Here comes the bride—and all of the baggage that comes with her. Being a wedding planner may seem like a glamorous job full of dress appointments and flower arrangements, these real-life workers know it’s less of a dream and more of a nightmare. Here, they faced bridezillas and groomzillas head-on and lived to tell the tale…but at what cost?
1. 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.
2. One Special Day
I'm a former clergyman. I used to be a deacon and I was fully empowered to officiate weddings; however, no one, in my experience, ever asked the deacon to do a wedding unless they are a family friend. So I was a little shocked and somewhat suspicious when this couple approached me. They wanted two things: for me to officiate, and to use our church.
Their wedding was only two weeks away and their first venue fell through. They said they just wanted to rent the church and that they would have a family friend officiate, but unless the family friend just so happened to be the clergy of the same denomination, the latter wasn't an option. As I asked more questions, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the couple.
Something was off, and after a bit of back and forth between us, they finally came out with the shocking truth. Apparently, the couple had broken up after the invites had been sent, but the bride was not going to be deprived of her "special day" for some technicality like not having a groom. Deposits were already in place anyway, so they figured they'd throw the big wedding, have the reception, and then go their separate ways.
I asked the groom why he would be participating in this farce. He told me that the father of the bride was willing to give the groom the honeymoon tickets and the hotel. He basically got a free vacation to show up and look sincere. The reason why the first venue dropped them was that they didn't want to stage a fake wedding. Well, neither did we.
3. For Better Or Worse
I have a GROOMZILLA! I am the office manager for a photographer during weddings. I go along with her on wedding days to be an extra set of hands and to help gather everyone for the portraits. The bride and groom were doing a “first look” before the ceremony, which is when the bride comes up behind the groom, taps him on the shoulder, and he turns around to see her in all bridal, smiles and all.
We also get photos of other couples, the wedding party, and families out of the way before the ceremony, so the guests are free to spend the rest of their time enjoying the reception instead of ducking out to take pictures. It's great because they get an up-close picture of the groom’s reaction to seeing his bride, which is harder to get in a church or ceremony. Everyone stands up when they see the bride at that point, and if you miss the shot, there's no recreating that look on his face.
So this couple was doing their first look, and it soon became clear that something was terribly wrong. The groom had been on a party bus with the groomsmen for a few hours while the bride was getting ready in the hotel, so they were all HAMMERED...like they couldn't focus their eyes when I went to grab the groom. I asked him to set down his drink for the pictures and he just rolled his eyes.
She came up behind him, already trying not to cry, then tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around....and instead of looking at her, his eyes immediately looked around for the drink, which he had set on a window sill. I kid you not, he reached around her, grabbed the drink, and took a long gulp while looking at her.
He put the glass down, then burped...in her face. He said, "You look nice" before spinning around and heading back to the bus. I followed after him as the photographer stood there, absolutely stunned. I told him, "Hey Mike, you still have a bunch of portraits to take before we get the guys off the bus..." Just as he turned around to answer me, the bride threw her bouquet and hit him in the chest.
He grabbed it and whipped it into the middle of a very busy street. The bride followed him into the bus screaming, and I followed behind her, but I couldn't get around her without stepping on the dress. At the same time, another sloshed groomsman was coming back on the bus, trying to get around both of us. He bumped me aside and stepped on her dress, ripping part of the train and sending both of us stumbling backward.
He dodged the falling bride, and I kind of caught her butt to keep her mostly upright. I could feel her dress ripping more in my hand as she was trying to right herself. Somehow, it took a worse turn. At that point, all the guys on the bus were completely laughing their butts off. I mean, including the groom.
I had tears in my eyes because I just landed on my tailbone and my palm was scraped from breaking my fall. All I was thinking was, “Don’t touch the dress, don't get blood on her dress, just get her standing up". The groom told the bus driver through his laughter, "Just go. Just go man, she can meet us at the church." I met eyes with the bus driver and I just kind of shook my head no.
The groom saw me. “Screw her, she's not paying you, I am. Do you want a $100 tip? Drive." The bus driver left. The bride was beside herself at this point. I drove her to the church, and they still got married an hour later, to my surprise. I drank myself silly when I got home that night. I just checked Facebook—they are still married three years later.
4. The Unhappy Hippy
I worked a wedding where the bride and groom were hippies, while the groom's father was the chief of the local force. They were all from the same little town. One side of the room was full of officers, and the other side was full of dread-locked, patchouli-wearing, barefooted hippies. After dinner was over, the entire hippy crowd went outside and stood in a huge circle to get high while the officers looked on with utter disgust on their faces. It was epic—but then it got weird.
The bride was off her rocker but eventually came to her senses when she caught wind that someone was planning an after-party without her approval. She didn't like that one bit. She started screaming at the top of her lungs, "WHERE IS SHE?" over and over again while storming around. When she found, the girl, a bridesmaid, she proceeded to freak out on her.
It was in the middle of the dance floor, in front of 300 people. The bridesmaid started to cry and the bride completely lost her mind. All anyone could do was stare with their mouths hanging wide open in disbelief....the words that came out of that bride were some of the absolute worst. Several people tried to step in, but the bride lashed out at everyone.
It was the single most disgusting thing I'd ever seen. The girl ran off and the bride proceeded to pass out on a couch in the bathroom. Classy girl. When it's your "big day," for the love of God, please be of sound mind.
5. Some Like It Hot
I had this client book me two weeks before the actual wedding. I regret taking it to this day. She had no transportation to take her home at the end of the night. I asked her repeatedly what her plan was, and she told me she would just refrain from drinking and drive herself to her honeymoon spot. She never told me where that was, even though I kept asking.
