time to rehearse the ceremony because the ballerinas were having issues nailing their choreography, and the violinist took a while to set up.
The next day we started the ceremony. Twenty minutes before we were to begin, the wedding planner told me they were going to mic me, but we didn't have time to do a sound test. There was also an A/V crew filming the whole affair from multiple angles because they were going to make DVDs. When the couple got to the altar, I started talking, and a train drove by, blaring its horn.
I wanted to wait until the horn stopped blaring to start the ceremony, but it kept going and going, and after a minute, I had to start talking to get the show on the road. When I began, there was a giant burst of feedback that momentarily drowned out the train. When it finally calmed down, I started the ceremony in earnest, but there was an awkward time delay with the speakers.
I could hear my own voice with a delay playing a few seconds after I actually said it. I had the ceremony memorized, but at that point, I just started reading off the paper, trying to think straight. Meanwhile, the train continued to honk its horn. There were awful performances during the ceremony with ballerinas—a wedding present from some aunt.
It felt like it took forever, and the couple just stood at the altar and watched five minutes of dancing. There was also a violin solo, another wedding present, during the ceremony. The train blasted over both of them. We finally got through it and to the reception, which was basically all about the family without any regard for the couple or what they wanted.
The bride's family had a whole PowerPoint about how great they were; there was even a musical tribute to an uncle. The bride had learned a song to play on the piano, just for him. During the cake cutting, the family noticed the bride had switched to more comfortable shoes, and the wedding planner declared she had ruined his wedding. I found out the next morning that the couple had agreed to split up the moment they got home.
37. Wrong Opinion
At my cousin's wedding, the pastor was so unconvinced that they actually wanted to be married that he asked them three times if they wanted to go through with it...The officiant did not want to finish the wedding based on the general emotionless faces of everyone in the room during the wedding. I don't talk to her anymore, but as far as I know, she's still married to the guy six years later.
38. Hungry Eyes
I went to one wedding where the food didn't get served until 11:30 pm because of some mistake in the kitchen. The entire event turned into a steady decline of starving people really trying not to ruin the wedding while also wanting to know when the heck they were gonna get fed. Meanwhile, people got over-the-top plastered because they were drinking on empty stomachs and had nothing else to keep themselves busy while they were waiting.
39. Don’t Bug Me
My brother and sister-in-law used to own a bakery, and wedding cakes were their primary moneymaker. If a couple had an outdoor wedding, we would always warn them that the cake needed a net around it to protect it from bugs. Most couples understood it and usually had a net around it, or else didn’t care. So anyway, this one bride wanted an extravagant wedding cake.
The middle section was a four-tier cake—two tiers on the bottom pillars with columns and two tiers on the top. Then she wanted four other sets of a four-tier cake that had stairs connecting the middle section. On the stairs were small dolls that were supposed to resemble the bridesmaids and groomsmen. Each cake was also a different flavor as well.
Oh but we’re not done yet. Then on the bottom, a waterfall. In short, this cake was ugly. The reception was also close to a creek, so that means lots of bugs. We strongly urged her to use a net around it. She declined. We also made her sign a waiver excluding us from any liability after the cake was dropped off. We have this wedding as our last drop-off as it was hot and we didn’t want the frosting to melt by sitting in the hot sun all day.
We also freeze the cakes a day or two before so by the time it’s ready to cut, the cake is de-thawed but the frosting is still intact. This is how it went downhill. We arrive to start assembling the cake and I noticed little tiny gnats already in the cake. We did a quick fix to eliminate the problem but alert the people there (again) that they needed something to protect the cake.
Again, by time it’s ready to serve, it will be covered in bugs. We show them the problem, but they didn’t seem to care. So whatever, she signed the waiver, we finished and left. Well, my sister-in-law gets a phone call around 8 pm that night with an angry bride. She wanted us to make and redecorate the exact cake and bring it to her within an hour.
There is no way in heck we would or could do that. Since I am better at customer service than my brother and his wife, she handed me the phone and I explained to the bride, “I feel your frustration in the matter, however, you were informed of the dangers of setting up a cake outside, in the country, with no protection".
I asked her if she had any more questions. She threw a big humph and hung up on me.
40. See You Later, Alligator
This was at my mom and step-dad’s wedding. I was around 7-8 at the time and was one of my mom’s many flower girls, a group that consisted of me, my older cousin, and my younger cousin.
After the wedding we all drove towards the mountains to where the reception was being held, a large cabin with a small lake at the back. Of course, being children we all stopped hanging out with the adults to have fun at the lake.
We were kicking rocks off the dock and just talking about random things, when my younger cousin asked “Do you think there are alligators in there”? Me and my older cousin thought about it and said yes (there weren’t), then just casually moved onto a different conversation.
Then, I spotted a rock, sitting at the very edge of the dock, and my little child brain immediately thought “Oh yeah that rock will fly so far when I kick it”. So I confidently told my cousins to watch as I kick this rock.
I stand at the edge of the dock, aiming my leg, then SWING! That’s when disaster struck. I completely missed the rock and the momentum of my leg caused me to fall forward into the water. Face first.
As my cousins are freaking out and I’m trying to swim back, they decided to yell “ALLIGATOR”, which then freaked me out and I started to cry trying to swim to safety. Luckily my aunt came outside right at that moment to come and help. But my ordeal didn’t end there.
She was also the wedding photographer, and thought it would be funny to take a photo of me before helping. That really made me angry and I was petty for years about that, but looking back at it I would have done the same.
Since I didn’t have a spare dress I was then forced to use my younger cousin’s dress while she got to use a spare, more comfortable dress. For the rest of the reception I was stuck wearing an itchy tight dress and was really annoyed.
41. This Is A Wedding, Not A Frat Party
Our good friends were getting married, and the whole college crew was there. There was an open bar. One of my friends got wasted and couldn’t control the volume of his voice. The bride’s parents were introducing the new couple to everyone for their first dance when his voice suddenly cut in. All you could hear was someone swearing at the top of their lungs.
My friend was talking to someone else, but the entire wedding fell utterly silent. After that, he caught the garter belt and ran around with it on his head, screaming. Shortly thereafter, he was yelling at an officer as he started a fight at the hotel.
Shutterstock
42. Your Guilt, Not Mine
My wedding was great, but a few months before we got married, an older relative on my wife's side tried to convince me we were too young. There were too many pretty girls my age and I would regret missing out on all that fun, according to him. I was 100% confident in my decision, so I ignored this advice. Now, I've been happily married for almost 13 years, and that dude is divorced because...Drum roll, please...He cheated on his wife with a younger woman.
It did not occur to me at the time that he was basically talking about himself and that he might have been indirectly confessing to his infidelity. At the time, he had been married for 15 years, was very religious, and seemed to be a wholesome husband and dad to his kids. I never totally forgot our conversation though, so this hit me like a frying pan when we found out he had been cheating. I wish I had warned his wife then.
43. Branching Out
In November 2018, I attended the wedding of my in-laws' friends. They were an older couple in their 60s who had been dating for decades and finally decided to tie the knot. The husband did a stint in the Navy and so, given the timing of their wedding, he invited a lot of his veteran buddies from across the different military branches.
During the reception speech, the guy instructed the DJ to begin playing the military hymns for each of the various branches, and he asked all the various veterans from said branches to stand up and be recognized. I get where he was coming from, wanting to pay his respects given the calendar proximity to Veterans Day.
The problem was that absolutely nobody knew that he was planning to do this. Including the veterans themselves. They all kind of stared amongst themselves and awkwardly stood up. The civilian guests just fidgeted for the five minutes or so that this went on for. His heart was in the right place, but darn if it wasn't cringey as you can possibly imagine.
Later that night, the bride got extremely intoxicated with her girlfriends and spent a while dancing barefoot on the dance floor. At some point during this intense dancing session, she took a wrong turn somewhere and wound up rolling her ankle pretty badly. She ended up in one of those mobility boots for about a month.
44. Won’t Somebody Think Of The Children?
I worked at a wedding venue in college. This isn't so much a Bridezilla story as it is just a bizarre...bizarre wedding. It was a 70-top, pretty small for our venue and banquet style, but this was actually less pressure on the servers. We basically just had to keep things running smoothly from ceremony to reception to send-off. It was an easy night for us…not for them.
First, they got married in our vineyard. One of the little kids was the ring-bearer and he dropped the ring. A few staff members were out for two hours searching through the brush for it, to no avail. We think one of the geese ate it. Next, the reception. It was closer to a daycare because more than half of that 70 headcount was children under 10.
