After months of meticulous and detailed planning, the last thing anyone is expecting in the middle of a wedding ceremony is for the bride and groom’s special moment to be interrupted by an objection. Nevertheless, for every multitude of wedding officials who uneventfully recite the words “speak now or forever hold your peace,” one of them gets stuck with somebody who actually takes them up on this offer. Since most wedding goers don’t get to see this firsthand, here are 42 fascinating stories about what it looks like when someone at a wedding makes the decision to voice an objection.
1. You Win!
Nobody had even said "speak now" yet, but the groom’s ex still decided to get up and scream out that he was her soulmate, that she forgave him for "this whole thing," and that they should just leave now because he'd proven his point—by breaking up with her five years earlier, falling in love with someone else, and holding a wedding.
2. Not Going Down Without a Fight
A member of my wife's family had a pirate-themed wedding. A rival pirate appeared and objected to the wedding. The groom dueled him with rapiers and won.
3. Singin’ in the Rain
I was at an outdoor ceremony once, with a storm due to be coming in any minute. The pastor was trying hard to move things along so that we wouldn't all get caught in the rain. He asked if anyone has any objections and, instantly, there was a loud clap of thunder. To his credit, the pastor just paused a moment and then said: "Anyone else? Alright, in that case..". and finished the ceremony.
4. Tears of Joy?
My aunt was getting married to her second husband, and during the "speak now or forever hold your peace" bit, their baby started crying. The dude officiating it said, "If anyone older than six months has any objections, speak now or forever hold your peace!" He got a laugh and the wedding carried on. They're still together ten years later, so I guess whatever my baby cousin had to say was misinformed.
5. Gotcha!
For years, the groom and his best man were super close. They had always roomed together, and there was a running joke that they were really more than friends. Eventually, the groom met the bride, fell in love, and proposed. The new running joke became that the best man must be very disappointed. At the wedding, the officiant asks if anyone has objections. The best man immediately objects.
Turns out it was planned as a joke—the bride thought it would be a funny way to acknowledge the super-close friendship between the groom and his best man. Thankfully, the groom and the audience had a sense of humor, and no problems came out of this.
6. Telling It Like It Is
I was at a friend's shotgun wedding. He was forced to marry this girl whom he had impregnated because she thought that expired aspirin was an acceptable alternative to birth control. During the ceremony, his cousin objected with something along the lines of, "Come on, man! The dummy was using expired aspirin as birth control!! You wanna spend your life with someone like that??!!" There was laughter, shock, and even some mild applause from the audience. I personally laughed till I cried.
7. We Interrupt This Program...
One of my friends interrupted his cousin’s wedding to publicly come out of the closet. He assumed that this would be an opportune time since everyone was gathered together and in a good mood. He couldn’t understand why his cousin was so mad at him.
8. Fishy Negotiating Tactics
My dad was marrying his third wife. My step-brother and I were at the wedding party. He was six, I was ten. The preacher asks if anyone objects, and my brother raises his hand so very politely. My dad asks why. My step-brother replies, "because I want you to promise to take me fishing whenever I want, first".
9. Father of the Bride
The father of the bride had been pretty absent after divorcing her mom. He had remarried and gotten involved with a controversial religious group. His new wife was not invited to the wedding, but the father came and seemed like he was there to be supportive—until he stood up during vows and proclaimed that my friend was “a pig just like her mother,” and that the groom should “get out while he can” because the bride was “a soul-leeching succubus".
10. Just Passing Through
My wedding was held along a river at the end of summer, and tons of wake boarders and boats were out. I was a ball of nerves, and the ceremony felt so serious—when all of a sudden some dude on a boat blasting music screamed out, “Don’t do it bro!!” and sped off. It was actually hilarious, and made the rest of the ceremony a lot more fun. My husband and I cracked up, even though his brothers looked like they were about to jump in the river after the guy!
11. Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater
I went to a co-worker’s wedding where the maid of honor objected and admitted to being the "other woman" that the groom had been cheating with for months. The bride ran out in tears. The groom immediately tried to salvage the ceremony by asking the maid of honor to become the new bride. She refused.
12. Worst Man
I officiated at a wedding where the groom's best man was a work associate. The best man thought it was a good idea to interrupt the proceedings to tell stories about how he thought the groom was really gay. I think he thought it would be hilarious, but no one thought it was funny—especially not the bride. When he was done, the bride's dad stood up and said, "Patrick needs a new best man. Any takers?" Folks avoided the guy like the plague for the rest of the night.
13. Nice Try
At my uncle’s wedding, a friend of his got very tipsy. When the minister asked for any objections, the friend smiled and started to stand up. My mother immediately grabbed him by his hair and sat him back down by force.
14. Bob’s Your Uncle
My cousin Bobby stood up and said, “I object". My uncle immediately yelled out, "Shut the heck up, Bobby!" Everybody laughed and my cousin sat down. We never did find out what he planned on saying…
15. J’Accuse!
At my cousin's wedding, everything had been going great. Then, all of a sudden, his son from a previous marriage interrupts the vows to announce that the bride has been cheating on his dad with their drug dealer and that he can't let his dad marry her. My other cousin yelled at the son to either sit down or leave. The son left and the wedding continued. Five years and one baby later, he finds out it was all true. They are no longer together.