Fast forward two weeks. A massive tornado just went through the area the day before her wedding, so there were power lines and trees blocking every entrance to the highway in the boonies of Maryland. I got up early to deal with the issues at the venue—there was no electricity on a 100-degree day, so that was a huge problem. I got a call from her around 6 am saying she realized she now needed transportation.
Fine, I decided I'd find it for her. "One last question, where is this mystery honeymoon spot?" I asked her. Turned out, it was hours away in West Virginia. I called every Maryland-based limo company and begged them to find someone to drive into the Maryland countryside at 11 pm and then take them to West Virginia. Finally, someone relented and I called the bride to tell her the price. Complete. Meltdown.
"Well guess what, you requested that at the last minute, so you're going to pay whatever they want to charge you," I told her. The wedding itself was a complete circus. The bride hated her hair and makeup and made it very well known to me, even though she had personally booked the stylist. As it was 100 degrees out, the original unshaded area was going to be terrible for the ceremony.
I suggested we moved it somewhere cooler for her comfort, like underneath this beautiful centuries-old tree. She refused, but as guests arrived, they did nothing but complain. I decided to say screw it and moved the ceremony to make everyone happy. It was a one-hour traditional Jewish ceremony and no way was I going to let people suffer in the sun.
After the ceremony, I had to wait outside the bridal suite while the couple had a wedding ceremony...which is something I never want to witness again. That ceremony went way over schedule, thus extending cocktail hour and shortening the reception. The bride freaked out that she lost out on dancing time and blamed it on me.
At the end of the night during clean-up, the mother of the bride started throwing decor in her car rather than let my team do the load out. As soon as she left, I noticed my emergency kit was nowhere to be found. I called her and she claimed she never saw it, even though it was next to the decor we had started to pile up.
The next week, I got a call from the venue saying they saw a car throw a bag out of their window onto the steps of the venue before speeding away. Alas, it was my bag and I had to drive for over 90 minutes to go fetch it, even though the mother and bride lived super close to me and had my address. To top it all off, I got a heat stroke and my poor assistant had to drive us home at midnight.
6. Sister Act
Not a wedding planner, but a wedding guest. It was my cousin's wedding and he was marrying this very awful girl whom no one, except his sister, liked. This girl hated everything about everyone and liked to be vocal about those things. So, halfway through the reception, I was super bored since I didn't want to be there. Honestly, I only went because my mother insisted.
The place was very awkward—no one was dancing and the bride was having a screaming contest with her dad outside. I noticed a woman who was very young sitting at the bride's family table, holding a baby and talking to some guy. I didn't notice her before since the baby was very quiet during the entire ceremony and they sat at the back.
I recognized that woman as the bride's 17-year-old sister who, by the way, was a teen mom. The guy, I later learned, was her boyfriend and baby daddy. At some point, the bride came back from outside, looked at her sister angrily, then marched her way to the groom's family…where she proceeded to complain about how her sister was stupid and irresponsible. Here’s where it got very embarrassing very fast.
She was talking so loudly that her sister, the guy, and everyone could hear her. The sister then started crying quietly while hugging the baby, who was now anxious. The guy, on the other hand, looked ready to attack the bride, and the bride's father seemed angry as well. Just when things couldn't get worst, The truth came out.
The bride started talking about how her sister was stealing her thunder, making the day all about herself and her mistakes. The bride's father then went to talk to her, taking her out of the venue so she could "calm herself," but everyone could still hear her having a complete and total tantrum outside.
The sister and her partner later said their goodbyes to her family and friends, but she was still crying at that point. Later on, I learned that the bride was always jealous of her sister because she was "the baby and the favorite daughter". The bride and the sister are no longer on speaking terms.
7. This One Takes The Cake
I work at a bakery, and part of my job is to help pair couples with the correct designer for their cake. One bride wanted a cake large enough to feed 500 people. This multi-tiered cake was going to be filled with fresh berries and custard, covered with buttercream and fondant, and decorated with edible flowers and more fresh fruit.
She also wanted us to somehow defy the laws of physics and make it float. Apparently, she had seen a floating cake in an anime show—an animated cake—and decided nothing else was acceptable. When I told her we can't make floating cakes, she reacted in the worst possible way—she threw her coffee on the floor and cried, saying that we were ruining her wedding. Her fiancé ushered her out of the building and I never saw either of them again.
8. Just Desserts
I once saw a full-grown groomzilla scream at a 17-year-old wedding store cashier and then proceeded to almost physically fight three managers over the price of 300 handmade chocolate bars. He had signed off on the price and they were in the middle of making them. Despite the wedding not being that day, he also was freaking out that they weren't done the minute he walked in, even though they were scheduled to be done by closing time. It was 10 am in the freaking morning. He had been told to pick them up an hour before the end of the workday.
He wanted the people behind the glass to stop making the bars because he wasn't going to pay that price for “late” chocolate bars, but he also didn't want them to stop because they were supposed to be done by now. So he kept breaking away from the managers to yell, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING" at the glass. He thought the sample labels with their names on them were tacky too, even though he had signed off on them as well.
9. The Marriage Contract
I was the wedding salesperson at a hotel that was going through a rough patch, so I really didn't have much of a choice when it came to clients. There was one bride in particular that drove me crazy. She had been a problem for a few months before I was hired, and I remember the Director of Sales told me that I was inheriting a handful.
I figured that no one could be THAT bad and laughed it off. Oh, I wish I’d listened. In our first meeting, she presented me with a detailed list of why my venue was a piece of garbage. Her fiancé spent the whole time looking defeated. In our second meeting, she brought the absolute worst reviews on Trip Advisor (printed off) of our hotel from as far back as 2003 and used these as a bargaining tool.