The groom was super great with them, like maybe he was a teacher or something. The bride didn't interact with them at all, and overall seemed to have a lot of disdain for them. At one point, the groom even procured a guitar from somewhere and was having a sing-along on the floor with the kids. Meanwhile, the bride was just off eating her dinner alone at the little sweethearts' table.
Last, the cake. How it works: The bride and groom cut the cake out on the floor so everyone can get pictures and people cheer, then two servers bring the rest of the cake back to my station where we cut and dish out the rest of the slices for the guests. We separate the top of the cake and pack it for the bride and groom to take with them.
The intent is they share it on their first anniversary, as you guys probably know. Well, this cake went fast, because kids probably. So as we were finishing up the station and packing the top, groom comes back and tells us to cut the top. We double-check that is ok…turns out he went behind the bride's back because the kids wanted more cake.
She didn't look all too thrilled with her wedding day, or with the groom. I didn't see them interact all night, and sometimes I wonder if they are still together.
45. Dragged To The Altar
I realize now that this wedding was terrible. I was 8 at the time and had to go because my cousin 20 years older than me was getting married to a complete idiot. We got to the wedding and she was greeting everyone instead of getting ready.
The groom was nowhere to be seen, which was sort of understandable, since they aren't supposed to see each other until she walks down the aisle. We walked past the bar to get into the area where she was, but we see him getting drinks with his friends.
When the ceremony starts, he looks extremely bored and is whispering things to his friends/groomsmen. He is still doing this when she walks down the aisle. She had to PULL HIS SLEEVE to get him to say the vows.
Later at the dinner, they are both not at their table but in the main hall and he is yelling at her for pulling his sleeve at the altar. Needless to say, they are now divorced but were married for a month until he divorced her because she wasn't meeting his expectations about what she should be doing instead of working a full-time job. Good riddance, Mark.
46. An Unwanted Promotion
The best man checked himself into a mental ward the morning of the ceremony without telling anyone, so I was "promoted" to best man about four hours before the wedding. I had to write a speech while doing all the stuff he was supposed to do. The ceremony was being held at a park at the top of a mountain. There was no cell service.
The bride was over an hour late, and no one had a way to reach her without driving for twenty minutes to get service. Everyone thought she bailed, and some people were talking about leaving when she finally arrived.
47. Bad Call, Ref
My dad got remarried when I was 14 and most of his groomsmen were just friends that he met from his many years as a referee for local American football games. When the pastor got to the objection part, my dad’s groomsmen all blew whistles and threw down yellow flags. It took a few minutes before anyone could stop laughing long enough to get back to the ceremony.
48. Country Boy
My cousin's wedding featured the groom driving a small tractor around the outdoor venue while the bride rode on the back, to the tune of Kenny Chesney’s “She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy” on repeat for about 30 minutes after their vows. The guests just hung out and waited, thinking it would be a quick stunt and then we could enjoy some refreshments and food.
Nope, they continued the stunt for like half an hour to make sure that they got good pictures and video of it from every possible angle. Then, they spent even more time posing for pictures sitting stationary on the tractor. It was blazing hot out with no canopy or cover and I was very pregnant, so I was especially miserable. He's not even a farmer! They live in an apartment...
49. Family Feud
Wedding Officiant here. The bride was a wonderful young woman, albeit short, chubby, and slightly “frumpy". But a sweet girl and very happy, and very in love. The mom was just the opposite: tall, willowy, blonde, and overly made up. After the wedding, the mom showed up at the reception—and everyone looked at her and nearly gasped.
She came in an extra-tight off-white dress. It was backless and with a thigh slit up to her waistline. She had stiletto heels that would have been more at home on the pole, not at a wedding. Once the wedding itself was over, the mom made it all about her. She was the first person on the dance floor, worked the room at the reception, and did table-to-table flirting with every man in the room (including me).
It was sad watching the bride slowly slip back into her shell, eclipsed by her mother. On her wedding day.
50. Are You On The List?
This happened back in 2014. I'm invited to my best friend’s wedding, taking place in the middle of July. It was a very hot, dry summer to begin with and I'm expected to wear a tuxedo—something she was aware that I hated wearing, but I figured "Eh, it's a wedding, so why not”?
I show up to the reception. People are being let in, and I show the dude I assumed was the best man my wedding invitation. Then my friend shows up.
Her: “Oh, hey. Sorry, I have to tell you something”.
Me: “What's up”?
Her: “You're not allowed inside”!
Me: ...
I stared at her for a good ten seconds before asking why the heck not.
Her: “Oh, because no one knows you here”.
Me: “You invited me...I have the wedding invitation right here”.
Her: “Yeah, but you can just stay outside and wait”!
Me: “You realize I had to go halfway across the country to get here, right”?
Her: “Yeah”.
Me: “And now you're telling me I'm not invited inside. Is anyone else not invited inside”?
Her: “Nope, just you! Sorry about this mess”!
So, I'm there. It's about 25 C (~77 F), I'm wearing a black tuxedo and I’m expected to stand outside in the blazing sun. I asked her if I could just go home instead of wasting my time. Her reaction was infuriating. For some reason, she took offense to this suggestion.
She started saying that if I did leave, our friendship meant nothing to me. I had known her for 12 years at that point.
Me: “Fine. But I'll need food and something to drink”.
Her: “Oh, sorry, we didn't factor into you coming so there won't be enough for you”!
I left then and there. Thankfully, I did have a friend who let me crash at his place until I could leave the following day.
Her marriage lasted about eight months. She's now on marriage #3 and I've turned down the invitations to both her other weddings (which were also during the summer) because no way am I re-living that.
51. The Show Must Go On
I was the event planner for a wedding between two fairly wealthy families. The bride had decided on a rural, "shabby chic" aesthetic. She wanted the wedding to take place on her family’s property, in a historic barn. This caused a flurry of issues. Not only did the barn need to be cleaned, but we would need auxiliary tents as the barn wasn't large enough. The property also lacked electricity and running water.
The latter was solved with a bank of generators, tubs of water for catering, and a side tent with porta-potties hidden inside. The bride had been quite a bridezilla, but it was my job to deal with those things. The ceremony had ended, cocktail hour was shutting down, and professional photos were taken. We were preparing to transition to the bridal party’s entrance.
Their entrance would be followed by the first dance and the cake cutting. While all that was going on, dinner would be staged, so every aspect was being carefully timed out. I was speaking to the caterer when I happened to glance over and saw the most curious blend of expressions pass over the bride's face. She frantically waved down my assistant.
A few moments later, my headset beeped on, and my assistant said, "We have an issue.” The bride had a mishap and needed to use the bathroom. She was wearing a huge, full ball gown with a fitted, strapless top that had an embellished mesh. Underneath, she had a shaper garment, hoops, and slips. We had already realized there was zero way of her going to the bathroom.
We had issues getting her into the limo, and having her use a porta-potty meant one of us would have to get personal. That was my assistant's job. I radioed everyone to expect a fifteen-minute delay, and they headed towards the tent. Fifteen minutes passed, then twenty. Finally, my earpiece beeped on, "The previous issue is more than we anticipated.” I ran over to find my assistant looking horrified.
It seems as if the bride had been using some health shakes in an attempt to fix last-minute bloating. This had mixed poorly with the cocktails from earlier, and she had eaten a fairly decent breakfast. The substance that had come out of her body, as a result, defied explanation. Not only did she have a rather profound accident, but the smell was unrivaled. It was a substance no human body should emit. Oh, but that wasn't the worst part.
What sent it all over the edge was that the shaper the bride was wearing was a latex deal. It came down over her thighs and up to her bra. It was waterproof, and the poo had just sort of filled it, like a water balloon. My assistant had opened up the snap crotch and just released the evil down the bride's thighs. She quickly sealed it back up.
She, and the bride, vainly tried to wipe up the goo with toilet paper. This just spread it around, so they gave up. I now had a shell-shocked assistant and a crying bride. You could smell her four feet away. The bride was just flipping out because she was making her guests wait, and she had a choreographed dance waiting to happen. She wanted to be introduced NOW.
Her manicured nails had diarrhea residue embedded in them. I started scraping it out with a fabric stain wipe while the bride insisted that the show go on immediately. I gave in and signaled to start introductions. The groom looked vaguely disconcerted by his new wife's odor, but I told my assistant to distract him until they took the floor.
The introductions happened, the dance started, and then we were met with some fresh horror. The dance was a choreographed number, and as the groom spun his bride around, hand on her waist, he squished the poo up the insides of the waist trainer, up, and out the back waistband. We watched as an oily stain spread across the mid-back of her gown.