16. Maternal Instinct
I went to a friend’s wedding and, during the reception, his mother (an abusive alcoholic) got up to give an impromptu speech. She said, "I can't believe that my son is marrying that horrible loser. She's going to ruin his life!" The groom ripped the microphone out of her hand, then yelled at her and asked her to leave. For the record, the bride turned out to be an incredible person.
17. Money Talks, Dad Listens
My friend offered to pay me to object at my dad’s wedding because we both didn’t like the woman he was marrying. I was very close to agreeing, but my dad overheard the conversation and stopped me.
18. Just Checking
When the exchanging of vows took place at my cousin’s wedding, my aunt shouted, “Wasn’t there supposed to be a part where you could object?”
19. Someone’s Got Beef
We held my wedding at my grandmother's house out in the country next to a cattle farm. No animal had made a peep the entire time. Then, at the precise moment when the priest asked for any objections, a cow loudly went, "moo!" We all laughed and continued with the ceremony.
20. Hearing Aid
I used to be an audio engineer at a small chapel that held weddings. At one of them, a woman stood up, dramatically trying to share an objection. I wasn’t expecting this, so I didn’t have any sound system or microphones hooked up that would have picked up what she was saying for the whole room to hear clearly. Nobody other than those right around her knew what she was saying. Before I could even think of what to do, someone screamed out, "Don't you listen to nothing she has to say! You two go ahead and get married!"
The whole room laughed and the ceremony continued. Phew!
21. A Colorful Thought Process
My coworker and his bride were looking deeply into each other’s eyes and smiling throughout the ceremony. Then, when the infamous "speak now or forever hold your peace" line came, the bride’s mother stood up and objected. She blurted out some awful comments about how she didn’t want her daughter marrying a black man. The bride started to cry and ran off. The entire room went silent. They ended up not getting married that day, but then having a private ceremony shortly after to make up for it.
22. 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 probably end up back in jail and leave her to raise all the kids alone. His friends yelled at me when I made my little speech. Fast forward a year, he is now in prison for robbery and she is alone.
23. An Overlooked Detail
There was a wedding where a guy ran in in the middle and announced that the groom was already married. Wild stuff.
24. No Laughing Matter
A friend of mine works at a wedding venue. She told me about one wedding where the best man decided to object by making some jokes about the time that he slept with the bride. He assumed that the groom already knew about it. Turns out he didn't, and he was NOT happy. The reception was abruptly canceled and all the guests were sent home.
25. Practice Makes Perfect
My step-sister’s best man objected during the dress rehearsal the night before the actual wedding. It was a very large wedding and the rehearsal was bigger than a lot of weddings are. The minister was going over the vows quickly, while giving instructions on what to do. When he said something about objections, the best man interrupted and declared that he had to put a stop to this. He was in love with the bride and was sure that she felt the same way.
Everybody was horrified. It caused plenty of chaos and confusion. Neither the bride or groom ever spoke to him again.
26. Unsustainable
Aunt: I object!
Minister (immediately): Objection overruled!
And that was the end of that...
27. Double Agent
My mom invited an ex she was still rather close with to her wedding. She was in utter shock when he stood up and yelled, "I object!!" Little did everyone at the wedding know, my dad had gotten rather close with him over time and had actually paid him to stand up and do that as a joke. He burst out laughing. My mom didn't find it as funny, and it didn’t exactly start their marriage off on the right foot...
28. Them’s Fightin’ Words
My cousin was getting married. My aunt and the mother of the groom did not get along well. During the ceremony, when the pastor got to the part about objecting, my aunt said something to my uncle. The groom’s mom jumped up, grabbed my aunt, and the two of them just started going at it—all the way out the door and into the parking area. They were eventually separated and the wedding continued.
29. Whoops!
I work wedding bars often in between library shifts, and I saw a wedding where the bride never turned up to the altar and texted the guy 15 minutes before saying, "Sorry but I'm not coming". It was super depressing, they went ahead with the 'party' and the groom ended up leaving at around half 7, the rest of the guests at 10.
What had happened was the bride had spent all day with her parents the day before and they apparently hated her husband to be and had convinced her not to show up. Last thing I heard was she came to his door the next morning and apologized, they're still together as far as I know... Man was that an awkward work night.
30. Truth or Dare
My cousin was big into bodybuilding when he was younger, and has always been really tall. Around the time he got married, he was probably 6’6” and 260 lbs. I was 18 at the time and I’ll never forget this. When the priest asked, “are there any objections to this Union?” my cousin turned to the crowd and opened his arms wide, gesturing as if to say, “I dare someone to object!” The whole place erupted in laughter. It was amazing.
31. A Man on a Mission
I was working at a wedding when I was younger, running the bar at the reception. We were told that the reception would begin around 4pm. It was only about 3ish, and one of the male guests was already sitting there drinking. I asked if he was not joining the ceremony, to which he replied something along the lines of “I will when I have the courage". He downs his drink and leaves. Ten minutes later he comes back, looking extremely disappointed. He orders another drink.