She hadn't signed the contract yet, so I was very ready to walk away from this at that point, but my bosses insisted we needed the revenue. After this, I started playing hardball and told her that another couple was interested in their date and that if she didn't sign within two days, I'd be selling it to them. This was a load of bull, mind you.
I hoped she would go away at this point, but she instead asked for the contract immediately. I, being forced to oblige, sent it but with extra clauses. First, she would pay the menu price for any food or beverage ordered. Second, we were allowed to end the contract for any reason with no penalty. She signed and obviously didn't read it.
During the tasting, she started coming down on me pretty hard because she didn't feel that the drinks were worth $6 a glass. I offered her Franzia as an alternative for $5.50 a glass but reminded her that I wouldn't negotiate menu prices, as per the contract. She finally went back and read the thing and asked me about the other additions.
I informed her that it was to protect me against "bridezillas." After that, she was far more agreeable.
10. Take A Picture, It’ll Last Longer
As a wedding photographer, I've seen my fair share of crazies over the years. The worst situation I ever had was with a couple who started arguing right after the vows. Typically, you shoot the bridal parties in the morning, and if you're lucky enough, the men will get dressed on time and let you take a few snaps of them while they're all suited and booted.
On this particular day, the men were already hitting the sauce pretty hard and what happened next was truly triggering—they ended up at the church stinking of booze. I could tell the bride was angry as I was making photos from the ceremony—she wouldn't look at her husband-to-be throughout the entire service. The groom, in all fairness, kept himself pretty well composed but was still stinking.
The poor guy was nervous. After the ceremony, before the bridal party gathered at the prearranged photography location, the bride and groom had about 30 minutes of alone time in the limo to conduct a full-blown argument. When they pulled up to the location, I got them to roll the window down for a champagne toast through the window shot, and all I was getting were smiles through gritted teeth.
It was awful. I tried my best to ease the mood, but this bride was in no mood for any wisecracks or enjoyment. The moral of the story is, don't argue on your wedding day or you'll end up looking back at angry photos.
11. Daddy Issues
The bridezilla in this story insisted on wearing the garter from her mother's wedding. I don't get the whole garter tradition but whatever, the bridezilla wanted to wear her mom's garter. But there was a big problem with that—her mom was married, then got divorced, then got remarried and had a daughter, who was the bridezilla.
The garter she wanted to wear was from the first marriage, not the marriage to her own dad, to whom her mom is still happily married. The father was extremely hurt and upset by this, not to mention confused. His protests were ignored. Also, the bride thought she was too good for her dad's side of the family, so they weren't invited under the pretense of it being too expensive.
She just ignored her dad when he repeatedly offered to pay for them to come. He pointed out that he was already paying for everything else, so it couldn't possibly be a money issue for her...poor guy.
12. Musical Chairs
I was setting up for a wedding of 200 guests. It was my job to put white chair covers on all the chairs and tie pink sashes around each one. A tedious and lengthy process. I was just about finished when my boss came in with the bride to check out the room. The bride took one look at the set-up and said, "What? I asked for black chair covers!"
I looked at her like, are you freaking kidding me? But my boss was all, "Oh I am so, so sorry, that is our mistake—we will get that fixed for you right away, don't you worry!” And guess who then has to untie every perfectly tied bow, take off every perfectly aligned chair cover, and replace them with black ones? Me.
I managed to just finish in time for the wedding to start. I then went back to my office and check the paperwork for her wedding. We had these breakdown sheets that basically list what is required for each wedding, and these went back and forth between the bride and the planner many times before everything was settled and agreed upon.
I looked through every single draft of this witch’s paperwork and NOT ONCE were black chair covers mentioned. Only white, in every draft. I checked my emails too to see if she had mentioned it there, nope. Nowhere in any of our records had she asked for black chair covers...yet she still complained to my boss that our screw-up with the chair covers had caused her so much stress she could barely enjoy the day.
13. You’re The Problem
I had a bride that openly spoke complete trash about the groom’s family in front of his face. She would say that they were "crazy, unclassy, and annoying." Yet, on the day of the wedding, her family was actually the difficult one to deal with, while the groom’s family was absolutely lovely. On top of all this, the bride yelled at all of the vendors all day, resulting in the videographers leaving after just one hour of recording.
The photographer cried in the bathroom, and the groom apologized to me for her behavior all night.
14. The Color Purple
I was a bridesmaid, not a wedding planner. The bride had a complete emotional breakdown because the purple monogrammed napkins she ordered were a little too blue-ish. That’s it, that was her complaint. She also spent the last half of her bachelorette party crying and complaining that not enough people were there. I wonder why…
15. Tie One On
I was hired to assist with makeup at a wedding. I was eight months pregnant and had to tie the mother’s sari. While I was tying it, the mother told me I was doing it wrong and wanted me to do it her way. I told her that she wouldn't be able to walk if I tied it the way she was requesting. She started to get frustrated, so I just gave in.
For what it’s worth, this woman didn't know how to tie a sari, since she apparently doesn't wear them. Minutes later, she came out and started screaming at the wedding planner, complaining that I didn't know how to tie a sari. She was in tears! The planner took her away, calmed her down, and tied her sari the way I did in the first place. But it wasn’t over.
I was left in the room with the bridesmaids and the bride. The bride turned to me and starts screaming, "You ruined my wedding day! How dare you make my mother cry. You are a horrible person and are ruining the most important day of my life." I couldn't help it…I started laughing and I couldn’t stop. It was so dramatic for no reason.
Nothing was ruined. It took 10 minutes to fix. Just as the wedding planner walked in, the bride started really tripping out and screaming at me, "Get out! Get out! I don't want to see your face, you ruined everything." Then she started to cry.