As we were reeling from that sight, the groom set his hand firmly in the middle of the poo stain. It was evident that I had to take action as soon as the couple left the dance floor, so I left my assistant in charge while I made preparations. She kept radioing me, telling me that the stain was spreading and that she could smell the stench from her spot by the DJ.
Then the couple started cutting the cake. They were feeding it to each other, both with poop-stained fingers. Each was looking downright repulsed. As they left the dance floor, I had someone rush wet naps to the groom and bring me the bride. I had my staff close down the support tent, and I pulled a tub of clean water from the caterers.
She walked in to find me in dish gloves and a poncho, like American Psycho. For five minutes, I was sponging down a sobbing, naked bride while I questioned every life decision that led to this point. The diarrhea was everywhere, spread in a thin layer across her body. It may have been the most disgusting thing I ever dealt with. With the bride now clean, I threw away the waist shaper and scrubbed down her $15K gown in a plastic basin.
The inner lining was a loss, so I cut it out completely. The bride got dressed again, and I offered her a Xanax. The support tent stunk like a sewer and stayed closed for the remainder of the event. The groom was a sport. He never directly said anything but asked if we could cancel the garter toss as he didn't want to go under her skirt. Pictures from the event appeared in a magazine. The still photos were beautiful.
52. As She Should
About 25 years ago, my neighbor went to a wedding and came home to tell this story. When the pastor got to the "or forever hold your peace" part, the bride said, "Yes, I'd like to say something." Nothing could have prepared me for what came next. She turned around to her guests and said, "I'd like to thank my maid of honor for sleeping with my fiance last night." With that, she threw her bouquet and stormed off. The story even made it on the radio at the time.
53. Feels Like the First Time
I was raised in a cult. No dating was allowed, except for the purpose of finding a marriage partner. Even then, the dating process was completely monitored to ensure that no premarital touching occurred. The worst wedding that I ever attended was a small ceremony between two members of this cult. The attendees included only her family, his family, and my family in her grandma's living room.
What made this wedding so awkward was the x-rated kiss that took place at the end. When the official said to kiss the bride, the groom clearly wanted the bride inside his mouth hardcore. There was tongue in and out everywhere, saliva and hot breathing, complete with first date excited groping. Nobody knew where to look for five minutes straight.
54. A Little To The Left
I used to cater wedding receptions in college. This momzilla shows up to the reception hall about 30 minutes before everyone is due to arrive. She thinks that one of the tables is too close to another table, and asks that we move it about five inches. Okay. But then of course all the OTHER tables are now too close, and she insists that we move every single table in the venue over five inches.
All 16 of them. We manage to scurry and move them, but you know what happens when you move 16 tables? Every single chair doesn't match the place setting now. We manage to move every single chair (over 160) right before the first guests arrive, never mind that it's taken up time we should have been prepping for guests by filling water pitchers, etc. and we're now behind.
Crazy mom THEN insists that every fork is slightly too close to every plate. We now politely tell her we won't be moving 160 forks—and she has a fit. Luckily, we stood our ground, and that mother did not get what she wanted that day.
55. Awkward Is Putting It Mildly
My wife and I got dragged to her friend’s mother’s wedding. I think it was her third marriage. Other than it being super awkward it went off without a hitch. The reason for it being awkward was that the son of the bride was involved in the murder of the groom’s nephew.
He went with some friends to buy some substances but turns out they didn’t have any intention of paying for them. He was charged and plead down to something that got him multiple years of probation...before he showed up again at the wedding.
56. A Multitude Of Problems
My cousin planned a multi-day wedding event. The idea was that family was supposed to come for the long weekend, and wedding activities would go on for days. Events ranged from flower picking to laser tag. However, the actual marriage was on Friday night, with family and close friends present. It was complete with dinner and toasts immediately afterward.
They had a bunch of second-string guests arrive on Saturday for the official reception, which was a dry pot luck. This distinction was not clear in the invitations, so guests were left confused. Some had driven a long way and were wondering when the bride and groom were actually going to get married. I had to tell them that they were already married the day before and that day’s reception was one where there was no booze and guests had to bring their own entrees. It was awkward.
57. A Few Words to the Wise
I'm in the wedding industry. I've been to over 3,000 weddings. Many of them were awkward for the same reasons. The “singing your vows” thing is never ever going to work out like you think it will in your imagination. Never sing your vows. Never attempt to sing any part of your wedding ceremony. It will not go as you visualized it. A wedding day is not a good time for surprises. Don't surprise your bride with an unexpected part of the ceremony.
Don't surprise your mom by the wedding itself. True story, one bride told her mom she was going out to an engagement dinner when she was actually getting married. The only exception to this rule is if you give the bride a surprise addition to her ring–grandma's diamond, a ring made from her parents' rings, or something else along those lines.
Jokes about the couple sleeping together later are never funny. They make people uncomfortable, and it makes you look like an adolescent. There will always be crickets after you make the joke. If you are going to be late, communicate that to EVERYONE somehow. Have your fiance, or your parents, or someone tell everyone that you will be late.
The staff needs to know, especially. If you forget the rings, don't stress it. It's a funny story. If you forget your vows, wing it as best you can. Just don't sing. Ask the officiant for help with last-minute vows. Finally, don't get intoxicated and act like an idiot. You don't want to be that guy! Plus, if you are intoxicated, you won't be able to make those jokes come true later!
Crickets...
58. A Mother's Envy
I went to a friend's wedding and during the reception, his mother (who is a heavy drinker) got up to do an impromptu speech. She said, "I can't believe my son is marrying that horrible witch. She's going to ruin his life." The groom ripped the microphone out of her hand then yelled at her to get out and leave. This was seven years ago and the couple is still married.
For the record, the bride is not a horrible witch.
59. The Writing’s On The Wall
So, I do Henna tattoos. Usually, I work a booth at either a theme park or fair, and occasionally I work at this little shop in the downtown area of where I live. I’m finishing up my shift at a local theme park when the lady at the shop calls me in a complete panic. A bridal party has come in with no warning, and not only does the bride want the full traditional wedding henna done, but she wants henna on her bridesmaids as well.
A total of 20 people who need hands and feet done, and the bride who wants hands, feet, and her back done in henna. I get to the shop and there are now two of us who can do the designs the bride has asked for. The bride takes one look at me and says she won’t let me do the henna for her or any of her party. I’m white. I currently have rainbow hair done up in a pixie cut. I also tend to give people the impression that I am gay.
So, after hearing this witch of a bride spout off about how a white girl can’t possibly do henna right, I point to the pictures in the example book—because they were all done by me. Then I took my happy butt home, turned my phone off, and had a nice nap before going to my other job. I later found out that the bride ended up storming out of the shop when she found out there simply was no way to do it.
I still wonder if she found someone to do it. The best part was, a lot of her wedding party were white girls as well, so I guess it’s okay for them to wear it but not for a white girl to know how to apply it.
60. Take A Picture, It’ll Last Longer
I was playing for a summer international traveling soccer team as a senior in high school. Four of us were with a host family in Costa Rica for a two-week stint. The hosts were a couple whose kids had grown and moved out.
Ahead of time, we were invited to a wedding on the weekend we were there. I thought it sounded pretty cool so I and my parents in the US agreed. I’d soon seriously regret it. It was at a place called Vista Verde, which is like a jungle retreat with lodge and bungalows.
We thought it was pretty cool at first. It was a nice normal wedding with about 200-300 people I would guess. At the reception, I was flirting with a beautiful girl a little older than me.
I was the American that nobody knew, which kind of helped me with some attention from the girls. I was having as much fun as a 17-year-old kid could have.
Everyone was having fun, actually, until we hear gunshots. All of a sudden a swarm of black fatigue-wearing armed guys stormed in. They were yelling to get down and “manos arriba” (hands up).
Of course we all freaked out, but I was a little slow in translating and was still standing to see everyone else go down. I got a nice little push, then apparently hit my head on the ground and blacked out. When I woke up, I was greeted by a horrifying sight. I was zip tied and thrown in a bus.
I spent nine hours in a school gym along with most of the other guests. Luckily once they got to processing me and saw my passport, they called the US embassy. I finally found out that the authorities believed the wedding had members of a local gang.
I was immediately moved to the embassy along with my other teammates as our hosts were detained for days. I had a nasty headache and my parents spent a lot of money on the trip. We didn't get to play in the national tournament.