Less than 30 seconds later, another guy (who turned out to be the groom), walks in, punches him in the back of the head, and leaves. This dude just picked his drink up and sipped it further. I eventually found out that this fellow had downed his drink, walked into the ceremony, publicly admitted to sleeping with the bride at her bachelorette party, and then ran back to the bar. He was never invited to the wedding, but had just shown up to inform the groom. He found out where the wedding was, suited up, and dropped the info on everyone mid-ceremony.
32. Cough Drops
My middle brother has a very odd sense of humor that occasionally causes issues. One of those issues is that he likes to whip his johnson out at random times and see how long it takes people to notice. The night before the wedding, he told me that at some point during the ceremony he was going to cough loudly, which would mean his you-know-what was out.
I laughed it off and didn’t think he could possibly be serious. Our officiant got to the "speak now or forever hold your peace" bit, and I heard a cough from where my brother was sitting. Both my husband and I whipped our heads around in disbelief, but the audience just thought we were daring any of them to say something, so they all laughed. Little did they know what was actually going down in the crowd...
33. Wrong Place, Right Time
When the pastor asked for any objections, someone dressed in armor barged into the room screaming, "Then I'm not too late! Mother of the Xenocide, the fruit of thy womb will never destroy my planet! Die, die!"
The groom went “umm...who are you exactly?”
"Seriously?"
"Seriously".
"This is [date]?"
"Yes".
"[Time]?"
"Yes".
"[Almost right location]?"
"Oh, no. You want [other very similarly named location]".
"Oh...My bad! Have a nice day, everybody!"
Theater majors, man.
34. Showing Them Who’s Boss
This happened at my sister’s wedding. My brother-in-law’s boss decided to rock up and yell, "yeah mate, I gotta speak my peace—oh sorry mate, wrong wedding!" Everyone laughed except my brother-in-law, who was pretty angry.
35. Through the Eyes of a Child
I was one year old when my mom married my step-dad. During the objection portion, I apparently yelled, "STOP!"—but no one listened. They divorced six years later. I warned you, mom!
36. Don’t Drink and Object
I was a waiter at a venue that hosted many weddings. We would typically watch the wedding ceremony from the second floor in order to know when to start the reception. A guest for the wedding had arrived a few hours early, so he sat in the restaurant and had a few too many drinks. During the ceremony, he yelled "DON'T FREAKING DO IT!! THE GROOM IS AN IDIOT!!" There was the typical gasp by the crowd, then it was just silence as people from the bar escorted him out.
37. That Went Well...
I was best man at a wedding where the groom’s older sister decided to play a joke by standing up and yelling “I object” while giggling. The groom’s mother did not find it funny. She stood up slapped her daughter in the face, told her it was not an appropriate joke, and demanded that she go home. This mother still refuses to talk to her daughter four years later because of this.
38. Getting a Second Opinion
The groom’s dad interrupted the wedding to ask the bride’s father to confirm whether or not she was truly a virgin. I couldn’t believe my ears! Truly a weird and embarrassing moment to witness.
39. Having a Blast
My wife dragged me to a wedding that I did not want to go to—but I'm forever grateful that she did, because I was able to witness one of the greatest spectacles of human drama that has ever taken place. This was like an episode of Jerry Springer mixed with Cops. The bride's secret lover objected in the middle of the ceremony: "I'll be darned if I'm gonna keep my mouth shut and let you steal my woman, you sorry piece of filth!" he yelled out.
This deranged old redneck then proceeded to come at the groom with a loaded pistol, threatening to shoot him if he doesn't give her up. Every single person in attendance started screaming and running away. The authorities were called. I grabbed my wife's hand and we retreated outside to watch the rest of the scene unfold from the church window.
40. Busted
When the pastor got to the part “or forever hold your peace,” the bride said, “Yes, I’d like to say something".
Then she turned around to her guests and said, “I’d like to thank my maid of honor for sleeping with my fiancé last night". With that, she threw her bouquet down and stormed off. The story even made it onto local radio at the time.
41. Change of Heart
Amazingly, I saw the groom himself object. He just stood up there and started crying, then announced in front of everyone that he had fallen out of love with the bride a while before but didn't know how to break it off. It was extremely uncomfortable, and they both stepped out. Ten minutes later, they came back in and got married—because she'd apparently told him she was pregnant. They're still together, with three kids now. I'm not sure about the husband, but I can confirm that the wife is having an affair. Neither of them are happy, but she has a comfortable life and he doesn't have the spine to leave.
42. The Domino Effect
I was at a wedding where as soon as one guy got the ball rolling by objecting, multiple additional objections started to follow. First, a guy stood up and pledged his undying love for the bride. Then four or five others followed with various reasons, including one guy's love for the groom. By the second or third objection, it was becoming clear that something was fishy. It turned out that the whole thing was just a clever ruse. It was all set up by the bride as a prank on the unsuspecting groom and their family and friends. It was pretty hilarious!
Sources: Reddit, ,