Honestly, I shouldn’t have done it but I laughed even harder and said, "You are in for a surprise if you think a poorly tied sari is the worst thing in the world". I then turned to the planner and told her to pay me so I could go home and put my feet up. The wedding planner called me the next week to help with another wedding...I said no.
16. No Entry
At my sister's wedding, part of the reception was held indoors, in an area that isn't wheelchair accessible. My disabled wife and I had to miss out on that part of it. We found out about it on the day, minutes before that part of the wedding was due to start. A little while after, we realized that there actually is a way to get into the area.
We would just need to go through an inside room that had been set up with tables for dinner. I found my sister and asked them to ask the staff to let us through. My blood still boils at her reply. My sister forbade us from going through the room, saying she didn't want anyone going into it until it was dinnertime. So my wife and I were left sitting alone outside while she and her friends had a chocolate fountain and open bar.
I came about THIS close to giving her a loud piece of my mind and bailing on the wedding.
17. See No Evil
Our wedding venue booked two wedding parties on the same day. No problem, they said we wouldn't overlap, and we didn't particularly care anyway. Toward the end of getting our photos done, the photographer said to me that we were being moved to another part of the garden because this other party was inside and the bride did not want to see another bride on her big day.
We didn't care at the time because we were genuinely just very happy to be married, but what a freaking princess.
18. Baby Drama
This just happened to me last week. My best friend asked me to be her maid of honor, my daughter to be a flower girl, and my younger son to be the ring bearer. My friend has been emotionally all over the place and I really wanted her to have the perfect day. The closer it got to the wedding, though, the more irrational she became.
She was unpredictable and irrational, but I gave her 100% support and bit my tongue more than I ever had. Last Wednesday morning, we went to pick up her wedding dress. She was stressed out and really needed my support. We were just a couple blocks away from David's Bridal when my oldest son called me. He just got a text from his girlfriend that she had just given birth and was on her way to the hospital.
My son was in between classes and was jumping on a bus to get to the hospital. His girlfriend was 35 weeks pregnant and delivering breech alone at home. Nobody had any idea what happened or how the mom and baby were doing. I had just enough time to call my husband and let him know what just happened before we pulled into David's Bridal.
I was about half an hour away and had a job to do. We were getting her into her dress and it wasn't fitting so she was very upset. I was in shock and wasn't able to give her 100% of my attention and support this one time. We had an hour to waste while they let out the dress (for the second time) and I was just trying to figure out what was going on with the baby.
When we went back for the final dress fitting, I could not find the small hook that needs to be done up before I could lace up the back. I tried for a few minutes, but then she asked me to get someone else to do it. The attendant hooked it and got the lace started, then asked if I wanted to take over. I was overwhelmed and asked my friend if it was okay for the girl to finish so I could text my sisters.
My friend said that it was fine. If she told me that she was freaking out and really needed me, I would have waited to text them later. But she said it was fine and I didn't give it a second thought. Later on, when we got in the car to leave, I got a text from the girlfriend's stepmom, saying that they were transferring the baby to another hospital.
Right after I got the text, my sister called me to give her an update on everything I knew. I later found out that's what really set my friend off—not getting off the phone at that very moment. Apparently, I had the nerve to ask my sister how they were doing. I was still on the phone when she dropped me at my place half an hour later.
At that point, I could tell that she was upset. Nothing new. But about half an hour later, I got a text I wish I could unsee. It was her saying that she was upset with me because I knew how much she needed my support and I wasn't there for her. She said that I had been a horrible maid of honor and she didn't think that I would be able to support her on her wedding day, so she kicked me out three days before the wedding.
I was taken back by her selfishness and very hurt. Then I had to tell my younger kids that we were no longer a part of the wedding. She texted me the day after the wedding to say that we both said things in anger and hopefully we can move past it and be friends again. That was such a load of bull—I know that I deserve an honest apology from her and none of this "we both said things” stuff.
So I’m angry. At the same time, our friendship ended so suddenly and I feel like I have a big hole inside. Even though we are on bad terms, it is so hard not to text her pictures of the baby and let her know what's going on. It just sucks.
19. Can’t Be Pleased
Not the bride, but the groom and his entitled, god-awful family. The groom is a jerk, but his mom takes the cake. At one point during the reception, the mother of the groom kept complaining about where the newlyweds were, when they were planning on coming, why they were taking so long, and what we should do if she got hypoglycemia since she was so hungry already.
I kept telling her that they were just having their photos taken, while also sending out more appetizers to their table so she could eat. Basically, I told her that everything was going fine without actually saying, "Can you please screw off? I'm working." Turned out, the mother of the groom harassed most of my staff, saying the same stuff over and over.
Even if we sent out food for them, she refused to eat since she wanted to take a family photo first with the newlyweds.
20. It Runs In The Family
It was my aunt’s wedding renewal. She ordered makeup artists, hairdressers, and even a team to set up the place where the party would be held. The hairdressers and makeup artists specifically hired to take care of her four sisters, four cousins, and her husband's three cousins. The only people who let the makeup artist and hairdresser fix them up hours before the renewal wedding were me, my mom, my little sister, and my aunt herself.
The other family members wanted to do it themselves for some reason. When we all arrived at the party, we were shocked. the other women who rejected the offer showed up with no makeup and bad hair. My aunt stressed out on the spot and blew up in their faces. My mom, the makeup artist, and even the hairdresser got mad at the ones who rejected their services.
There was a freaking hour left and these jerks weren't ready! The makeup and hairdresser would've been doing it without them having to pay because it was all coming from my aunt's pocket...but no, they wanted to "do it themselves." Although my aunt was a bridezilla about it, she had every right to be. A lot of my family members are kind of morons.
21. Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
It was my brother's wedding, and I was one of the bridesmaids for my sister-in-law. We were taking all those cutesy, typical pre-wedding photos between the bride, her bridesmaids, and her parents when we realized that only the bridesmaids’ transport had arrived. The car for her and her dad was stuck somewhere.
She called up to find out what was happening and proceeded to scream at the poor guy who was stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere. But it got even worse from there—her skin erupted in a red sort of rash that was visible on her chest and her arms, but she just kept screaming that she was not going to get married if she couldn't go in the car she paid for. Half an hour went by. No car for her.
We suggested she just come with us. We had a Volkswagen C2 wedding-decorated van and had plenty of space for her and her parents. Her response? "No, I can't turn up this late to my wedding. I'm not getting married!" Like, seriously. Luckily, after a tense 10 minutes, she got in our van, and we continued with the wedding day.
22. Get A Grip
My friend is usually easygoing, but she was terrible to me when she was getting married. She was marrying a man who is a friend of my husband—they met because they were both members of our wedding party. Anyway, I found out that I was pregnant with my first child just before she announced her wedding date.
My doctors told me before that I was unlikely to get pregnant, so it was a huge deal for me. No one knew. She asked my husband and me to be part of her wedding party, so we took her and her future husband to dinner to explain that it might not be the best idea as I would be very pregnant at the wedding.
She acted excited at first, then we went for dresses with the bridesmaids. At that point, she made a comment that she could never take back. She told me, half snidely and half-jokingly, that I should “get rid of it” so I wouldn't be pregnant at her wedding. Apparently, according to her, I could just have another one later.
I was sick as a dog and trying not to cry. Also, I am on the larger side and made sure I could order my dress two sizes bigger as it was not very accommodating to a pregnant body. I could. That’s when the consultant made fun of me for being fat. They were all going to dinner afterward, and I skipped out because I didn't want to be harassed anymore.
Then her bridal shower happened. It was a state over, where we were both from. First off, her maid of honor shook me down for money for the party. We never agreed to that in advance, but I gave in because I wanted to help. I also wanted to assist with the setup, but I got there a little late. I had been really sick all morning and had to drive an hour to get there.
My parents begged me to go home and rest, but I didn't listen. Instead, I spent half the party in the bathroom vomiting. I still got there early, but a lot of the work had been done, so I stayed and cleaned up after instead. Later, she got into a fight with me over this. At that point, I was done. I had found out there was something wrong with the pregnancy and was put on bed rest, and I told her I was done being treated like that.
I told her my baby was sick and I wasn't going to be putting myself under that kind of stress anymore. To be fair, that is when she felt awful, and I think she finally saw the bigger picture. But there was one more tragedy to go. See, I wasn't pregnant for her wedding. My daughter was born at 29 weeks because she was in distress.
We found out she had trisomy 18 and we only had six days with her. The wedding was eight weeks after she passed. We attended but opted out of being part of the wedding party. We left during the father-daughter dance because it was too painful, but at that point, people were more understanding, especially my friend. I wish it didn’t take that, though.
23. I Get Hangry
I went to a friend’s wedding where the bridezilla was not on speaking terms with her soon-to-be mother-in-law. Apparently, the mother-in-law made some change to a steak sauce or something, and my friend freaked out. As she was screaming and yelling, she made her brother go and get her a Lunchable from the grocery store. She ate a Lunchable at the main table of the reception. That marriage lasted about a year.
24. Paint It Black
I was just at a wedding a few months ago, and the bridesmaids had to wear black shoes under our floor-length dresses. Right before we left the hotel to head to the church, one of the bridesmaid’s shoes broke. Like, the sole of the shoe separated completely from her toe and dangled. We were trying to find a sewing kit to see if we could rig it, but we had to go.
We grabbed what we could—as in, another pair of heels that were unfortunately tan—and went to the limo. We stuffed and stuff into the shoe to try to make it stay, but one wrong move and the pin would go straight through her toe. We looked at the bride to show her and confirm it was okay to wear the other, not-broken tan shoes. Her response was brutal.
"HECK. NO." She wanted her to wear the black ones. Are you kidding me??? The walk down that aisle was like 50 yards. The bridesmaid ended up switching shoes without telling the bride. I was walking in front of her, so I made sure to walk slow so she could take tiny steps and her shoes wouldn't show. I know what you're going to say. "Oh, she was probably just worried about the pictures!" Yeah, we were in none of the pictures once the ceremony ended.
25. Permanent Ink
My best friend got married two years ago to a bride who insisted that her maid of honor not get any tattoos leading up to the wedding or she would be removed from the wedding party. The reason? "Because she will ruin the wedding photos with her tattoos." See, the maid of honor wanted to get a quarter sleeve from her shoulder to mid-bicep.
She had been planning this tattoo for months, but the ultimatum was given. It was a very long engagement period; it was around 2+ years. I could understand the bride’s stance…if the woman didn't have several tattoos already herself. It made her look like a huge hypocrite to everyone else. This was just one of many awkward moments at that wedding.
26. Mother Knows Best
The bride, Sarah, was horrible to her mother Dora during her whole wedding process, though Dora took it like a champ. Sarah would have tantrums over her dress, force her mother to dye her hair the night before the wedding and have her pay for over half of the wedding. She became so difficult that she even caused tensions to build up between her and her suppliers, which Dora had to diffuse.
She did all this with the patience of a saint. After all, Sarah is her only daughter and the first of her kids to get married. Then, my wedding day came— I was to marry Sarah's brother. I wanted to elope but my husband wanted a wedding, so we compromised and had a small ceremony with only 10 people. Sadly, this also included Sarah.
Sarah showed up late and was being a total witch to my family and the other guests. After 20 minutes of her making a spectacle of herself, she then proceeded to loudly complain about how the professional photographer didn't know what she was doing. Dora finally had enough—she went right up to her and uttered one legendary sentence.