I never found out what happened to the host family or what was found at the wedding. I also never got my camera or film back that had pictures of the previous week where we got to sight see. It had rolls of film from Mexico and San Diego where we also played.
That to me is the worst part 20 years later. Having nothing in way of memories of one of the best two months of my life.
61. A Brother’s Bridal Ballad
I went to a wedding that was held at a Napa Valley winery during the tech boom of the 90s. The groom was a venture capitalist on the climb, and the bride was a brittle, glossy blonde. Both were prone to using tech-speak in conversation, and their wedding invitation was in the form of a merger announcement on a mocked-up Wall Street Journal page.
Still, the guy was a friend, and my date and I went to show our support. The first really weird thing that happened was that the bride's twin brother came out before the wedding, got the bride to sit on a stool in front of everyone, and serenaded her, on his knees, with a guitar. The song was a love ballad that he wrote. It was filled with such longing that everyone stood frozen with discomfort.
He sang about how beautiful his sister was, how any man would be lucky to have her. I can't remember the whole thing, but this lyric seared itself into my brain, "Lips touching, tongues dancing. They give each other a look that can mean just one thing.” And the most cringey part of all? It wasn’t done for laughs. He was crying as he sang, and everyone watching looked like they wanted to drop through the floor.
Then, during the wedding, there were chairs set up in a lovely courtyard garden, with an aisle down the middle leading to a pavilion. We all seated ourselves on the chairs, which had white upholstery. When the ceremony ended, the minister said, "And now, I ask each of you to reach under your chairs for the small, white envelope you will find there.
“Each one contains a live Monarch butterfly. We will release them into the air and let them soar free as a symbol of the love these two have for each other." Once again, everyone froze. Whoever had set up the area had put the envelopes ON, not under, the chairs—little white envelopes on snow-white chair seats. Open-mouthed with horror, all the guests reached down and found the envelopes.
Most of the butterflies were squashed, as they had been sat on for the better part of 45 minutes.
62. I Told You So
I objected at a small wedding in Vegas. I was tipsy and had already voiced my opinion the night before to the bride-to-be. I told her that her future husband would end up back behind bars and leave her to raise the kids alone. His friends yelled at me when I made my little speech. Fast forward a year—he is now in prison on a second-degree charge and she is all alone with the kids...
63. Together Again
I once attended a wedding in the United States. This was both the bride and groom's fourth marriages. To each other. Yes, they got married to each other four times and divorced each other three of those times. They picked a dirty motorcycle bar for the venue of their fourth wedding. They were openly giving young children adult drinks, then laughing at them for being intoxicated.
Things were weird enough to begin with, but they soon reached a whole new level of insanity. I asked my friend if I could leave after the bride pulled a knife out of her dress and tried to stab the groom with it for having slept with another woman while they were divorced. I'm not sure if this is common in New Jersey. Other weddings I attended while in the USA were not like that…
64. Runaway Bride
I’m not a wedding shop worker, but I do have a pretty incredible Bridezilla story. My sister and I were asked to be bridesmaids by a mutual acquaintance. We both thought it was odd that she asked both of us and not someone closer to her, but either way, we planned a wonderful weekend in a resort town three hours away for her bachelorette party with the other two bridesmaids, who were her friends.
She started the weekend pouty and on her phone for most of the time. All in all, she seemed totally ungrateful for the good time we were trying to give her. Things got better when we broke out the hard stuff in our hotel room later. Then we saw a band at a bar, and there were other bridal parties there. She was fine for a while, dancing and having fun, until one of the other bridal parties sat down near us and started getting more attention.
They were all young cute girls and the band was flirting with them, guys were asking the bride to dance...and all of a sudden my bride sat down and began furiously texting on her phone. We asked what was wrong, and she would only say that she wasn’t having fun anymore and wanted to go home. We were all like, “Okay, let’s call a cab and go back to the hotel".
And she was like, “No, I want to go HOME". Which was three hours away. We were all drinking, so no one could drive her home. She storms out of the bar and begins calling people who none of us know to come and pick up her in the middle of the night because her fiancé isn’t answering his phone. She steadfastly refuses to get a cab; she says she’s going to stand in the parking lot for hours until someone picks her up.
She even made us miss a bus that could have driven us to the hotel for free because she simply refused to move. That was what made me snap. I screamed at her. I’ve never in my adult life screamed at another adult like that. I told her that she was going to get in a car and go back to the hotel, because we weren’t going to leave her out here all alone and we certainly weren’t going to stand in a bar parking lot for hours while she waited for someone to pick her up.
And she finally relented. We got into a cab and got back to the hotel. Bride is still texting, not speaking to any of us now because I yelled at her. When we got to the hotel, she refused to come inside. She stood in that awkward space between the two double doors and refused to move again. Myself and one of her friends went up to the room to pack her stuff, while my sister and the other friend stayed downstairs to make sure she didn’t bolt on us or something.
She finally got a hold of her fiancé, who agreed to drive down and fetch her. My sister said that when Bridezilla finally decided to talk, she witched about how she was mad at US because “we hadn’t helped her enough". I was livid. We’d gone to wedding expos with her, helped her pick out her dress, picked out our dresses, and we’d planned an entire weekend for her bachelorette party.
We spent hundreds of dollars to make her happy, but that wasn’t good enough for her. And while I was up in the hotel room gathering her stuff with her other friend, I learned the whole truth. She’s been previously married, had multiple foreclosures and court dates because of unpaid debts, and had two children she no longer had custody of—all things I had no idea about even though I’d known her for years.
I’m not sure if her fiancé knew it either! When her fiancé did arrive, she didn’t even greet or thank him. She just blew right past him and sat in his car. Her behavior was like a petulant teenager, and this woman was in her late 30s. It was unbelievable. But in the end, my sister and I bonded with the other two bridesmaids over the tumultuous situation, and now we’re friends. And the wedding was astoundingly uneventful. So I guess I’m happy with that!
65. I Don’t
The worst wedding I’ve been to was probably my own. I had been having doubts about going through with it. I was dressed and my mom was doing my hair when I had the sudden "cold water thrown over me" realization.
I didn't want to marry this guy. I was stuck. I had family there that traveled cross country to support me. I will never forget walking towards him and seeing his face. He didn't smile or cry. Just blank.
After, at the dinner and reception, he decided to spend his time out on the patio of the church. He had two friends at the wedding and apparently they were more important to him than I was. I was dancing alone, talking to guests alone, and all the while feeling wrong.
So yeah. Mine.
66. I Now Pronounce You Co-Beneficiary and Wife
My sister-in-law's first wedding. Never really liked the groom from the first time I met him. After a year or so, he proposed. They started planning their wedding that was to take place in a year. But then, on whim, they get married in a civil ceremony with plans to still have the big ceremony later in the year. A few months after the civil ceremony, the groom goes in for heart surgery, for a bad valve he's had since he was born.
The big ceremony finally comes except every major aspect of it has been stripped away. Less than a year into the marriage, my sister-in-law brings me a credit card bill and asks me if she knows what this $600 charge her husband has on it. A little internet research and I find that he's tipping cam girls. They're officially divorced about a year after that.
In retrospect, it became obvious what had happened. My sister-in-law was grifted for a new heart valve. He didn't have the insurance at his job to cover the surgery, so he convinced her to marry him—earlier than expected—to get on her insurance, get the heart surgery, and then split.
67. Blinded By Love
I went to a coworker's wedding, and I really thought someone would object. She was sleeping with a guy who worked with us and we all knew it. One day she came in showing off her engagement ring from her boyfriend who she was in a long-distance relationship with, even though none of us had ever heard her talk about him before. And that's not even the crazy part!
She actually invited THE GUY SHE WAS SLEEPING WITH. He sat in the pew by himself crying during the ceremony. Then she actually slow danced with him in front of her now-husband. There were a whole bunch of us there that worked with her and knew. It was so uncomfortable.
68. Last-Minute Decisions
I once attended a wedding where the groom abruptly changed who his "Best Man" was, and didn't tell the original Best Man until the start of the ceremony. When the reception began, the bride and groom then realized that they hadn’t hired a bartender, so they asked a guest to bartend. The groom then "dirty danced" with his step-mom. Yes, his hands were fully on her butt.
The bride and groom then hauled their entire wedding party up to do a choreographed dance to Meatloaf's “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights,” but apparently had neglected to give them any pre-warning or teach them the dance moves. That song is eight and a half minutes long. Let’s just say the scene was a bit awkward to watch.
The wedding was held at a scenic boarding school campus during the summer. Guests were told that the dormitories were complimentary to stay in. Guests were not told that there would be no bedding provided, nor would there be any A/C in the building. The groom later emailed everyone who had stayed in a dorm asking for money.