In front of all our guests and family, she said in a sweet voice, "You were a bridezilla at your wedding, do you also have to be a witch at your brother's wedding?" Sarah's face just dropped. She left shortly after the ceremony and did not sign our wedding book. I later found out she told my husband the day before our wedding not to marry me.
She got divorced shortly after my wedding due to her own doing. The thing is, she was miserable with that man and now is a lot nicer. I can genuinely say that I like her now. I think she was awful because she was not happy with her ex-husband. She projected her feelings onto us.
27. Murphy’s Law
The entire wedding was a disaster. I used to work for a wedding catering business, and one time we had a wedding where everything that could've gone wrong, went wrong. The groom's ex showed up, demanded to be let in, and was eventually escorted out by the authorities. The groom later screamed at his mother to "Get out."
The bride's brother was cut off after he was noticeably sauced, and he proceeded to knock over a stack of glass racks, breaking about eight dozen glasses on the floor in the dining room. Multiple guests had their illicit substances confiscated, and a lady vomited and passed out on the dance floor. I miss that job.
28. It’s All About Me
The bride stormed out of the wedding rehearsal and drove home because her husband wanted to add a song she didn't like to the playlist for the dance. She also scheduled family photos for the day of the groom’s best friend’s wedding after he told her he was the best man, and then threw a giant tantrum about him putting family first.
29. A Free Ride
My brother was getting married and I was one of his groomsmen. It wasn't even his wife; it was her family that acted like complete jerks from start to finish. Normally, the bride's family throws her a bridal shower, but her family said "that's too expensive," so they did nothing. My mother offered the use of her house, paid for all of the food, and at the request of the bride, asked that only the ladies of each family attend the event.
The family of the bride showed up with a party tent that nobody had asked for, literally dropped it in the driveway with no idea or intention of setting it up, then left. I had the pleasure of figuring it out and setting up this clown-house-themed tent that nobody used since the event was held indoors.
Fast forward to the day of the shower. Every single member of the bride's family—men included—showed up after being told "ladies only, no men." Then the men were confused why they were corraled and told they weren't welcome to eat before the bride. Later, the bride's family tried to complain about how my mom "high-jacked the wedding" by stepping up when the bride's own family refused to contribute. Unfortunately, it gets even worse.
The wedding day and reception were no better. Again, not a single dime was contributed towards either the wedding or reception from her family, yet they were the first to line up at the bar. They also tried ordering an additional keg on my parent's tab. After the reception, my parents learned that a full keg had been tapped without their approval.
Regardless, they were sent the bill, although a refund was eventually issued. The refund for some reason was sent to the bride's mother, who again contributed nothing to the reception or the wedding. My parents asked the manager of the venue for confirmation that the refund had been issued and was shown a record.
The check had been cashed, but the bride's mother outright denied receiving any such check. To this day, despite literally taking money, freeloading thousands of dollars worth of food and booze, and contributing nothing, they still complain about how my mom "high-jacked the wedding." This all coming from girls who lived with their parents well into their late 20s.
30. Going Incognito
We had a woman who wanted everything and wanted it cheap. We had one of our planners leave us suddenly, so this woman had to be transferred to another planner. This was so early in the planning stages that it really should not have mattered, but the bride thought the stress was enough that she should get everything for free or severely discounted.
Now, she and the original planner had preliminary pricing for certain items. One of the items, a small flower wall, suddenly changed to a 12' x 12' flower wall and she demanded we give it to her for free “for the stress". I am not a pushover and have no pity for those who try to manipulate me, so in the end, she rented our wall but had to send pre-made flowers herself, which we would staple.
She cut most of what we were supposed to provide, saying her family would do it instead. Fine with me, since I could tell this was someone we wanted minimal contact with. When the day finally came, we found out she was renting chairs from us for the ceremony. We were setting up the wall and a couple of other minor things.
The time limits in this space were very tight. It also turned out that the outdoor pavilion became a complete wind tunnel during the time she scheduled. She rented cheap stanchions, so the wind just knocked them all down. The wooden chairs were falling over. There was no way that flower board would stay up, and no amount of sandbagging was going to keep that giant wooden sail from crushing the bride during the ceremony.
Meanwhile, the family was trying to set up a paper runner and deco. I tried to get this all to work, putting the chairs along the runner to hold it down, but apparently, her dress was so big that the aisle was too narrow that way. So I sat the family down—they knew what was coming, but the bride is the bride and they all feared her reaction.
The family came to the decision that it was not going to work. Since I had to go prep the restaurant for the reception, I told them I would take their decor and make use of it there, along with the flower wall. I went to the restaurant with my crew, made this happen, and went home. I guess we were lucky that the bride was over an hour late.
The bride, shockingly, never called to complain about the wall not being at the ceremony or anything else. I assumed her family talked some sense into her. We did go above and beyond to make what we could work for her, but what she did next was appalling— she told the restaurant that all decor was donated to them…including all of our rental items.
Luckily, the restaurant didn't argue when we said the bride was mistaken and I sent my crew to collect what was ours. That flower wall was the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my career. I didn't have my crew wear our logo gear that day since I did not want the company associated with that event.
31. Can’t Buy Love
My best friend got engaged in February and she asked me to be her maid of honor. I agreed. She decided on a destination wedding, so I asked a bunch of questions; mainly if I could book the trip myself (it was $2,000 per person). She freaked out because everyone was complaining about the cost. In response, she "released" me from maid of honor duties.
We didn't speak for months until I got a random message on Facebook one day inviting me to the bridal shower. When I said no, she was shocked and offended.
32. There Is No Try
A friend of mine pitched a big fit because one of her bridesmaids couldn't make it to a dress fitting. That bridesmaid had just had a C-section and wound up getting an infection. She couldn't make the fitting because she was at the doctor's.
33. Fair Weather Friend
My wife and I got married last October. She was great, but her maid of honor was a problem. They'd been friends since high school and her friend’s dad had passed a few years prior, so she struggled with that. Her mom is a cold, wealthy woman who paid for her penthouse suite in downtown Atlanta as well as all of her other expenses, but she never showed her love. You know the type.
Anyway, the maid of honor didn't want to organize anything for a bridal shower or for a bachelorette party. When they went to try on dresses, she called the other bridesmaids skinny witches. My sister, who has been a part of many wedding parties, commented how this one was the least she'd spent on a bridesmaid dress before.
It wasn’t like the maid of honor was being forced to spend a crazy amount of money either. Anyway, with the wedding date known well in advance, her mother bought her tickets to some Women's Conference across the country just days before the wedding. She would've been coming back into town the night before the wedding at best, but she begrudgingly agreed not to go to that because she was needed for pre-wedding stuff.
She also complained about getting her hair and makeup done too similar to the other bridesmaids, so she said she would go get hers done by her normal stylist on the day of. Also to note, my wife has epilepsy and one of her triggers is stress.
She wanted her best friend and maid of honor to be there on the day of to help keep her calm during such a busy and stressful time. The last straw was when my wife asked her if she had written out a speech. The maid of honor said she was just going to “wing it,” and my wife told her she wanted her to write it out first. See, this other girl had a way of making anything and everything about her, and she could talk for hours on end without someone else being in the conversation.
At this point, the maid of honor said, "Well, maybe I shouldn't be a part of the wedding." This was like two days before the ceremony. They got into a verbal match on the phone and ended their friendship. So she was out, and my sister was promoted to the maid of honor. Thankfully, the wedding and reception were perfect. But there was an epilogue…
A week later, my wife got a text from her former friend saying she hated the way things ended. Um, a little too late there, lady.
34. Dodged A Danger
This one happened to a friend of mine. Jane was asked to be the matron of honor at the wedding of a close friend and former sorority sister. She happily accepted. A few months after, the bride received a string of texts from that friend, who informed her that Jane and her husband bought a new house. This made her absolutely furious.
Why? Well, the bride had settled on real estate for her career after half-hearted attempts to launch in several other professions. The bride informed Jane that she was VERY HURT she wasn't informed that they were in the market for a new house and that they didn't use her as their real estate agent.
Clearly, their friendship wasn't as close as it once was and Jane had no loyalty to the bride...Oh, did I mention that the bride lives and works in a different city hundreds of miles away from Jane, so logistically, it would make zero sense to use her as their realtor?
The bride doesn't let that keep her from laying on the guilt trip, though. She informed Jane that given her hurt feelings, she has decided to demote her from matron of honor to just a bridesmaid. It was ridiculous and Jane knew that, but she still responded rather kindly, saying she was sorry if she upset her and that she would be honored to be a bridesmaid nonetheless.
Had that been the very end of it, it probably would've already been enough to cement her bridezilla status, but oh no, there's more. Another month went by with the only brief, surface-level contact between the two of them. Jane never got more than one- or two-word answers in response to her texts, and the bride wasn't initiating calls or messages.
Then, out of nowhere, she got a long text explaining that the bride and her groom-to-be decided to make their wedding party even, so they reduced it to five bridesmaids and five groomsmen. The bride had to make some really tough cuts and apparently agonized over it (her words), but ultimately she decided that Jane would no longer be a part of her wedding party.
Conveniently enough, Jane was the only person being cut. The way we saw it, after the “betrayal” of the real estate debacle, the bride expected a groveling apology and maybe even a promise to use her next time or refer friends to her. She didn't get any of that, so a month later, she dumped Jane from the wedding party altogether.
35. The Way To A Guest’s Heart Is Through Their Stomach
This bride wouldn't let anyone leave in the five hours between the wedding brunch and the evening reception. She also didn't order enough food for either buffet. Not a fun wedding, especially since all of her friends weren’t very well off and were already spending a lot of money to come to her wedding in the first place.
36. Analyze This
My worst bride I ever had was an Ivy League-educated shrink. She tried to play head games with absolutely everyone involved in the planning of the wedding and also frequently had fits. She and I butted heads because she wanted a carpet running straight from the bottom of the stairs to the doors of the chapel. I told her it wasn't possible, since they didn't line up.
She kept on asking me if I was sure, even after I showed her exactly what I meant. That’s when she narrowed her eyes and told me she thought I had a problem with the truth. She was very controlling with the groom as well. I remembered their names and looked them up on Facebook a while back. They're divorced and he appears to be happily remarried.
37. What Could Have Been
This is the story of when my ex-fiancée attack my brother and a photographer because of my witch sister. A few things you need to know first: My parents are Mormon, so I had seen my ex-fiancée only a handful of times before the wedding. My ex was crazy. One small example of her bridezilla behavior was when she threw herself on the floor because I could not get her a ring that was three times the cost of the wedding.
Similarly, my sister is a crazy drama queen who loves attention. She was a bridesmaid at our cousin’s wedding and refused to smile in the pictures. She also “accidentally” knocked the bride over because she was angry at the attention our cousin was getting. On the day of the wedding, I was getting ready with my little brother Coda.
I was dreading getting married, but holding it together. My uncle came in and told me I needed to come outside as there was a problem. Turned out, my little sister had gone around and told literally everyone that Coda is gay. The only people who knew about this were my sister and me. Everyone was acting pretty cool about it…except my wife-to-be. What she did next was horrifying.