69. Straight And Narrow
I’ve been DJing weddings for about 10 years. Most brides relax by the time I really get to work, and most of the time the groom is in charge of the music. So I don’t have too many stories—however, one bride was really, really into her wedding being symmetrical. She measured the entire room and wanted everything placed at the exact places she requested.
I had to measure the distance my table was from the wall and the other tables, I had to measure the distance my speakers were from each other and the dance floor. On the day, she was upset at me because I failed to inform her that I had lighting for the dance floor and she wished that she had time to determine where to place them.
70. The Devil’s Tiki Drink
Two years ago, one of my cousins got married and had the reception outside at my grandparents' house. They live on two acres of land, so there was plenty of room.
There were about fifteen tables and a bunch of Tiki torches put up since it was nighttime. My cousin Drew decided to take one of the ice buckets from the bar area, dump the ice out, and pour a little of everyone's drink into the bucket while everyone is busy dancing.
He then attempted to drink the mix inside the bucket. Of course, since there were all kinds of beer and champagne and wine in it, about half way through he doubled over and began to spew EVERYWHERE.
To right himself, he tried to grab a nearby Tiki torch—which was already kinda leaning towards him—thus pulling it the rest of the way over and setting himself aflame. He then stood there like a burning geyser of vomit for a second before everyone flipped out and mobbed him to try and extinguish him.
71. “I Do” Disaster
My brother got married a few years ago, and it was a mess from day one. He and his bride had estranged everyone in my family before the wedding. My parents, who were funding pretty much the entire event, ultimately decided to cut off their support about three months before the wedding. As a result, my brother and his fiance wrote an email to everyone invited, calling out my parents for their “lack of support.”
This fractured the family. Ultimately, only the most immediate members of my family showed up. The day of the wedding was a continuation of how horrible everything leading up to it was. My brother and his fiance stiffed the officiant and failed to pay the caterers for food. Because of that, we were literally only served a few platters of vegetables, which my parents paid for on the spot.
His whole relationship was a disaster, but the wedding was an especially bad episode for our family.
72. A Storm Is Coming
My wife's uncle (who owned the farm we were getting married on) stood up at the objection part. Immediately, his son, who was the man of honor, yelled at him to sit down. To his credit, he did...but only for about 12 seconds. He quickly stood up again and explained why he objected—apparently, there was a massive storm coming up the driveway that was about to smack the entire ceremony and all of our hurrying wouldn't be able to beat it.
My wife made it inside before getting drenched...but no one else did. We ended up getting married inside instead.
73. A Man of the World
I used to videotape weddings, so I've seen it all. This one couple from New Jersey was the spitting image of two characters from the show Jersey Shore. They were super into appearances and very over-the-top gaudy. During their church ceremony, they had their very awkward 60-year-old uncle put on a culturally-appropriated costume, stand up, and chant around the church, giving what I can only assume was some kind of blessing.
It was so weird, inappropriate, and out of place. I assume they wanted to seem "deep" during their ceremony. They mixed some multicolored sand together in a vase, too!
74. Doomed From The Start
I am a florist, and I serviced a Bridezilla and groom without a hitch on my end. On their end? They had to go out of state to get married because they had protective orders against each other!
75. Who’s Cutting Onions In Here?
I went to a wedding of a family acquaintance recently and during the reception, I was fortunate enough to experience an extremely emotional scene. After the first part of the ceremony, the bride’s family gathered around to take pictures with the groom’s family.
This was an outdoors ceremony and the sun was shining brightly on the garden where the pictures were taken. One of the bride's uncles comes out of a small building with a paraplegic elderly man in a wheel chair.
It turns out to be the father of the bride, and he is unable to move a muscle due to some spinal injury he suffered years ago. I was told they told him numerous times that his daughter was getting married and he did not respond at all, he couldn't.
They decided to bring him out for one picture with the family before bringing him back inside because he could not stand the bright sun for too long. The father was placed in front of the bride and she gave him a hug on his wheelchair.
They then began to take pictures and during this, the old man began to cry. He could not move and he didn't make a sound but tears were rolling down his face.
Apparently this had been one of the few times he had shown any physical response and everyone began to cry. Unfortunately, there was an even more heartbreaking end to it all. At the dinner later, the bride was late. Turns out the father could not take the physical toll the wedding brought to him and he ended up in the hospital.
76. Don’t Even Heifer
I was the fat girl in middle school, and there was one guy who would moo at me during classes we had together all year. We went to different high schools, and I’d lost more than half my weight. There was a wedding my junior year for a family friend who was marrying that jerk’s older brother, so he’d be there.
The bride called me over and introduced me to her new brother-in-law and said we would hit it off. He immediately asked me to dance, and I turned him down, not wanting to cause a scene. He kept insisting, so I said, “I recognize you, we went to middle school together.” He looked puzzled and didn't remember me.
I said, “Yeah, you were that guy who used to make cow noises and moo at that girl in some of our classes.” He instantly started to crack up and said, “Yeah, that was me, that chick was nasty!” I looked him straight-faced and said, “Yeah, well now you're looking at the cow.” His jaw dropped, and I walked off happy.
77. Wisdom Beyond Her Years
This was about 20 years ago. My dad was getting married to his second wife, who was not a good person. During the "objections" part, I looked at my dad and said, "Daddy, no." They laughed it off, but I was serious. They divorced years later.
78. Think of the Children!!
So this wedding took place in an Episcopal church. The priest had all his finery on and the church itself was decorated very nicely for the occasion. The bride and groom had made a point of asking everyone to wear casual clothes. We all took that to mean "semi-formal." Nope. They and their kids all came out wearing overalls and white t-shirts.
They stood next to the priest, who was in his formal robes. The other cringey part was when the groom, in the middle of the ceremony, started repeatedly talking about the Bible verse "let the little children come to me" and insisting it implied "and listen to what they're telling you." He kept saying that over and over again, even though most of us had no idea what he meant.
He then launched into an impromptu twenty-minute speech explaining about how he and the bride had gotten together. There were plenty of parts in the story where the groom was like "I wasn't sure she was right for me," but his son was pressing him because "he wanted a mom." It was a sad story actually, as his biological mom passed away when the kid was only four and this was eight years later.
So, his speech was basically this long and unfocused story that boiled down to "I'm marrying this woman so that my kid can have a mom." That, and some more confusing Bible references mixed in here and there for good measure. Not a good sign when that's your main reason for getting married to someone. Nevertheless, I knew it, probably half the attendees knew it, and the priest definitely knew it.
That whole background story might have been okay to tell during the reception, under a certain kind of atmosphere, but I have no idea why he decided to tell it in the middle of the actual wedding ceremony. When all was said and done, I’m pretty sure this couple ended up getting divorced less than two years later.
79. A Cake Walk
I once worked in a bakery, and we had this bride freak out that her cake wasn't right, and she proceeded to smash it to bits with her fist. Well, she smashed the wrong cake. Like what the heck. Anyways, the authorities allowed her to wash her hands before placing her in handcuffs. I felt bad for the future husband and the couple that ordered said cake. People are cray cray.
80. Kissing Cousins
I went to a wedding with my ex. It was his cousin’s wedding and outside on a couple of acres. A hundred or so people milling around and luckily, a few of our close mutual friends.
I had never met the bride's stepfather, but he was close with my ex. He started getting pretty inebriated and vocal. He first told my ex that he should've been the one marrying his daughter that day—yes, my ex’s cousin—in front of me and our friends.
He then (during the speeches) told EVERYONE that the guy his daughter is marrying is an idiot and that my boyfriend at the time should be her new husband. Not to mention everyone knew they were, again, cousins...
81. Missed Encounters
At a wedding of a college friend of my husband’s, we learned that the bride (his old friend) had been in love with him for over a decade. We learned this from the women at our table at the reception. We introduced ourselves while we waited for the bride and groom to arrive. They were horrified that we were there—and extremely worried.
My husband had NO idea that she had feelings for him. She bee-lined right for our table after the "introducing Mr & Mrs" thing—ignoring her family and leaving her husband standing alone. She clung to my husband and sobbed—lifting her head to glare at me. She had to be pulled off of him.
She repaired herself, then followed us as we tried to leave quietly—her parting shot was to stare at my chest and say, "Well I guess I know what I was missing all along!" Her new husband was in shock and my husband was horrified and embarrassed—he was completely clueless and would never have gone to the wedding if he'd known she was obsessed with him. It was bizarre.
82. Case Of The Side Chick
At my co-worker's wedding, the groom’s side chick showed up absolutely hammered right when the ceremony started. She started screaming at him, saying she was supposed to be the one to marry him. She was carried out by a few of the groomsmen. The ceremony then went on as if nothing happened. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And want to know the worst part?
I found out about a year later that he was still cheating on his bride...with that chick and another one.
83. A Lot of Energy in This One
My brother managed a gas station about ten years ago and had hired the soon-to-be bride as an employee. A little while into her employment, she requested a few days off for her wedding. The date was still a couple months out, so it was no big deal. About a week before her requested time off, she came into work and had the following exchange with my brother:
Bride: "Wanna see my new tattoo?" Bro: "Uh, sure." She lifts the back of her shirt to reveal a huge, green, Monster Energy "M" covering the whole upper half of her back. Bro: "Holy moly! Wow!" Bride: "Awesome, huh? And my fiance got the same tat!" Bro: "Really?..." Bride: "I know, I know what you're thinking. Copyright, right?"
"But what are they gonna do? It's already on my body! It's ALREADY ON MY BODY! Ha ha!" Bro: "Right. That. That is what I was thinking." Then, at the ceremony, the pair awkwardly gave the same demonstration to all their guests. There are even pictures of it. I'm working on getting a hold of those. It was a camouflage themed wedding.
She had an open-back camo gown with camo heels. She even had a camo veil. I really wish it had been ghillie suit headgear. The groom had camo pants with camo boots and a camo bowtie. He was, indeed, shirtless. He did wear a camo ball cap, though. I imagine them walking down the aisle, backs glistening in the sun with vaseline over a huge Monster logo.
Just the perfect day that every kid dreams about someday having. They were happily married for seven months.
84. Photo Finish
Wedding band member here. I had a bride flip out at me and my bandmates because our instruments weren't white or salmon-colored to fit in with the decorations. She was saying we would ruin the photographs…even though I was playing during the reception and all the photos were already taken. A sunburst jazz bass, blue Stratocaster and a red drum set aren't going to ruin your pictures, darling.
85. You Can Pick Your Friends, But You Can’t Pick Your Clients
I work as a caterer, so I've seen more weddings than I ever thought I would. All of these weddings are basically your story book, picturesque, $20-40K deals. Each one is carefully, and artfully prepared. The only thing we can't hand-pick are the people.
I've seen EVERYTHING, from people stripping down and going to the bathroom in bushes, to skinny-dippers in retention ponds. Though out of all of my stories this one is the best.
Two 20-somethings were getting married, I'd say around 29 or so. They have their reception in a chapel that's all glass. We have to wipe down this thing before every wedding, so you can imagine...it's spotless.
In all of our venues there's always at least one bar. This wedding party however was excessive in their drinking. More so than usual. While the party is still going strong, and about halfway through the wedding the groom walks away from the bride and steps outside.
The bride is pretty out of it, so she doesn't notice at first. When she sees her man is gone, she looks around and spots him outside. Trying to be cute, she runs towards him, and there's a deafening sound. The bride ran headfirst into the glass and splits her nose in half.
There is blood everywhere, she's in pain, and an ambulance is rushed to the scene. I don't really know what happened afterwards, but MAN it was a sight.
86. Top Secret
The bride gave explicit wedding instructions beforehand through various channels. One rule was that there were to be no posts on social media before the bride gave the OK, and certainly no posts before she posted herself. Anyway, a few hours before the wedding, someone posted something, saying that they were at the wedding or whatever.
Absolutely nothing malicious, just a generic statement. The bride saw this and everyone could tell she was about to blow up. At the end of the vows, the bride turned to the congregation and said, "Can you all please unfriend Jennifer as I gave out explicit instructions that there are to be no social posts until I give the OK, and she has broken that rule today."
Just imagine—she literally just finished her vows and she finally has a new husband, but that was the first thing on her mind. Everyone awkwardly laughed as if she was joking…nope. She then stormed off, with her new husband awkwardly following behind. There was a weird atmosphere after that and everyone started making excuses to go home.
I'm talking proper fake emergency stuff here: "I have to get back because I need to err, my erm, yeah bye..." Everyone left much earlier than usual. No one wanted to be there and have awkward conversations with the bride.
87. Shameless Saboteurs
I was at a wedding where there were three main parties: the bride's party, the groom's party, and the groom's parents' party. The groom's parents hated the bride—they thought she was not good enough for their son and they were desperate for the relationship to fall apart. Obviously, the bride and groom had to invite them to the wedding, but they specifically asked the priest to avoid the "Does anyone object" part of the ceremony.
At the reception, there was a moment where the groom's father danced with the bride, and a few minutes later, she stormed off the dance floor. When I found out what he'd said to her, my blood ran cold. Apparently, the groom's father had offered her $5,000 cash to leave his son right then and there and have the marriage annulled. The reception featured a flambeau entrée, and everybody was watching the groom's mother, half expecting her to grab one of the flaming skewers from one of the waiters and hurl it at the bride.
They're still married 30 years later and they have two kids together, but I believe they are estranged from the groom's family.
88. He Shoots, He Scores
When I was in high school, one of my hockey teammates had a kid with his girlfriend when they were juniors. They decided to get married and the wedding was officiated by my teammate’s dad, who also happened to be our head coach. The entire wedding party consisted of the bride and groom's direct family and the hockey team.
It took place at a Golden Corral. Then the reception was held at...the same Golden Corral. Then we had a hockey game that night right after. The other team we were facing that night somehow found out about what had happened and started to hound the guy about it for the entire time. Even though it was a super cringy situation, those guys were still a bunch of jerks.
For anyone wondering about how that game went, I honestly don’t remember if we won. Hockey season is always a long one with a lot of games, and this was a pretty long time ago. Now, about seven years later, this couple has a second kid, the guy is an officer in the Air Force, both of his kids play hockey, and he coaches and refs for their league.
He and his wife look very happy together, so I’m glad it all worked out for them. And, just for the record, I really did not mean for this to be a rip on the couple. They’re amazing together and are doing an awesome job of raising their kids in a loving household where they want for nothing. They haven’t had the easiest lives, but they’re doing the best they can and absolutely killing it.
I haven’t spoken to my former teammate in a while, but I’ve seen his dad, who was our old coach, at alumni games and they’re such an awesome family. They’re the perfect living example of the fact that you don’t need a giant, expensive, fancy wedding to be happy in life. As long as you have each other, family, and friends, it’s a joyous occasion that should be celebrated.
89. This One Takes The Cake
I worked as a wedding planner and coordinator, and one bride stands out to me because she was so inconsistent with all the vendors. She was a complete sweetheart to me during the planning phase and I never saw any of the crazy until the day of the wedding. It was honestly like a Jekyll/Hyde moment. She wanted a big wedding, around 300 people, and spent a lot of money on the venue and food and wanted the best for everything.
No complaints about paying for it either, never asked for discounts or anything like that. And since she wanted the best and seemed to have a really large budget, I referred her to a popular baker for the cake. I let her handle the logistics for the cake since I've worked with this baker before and never had any problems. I figured they would do the standard cake tasting, pick a design with the baker, and I would see a gorgeous masterpiece on the day of the wedding.
Well, that didn't really work out. For some reason, she didn't want to tell the baker that it was for a wedding. I'm guessing she read that you can save money by ordering a regular cake because some vendors will automatically add an extra charge if it's for a wedding. By the way, this is true to some extent, but the extra charge truly is there for a reason.
Whenever something is for a wedding, the vendor puts in much more care, stresses about the timing, execution, etc. way more than usual, and often times will go all out and use premium materials or add upgrades. Not all of us are just adding extra charges for no reason. Anyways, she decided she didn't want to pay for a wedding cake so she told the baker it was for a birthday party.
The baker asked how many people the cake would need to serve and she said "around 50". She also didn't want to pay the delivery fee, so she had her sister pick up the cake on the morning of the wedding and bring it to the event. At this point, it's important to mention one huge thing. We live in Texas and this is a summer wedding.
So by the time the cake got to the venue—about six hours after it was picked up from the bakery—it didn't look all that great anymore. Some of the decorations had melted, the cake got a little banged up in the car ride, there was icing on the inside of the box, and the entire cake was sagging on one side. It was also way too small for a wedding of her size.
I saw it and it looked like a complete disaster. But at this point, we're about an hour away from the start of the wedding and there's no possible way to fix this. The bride comes into the reception room with her makeup all done When she sees it, she unravels. Screaming, crying, throwing things, collapsing on the floor. Complete meltdown.
She threatens to cancel the whole wedding if we can't fix it. We try to calm her down as much as we can and grab the makeup artist before she leaves and ask if she can help fix the bride's makeup, which is a mess now. The bride sees herself in the mirror and has another meltdown because she ruined her hair and makeup and now wants to have the whole thing re-done.
After she gets everything done to perfection again, we're about an hour behind schedule. I let the guests come inside the reception room to wait because it seemed cruel to force everyone to sit outside in 100-degree heat, but when the bride saw that everyone was inside she had another meltdown. She spent the entire wedding sulking with a scowl on her face, and refused to take any pictures with people.
Her new husband kept coming over to hug her and try to cheer her up, and she would either yell at him or give him the silent treatment. Most of the guests left very early because the atmosphere felt so uncomfortable. So, pretty much a waste of the $200,000 budget for a lavish wedding, all because she wanted to save a couple hundred bucks on the cake.
90. There Are Evil Plans—Then There’s This
One of our guests at our wedding had recently been through a really, really ugly divorce. Like, his ex lied about him to the courts as a divorce tactic. It was completely untrue, and he was 100% exonerated, but that kind of thing will mess you up—especially since he was still totally in love with this woman.
Needless to say, she wasn't invited. My wife and I had, however, met her before all the stuff went down. Well, his crazy ex decided it would be a good idea to mail a letter to the venue—the divorce was happening during the months before our wedding, so she saw the invite—asking the manager to secretly find a friend of ours to read a letter from her to us at the reception, as a surprise.
Yeah, sounds nice. It wasn't. It was clearly a "I'm gonna mess with my ex" thing she was doing, and it rattled our friend, our guests, AND the poor friend of ours who innocently said "Sure, I'll do that"! thinking the letter really was from an actual friend of ours.
91. I’m Gonna Getcha
I was dating this girl who asked me to go to her ex’s wedding. We dated for a few months prior, but asking me to go to a wedding together felt like a serious commitment...I still accepted. I planned for the week off work and we went all out for this wedding. Half the time, I was trying to make the most of our time together, but she always went missing.
Fast forward to the reception. She made a scene in the most unstable and mentally sick way. In front of the groom, the bride, and everyone else, she said out loud: “I’m still in love with you. We literally have been sleeping together all week and I can't stop thinking about you." She quickly got escorted out after that.
The bride was clearly upset, but everyone tried to go about their business. As soon as I left, my “girlfriend” started completely ruining the hall and all the decorations, just throwing a fit on her way out. It was so embarrassing. I figured she was telling the truth since she was missing the whole time, but I’m pretty sure that everyone during the whole thing assumed this was too crazy to be real.
I definitely regret not seeing her true colors before, but when you work so much and try to date at the same time, you have very little time to get to really know some people. Time sort of flies by and you end up dating for a few months. Fast forward a month or two later...she got together with the groom and I’m pretty sure she has no regrets about wasting my time.
She probably doesn’t even feel bad about using me or even ruining that man’s marriage. This woman is seriously twisted.
92. Leaving So Soon?
When I was in college studying photography, I got friendly with a fellow student who had a wedding photography business but was still studying to get his qualifications. After seeing my work, he asks me if I want to assist him at his next wedding. I agree to do so. The big day finally comes and I'm all prepared to go in and see the groom, the best man, the ushers, and a bunch of other participants to get some pre-event photos of them getting ready and whatnot.
To my surprise, the groom refused to be in any pictures, stating that he was feeling under the weather. I kinda thought he should just suck it up. It was his wedding day, after all. Nevertheless, he was insistent, so no pre-event photos were taken of him. A little while later, the ceremony comes and goes. It’s now time for the bridal party photos at the church.
Once again, the groom refuses to be in any photos, much to everyone's annoyance. We all get to the reception, the speeches begin, and, midway through the father of the bride’s speech, the groom just straight up leaves. He once again repeats the fact that he was feeling a bit ill. This is where the bride drew the line—she went into a full-on rage. She started pulling the small groom and bride figurines off the top of the cake and stomping on them.
She shouted, "I knew I shouldn't have married him!" There was a lot of hullabaloo at this point, with guests trying to console her. Everyone agreed that he was being dramatic and was basically a huge jerk. We got paid in full even though at that point we were done. I go home, put my feet up, drink a few beers, and then answer an unexpected phone call from my friend.
I was expecting him to just be calling to joke around a little bit more about how crazy that wedding had just been. Not even close. In reality, he was calling to inform me that the groom had passed away shortly after leaving the reception hall, and that our photo job would now be turning into a two-for-one wedding and funeral service.
93. Every Rose Has Its Thorn
I’m a florist. We had a bride and her mother show up at 9 am. They wanted to order a bridal bouquet, a mother of the bride orchid corsage, a boutonniere for the groom, and six smaller ones for the groomsmen. But there was just one thing. The wedding was scheduled for noon. Yep, three hours from then, and they wanted them ready by the time they were done with their makeup appointment at the beauty parlor a few doors down.
The bride was flipping through the sample book and pointing out the style and flowers she wanted. Think garden roses with long sweeping trails of stephanotis and variegated ivy, all three of which would require at least a week's advanced order with our suppliers. She was absolutely gobsmacked that we didn't carry extremely expensive and highly perishable flowers at all times.
Same with the orchid for the mom's corsage. My boss told them that since they didn't place an order beforehand they would be limited to what we had in stock, and simple styles that could be assembled quickly. The bride and her mom kept pointing at the book and arguing that we should have those specific flowers in stock.
My boss eventually took the book off the desk and tossed it behind the counter. The bride vacillated between tears and petulant whining that we were going to ruin her big day. My boss, who had a bone-deep loathing for brides in general, told her she had ruined her own day by not ordering her flowers before her actual wedding day.
The mom tried chewing out my boss for her lack of customer service skills. My boss told her that she was welcome to go down the street to Vons and ask their flower department to make their order with whatever they had in stock. The mom said she'd do just that, and reassured the bride that she'd have her flowers done by the time her appointment was over.
Both women stormed out. I figured that was that, but I was so wrong. My boss told me and the other girl to start on six simple corsages. Meanwhile, she threw together a ribbon-wrapped bridal bouquet with some white roses that were nearly past their prime and some. Sure enough, 20 minutes later the mother slunk back in and meekly asked if we were still able to assemble what they needed.
We did. We also charged her a very large rush fee.
94. Can’t Win Em All
I got married in May. It was great—except for two things.
A female friend of mine from high school was invited to the wedding and she flew out for it. At the rehearsal dinner, she went to my mother and my female cousin—who my fiancée (now wife) is very close to—and told them her twisted secret. She said that she wished she were dating me.
This information got back to my fiancée, but fortunately after the wedding was over. But I got told before the wedding by both my mom and my cousin. It stressed me out.
This lady was a friend in high school and I had never dated her. She had also never shown any interest ever in dating me either in high school or afterward. We are 39.
She bought us a very nice sauce pan as a wedding dish. My wife refers to it as "<her name> and your sauce pan" which makes me sad. Before this came out, my wife and I were hoping we would get to be better friends with her and that she and my wife could be good friends.
The other unfortunate part was that my wife's oldest daughter (who is 9), had a freak-out moments before the wedding due to her dad having a weird reaction to the news that his ex-wife was getting re-married. They had been apart for about three years and I had been dating my fiancée for two years.
Prior to all of this, the 9-year-old child had been the biggest supporter of the idea of the two of us getting married. She had been drawing pictures of us in "wedding clothes" for about a year (we never mentioned marriage and were not living together).
She had been referring to me as "like a step dad" (we actively discouraged this) and calling my two daughters her "sisters" (we didn't discourage that) for a long time. I was living next door to my fiancée with my two daughters.
My wife had two daughters as well. It was seriously heartbreaking. The 9-year-old was crying and refusing to come out. Her part in the ceremony was fairly big. She was co-maid of honor, so changing the ceremony at that point—while possible—would not have been super easy.
Also, we knew that it was her personality to have very temporary freak-outs for short periods of time, usually like an hour. Unfortunately, we had our guests waiting for us and couldn't wait an hour for her to pull it together.
So instead she is frowning in our pictures. About 10 minutes after the ceremony, her mood had returned to normal and she was great the rest of the evening.
95. Full Circle Moment
A friend of mine was getting married in five days and I definitely didn’t care for her groom. I was joking around with another friend about it and I sent her a link to an article titled: “How To Stop a Wedding.” I didn't realize what I'd done until it was too late. It turned out that I accidentally sent the link to the soon-to-be bride, not my other friend. Whoops. It ended up being a fairly awkward wedding.
But two years later, she divorced the guy and we became friends again.
96. My Way Or The Highway
I’m not a wedding planner, but I was going to be at a wedding as a bridesmaid. The bride-to-be took us—the maid of honor, another bridesmaid, and myself—out to pick out dresses. The bride's mother and the groom's mother also came at her insistence. We arrived at the dress shop only to find that the bride, her mom, and the groom's mom had already picked out the dress she wanted us to wear for the wedding.
Okay, that was fine in theory, but we had been under the impression that we'd get to pick our own dresses. Whatever, it was her wedding. When we tried the dresses on, however, we realized something disturbing—they didn't really look good on the two of us because we both had different frames and sizes. We came out, showing the bride and two moms, and the moms were in agreement that the dress they picked really didn't work. The bride’s response, on the other hand, was jaw-dropping.
The bride was very upset that we didn't magically look great in the same dress. She then started making snide, subtle comments about our appearances, implying that we'd need to lose weight to look good in them, and telling one of the other girls how she'd need a push-up bra to look "normal." The moms ignored the bride's attitude and flagged down an employee to help us find some alternatives.
We live in a small city, so the selection they had wasn't the best, but the employee found at least half a dozen other dresses that come in the color the bride wanted. We tried them all on, but because we vary so much in body type, most of them didn't look good on both of us. For example, the strapless ones looked bad on the busty girls, while the long dresses didn't fit right on the short ones, etc.
The bride continued to make comments about our bodies. Finally, the last dress we tried on was generic enough that it looked fine on all of us...except the bride didn't like it because it didn't make us look "sexy" enough. To make matters worse, the dress had pockets. She absolutely did not want her bridesmaids to have pockets.
At this point, every single one of us was happy with this choice except for her. She reluctantly agreed to let us pick that dress but she was very clearly not happy. So then we picked out shoes. The bride told us we will be wearing the same shoes as her but in a different color. Weird, but again, we didn't argue with her.
When we tried them on, though, there was a snag in her plans. I have very small feet (technically a 3 in kids, though some size 5 shoes will fit). The heels she wanted were sky high and strapless. When I put them on and tried to walk, my feet kept slipping out. They were also open-toed, so I couldn't really stuff the front as I'd done in the past.
To top it off, just standing in them to try them on, the front was absolutely ruining my feet. I told her this, and she watched me try to walk in them only to have them flop off. Her mom asked me if they came in a smaller size, but they were fancy shoes, so no, they obviously didn't make them for kids. The bride's solution?
"Once you start to wear them, your feet will swell and they'll fit then." She then walked off. The bride's mom assured me that we'd "figure something out" and bought all of our outfits as her condolences. I never got to know how that would have worked out, though, because the bride and groom simultaneously cheated on each other, and they called off the wedding.
The bride didn't even have the nerve to tell me herself; I had to hear it from the maid of honor. We are no longer friends, and it's sad to me that this wasn't even the reason why. I can't believe I let someone treat me, and other people she called friends, like that.
97. The Cruelest Trick
When my cousin got married to her wife, her parents, grandparents and a few other older family members stood up and walked out. They didn't say anything or try to stop the wedding; it was just a show of their disproval. My cousin was pretty devastated because she thought their attendance meant they had changed their minds and wanted to support her, but it was just a trick.
98. Plot Twist
I went to a wedding that my wife and I said will not last more than two years. The wedding was in the backyard of the bride’s house. They had all the chairs and wedding "arch" setup outside.
They setup a plastic tarp running down the aisle to walk on. Just before the wedding starts, there are darkening clouds appearing. It should have been a sign to move the wedding inside, but they invited too many people to the thing.
Just as they start the wedding, it begins to rain lightly. That’s when it all began to fall apart in the most hilarious way. The father of the bride is walking the bride down the lane and slips on the wet tarp and falls on his behind.
The bride is now at the front, and it's raining harder. People start to cover up with whatever they have. Some people start to get up too. I’ll never forget what happened next. The bride turns around and says to all, “THIS IS MY WEDDING, NO ONE IS GOING TO RUIN IT, YOU BETTER ALL SIT DOWN”!
We all sit back down and the wedding resumes. It is now raining pretty good. The grass is now turning into mud. A few ladies in the crowd and the bridesmaids' makeup is now running down their faces.
My wife has taken my jacket as a cover from the rain. They finish the vows and kiss, and then everyone runs to the house and garage to get out of the rain. Oh, remember how I said the grass was now mud? Yeah, lots of people slipped and fell in the mud on the way to the house.
We got to the house, many people look terrible from the running makeup, muddy clothing, and soaking wet. A few of the women had to cover their chests and waists due to wet clothing becoming see-through.
Most of the men were loaning their coats to the ladies to cover up. Dirty looks all around. The wedding cake was outside, and now brought in. The rain made the decorations on the cake turn all runny and it looks horrible.
The bride and groom began to cut the cake and feed each other. Cue the next disaster. They smashed the cake pieces into each other’s faces...then began a food fight with each other. My friend’s wife got hit in the face with purple icing cake.
The priest got hit with it too, putting yellow icing on his white robe. There was nothing left of the cake to serve. The food being served was still frozen in the middle, and the stuff that was not frozen was burned.
The dessert was supposed to be the cake, but as said above, there was nothing left. There was a goodie bag that people got on the way out. It had a lollipop, a coupon for ice cream cone at McDonald's, a pencil with the bride and groom’s name on it, and Halloween-size M&Ms.
My wife, whose dress was filthy, makeup was out of whack, and hair was a mess, said to me that she does not want to see those people again for six months, she was so mad—but the story doesn’t end there. The couple divorced 11 months later when the groom came home from work and found his wife getting it on with two guys.
99. Comeuppance Bought And Paid For
My mom and I saw a great Bridezilla freak out while shopping for my wedding dress a few years back. We were in a small, local shop when another mother-daughter duo came in. The attendant who had been helping us went up to greet them. The mother said they were here to pick up her daughter's dress, so the attendant looks her name up in the computer, frowns, and says, "Ma'am, you never bought the dress".
"What are you talking about?" The attendant shows the lady the notes on her computer screen. "You said you wanted to think about it, and asked if we could hold the dress. We held it for two weeks, but when we didn't hear back from you, we assumed you didn't want it". "Well, we want it now". "It's been over eight months", the attendant explained, "We sold the dress a long time ago. But I can order you another one, and have it expedited here in a few weeks".
And like a Mt. St. Helens of entitlement, the eruption began. "This is unacceptable!" The mother shrieked. "We have her alterations scheduled in two hours! The wedding is a week away! I can't believe you sold her dress!" The bride, meanwhile, is slumped against the desk and sobbing like someone kicked her dog. My mom and I are just open-mouthed staring at this point.
The attendant was trying to be diplomatic, but is clearly as baffled as we are. "Ma'am, we had no way to know you wanted it. You never called. You never put down a deposit. The dress isn't yours until you pay for it". After some more screaming from the mother and wailing from the bride, they left. The shop attendant came back over to us and I asked her, "Does that kind of thing happen a lot?"
The poor lady just deflated. "All the time". It baffles me to this day. How do you schedule alterations on a dress that you never purchased? Why would you wait until a week before the wedding to pick up your dress? How do you make it to adulthood without knowing how basic buying and selling transactions work?
Flickr, Office of Public Affairs
100. Speaking from the Heart
The most cringeworthy thing that I have ever seen at a wedding was not the fault of the bride or groom, but of the bride’s father. I was the best man at this wedding, so I had a front-row seat for the entire thing. The couple was marrying young after the bride had fallen pregnant. It obviously wasn’t planned, but they clearly loved each other and it was the right thing for them to do in their eyes.
Anyway, come the wedding day, I’m sitting next to the bride's father at the reception and I can see he’s looking at his prepared speech repeatedly. I can see phrases like "not ideal," "would’ve preferred not to welcome you into the family under these circumstances," etc. Just before the groom gets up to give a speech, the bride’s father excuses himself to use the washroom, leaving his "speech" behind.
I knew that something needed to be done before he turned the entire wedding into a nightmare. I’m not ashamed to say that I swiped the speech and then pleaded ignorance when he returned and asked what had happened to it. In the end, he stood up and muttered a few generic words about love and then sat down without any issues. I never told the groom, and I’m happy to say that they’re still happily married twenty years later.
Sources: Reddit, , , , , , , , 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