She made a beeline for my brother, pushed him, then screamed that he ruined her day. I explained that it was my sister who did it, but she was inconsolable. She kept yelling calling my brother names, who in turn got really upset. I was done with all the drama at that point, so I said sorry to everyone and left with my brother.
The best part was that her parents paid for the wedding, as per tradition. I paid for the ring and honeymoon and told her to keep the ring. For the honeymoon, I couldn't get a refund, so I just downgraded to a family suite. That night, my brother and I jumped on a plane to Ibiza for two weeks. Best two weeks of my life. We went out to crazy clubs and I met a lot of girls.
He met a lot of guys. We got to go surfing, deep-sea fishing, you name it. I got married a few years later, and my brother got married early this year. Neither of us invited our sister.
38. Darned If You Do, Darned If You Don’t
As a musician in a band, I've had several moments toward the end of the night where the incredibly intoxicated bride comes up during every other song either requesting to sing or asking for a specific song that we don't know or have. Any special musical requests are always included in the contract in advance, and these moments are of course never agreed on in advance.
Usually, this leads to the bride throwing a huge tantrum if we don't do what she says OR it turns into a massive circus if we let her or a guest sit in and sing with us. The last time we did what a bridezilla asked, it was an absolute nightmare—her friend fell backward into the drum set in the middle of singing an off-key “Don't Stop Believing,” making a huge scene.
39. I’m So Lonely
My mom used to volunteer as a wedding coordinator for my church. Most brides were fine, with the only complaint being that some had a little too much to drink. But there was this one bride who turned into a bridezilla. She had some of her best friends as her bridesmaids, but according to my mom, the bride turned into such a raging witch to them that the bridesmaids actually walked off before the wedding. None of them showed up on the big day.
40. A True Bridezilla
There was this huge wedding I was planning. I had two other guys from a different company helping me because it was that big. The groom wanted this huge Hawaiian-themed wedding with sand on the floor. Guests had to wear flip-flops and Hawaiian shirts. Meanwhile, the bride wanted a classic white wedding.
The groom said it was “too traditional". Long story short, the bride lost it. She went batty. Since our office was getting renovated, we had a few builders resting here and there, and she literally destroyed the place.
41. If The Shoe Fits
My cousin married a vapid idiot. The night before the wedding, this girl figured out that the flower girl had the same shoes as her in a much smaller size. She flipped her lid at 9 pm and made the mother of the flower girl buy different shoes for her before the ceremony. That's what happens when you buy your shoes from Payless. Not much of a selection in white.
42. A Ray Of Sunshine
The bride got trashed at their reception, then came back to the hotel late at night and cussed out her new husband loudly enough that I could hear it downstairs. Her words were haunting: "You will NEVER. Be. ACCEPTED. Into my life. JERK". The next morning, she was horribly hungover and rude to everyone. Fast forward a week later—she complained that the photographer "made her look fat in her pictures." No, you’re just fat.
43. No Fake Friends
I'm not a wedding planner, but my friend is getting married soon. She planned this huge wedding with eight bridesmaids and groomsmen, and when she tried to arrange for the bridesmaids to get together and pick out dresses, two of them couldn't make it. She was so upset that they couldn't come on that particular day that she sent out a nasty text to all the bridesmaids and canceled the entire wedding.
She now is having a destination wedding with just her fiancé and their family...
44. It’s All About Me
The bride's sister became pregnant six months before the wedding. The bride had a complete meltdown. She started accusing her sister of doing it on purpose to take her thunder. She even threatened to kick the sister out of the wedding and nearly tore her own darn family apart. Christ, she was so incredibly selfish, it was mind-blowing.
45. A Walk In The Park
The biggest groomzilla moment my husband had when planning our wedding happened when we were picking the venue. We didn't have much money and unfortunately, all the places we looked at online wanted way too much. We decided that a city park would be the best option price-wise, but after looking at a few different sites, none of them looked nice and I didn't want to use the parks. That's when he lost it.
He got mad at me and threw his glasses on the ground before storming off. After I caught up to him with his glasses, we got in the car and left, but he clipped a curb and popped our back tire. He calmed down waiting for the tow truck and didn't have any other big groomzilla moments for the rest of the planning period.
46. A Long Day
I had one horrific couple that didn't care about anyone. The groom was 30 minutes late for the ceremony, but it was no big deal because the bride was two hours late. After the ceremony, we had to shorten cocktails to make up for the lost time. The couple got tipsy in their limo and both ended up falling asleep. They were both so late for their own reception that I had the venue serve dinner without them.
Their parents were furious. The bride’s parents left early and the couple didn't arrive until 11 at night. Half of their guests left before they arrived, and they yelled at me for allowing dinner to start before their arrival. By the way, this was a 400-guest wedding.
47. Wedding Transference
I work in the industry and my friend is the wedding planner. He is a good-looking, straight male who has an amazing eye for design and detail. He can do everything from wedding dress design and execution to flowers, you name it. And his services are not cheap. He once had a bride who called him up a few days before her wedding.
She told him she couldn't go through with the wedding because she was in love with someone else. The conversation went something like this: Bride: "I can't marry him, I just don't love him anymore, I think I'm in love with someone else!" Him: "What do you mean you're in love with someone else!? Your wedding is in five days!"
Bride: "Well...I'm in love with you. You just GET me! I've never met anyone else like you!" Him: "...Do you know how much your parents are paying me to get you?!" She ended up getting married five days later as planned, and it was never mentioned again.
48. Cover All Your Bases
I was a videographer for weddings for a number of years, and this one time, the groom was a no-show. We all were waiting at the church and when the ceremony was about to start, the groom was nowhere to be found. There were murmurs throughout the crowd. Finally, one of the bridesmaids went up to the altar and chatted with the priest. I knew then that the news was bad.
Sure enough, the priest made some sort of boilerplate speech—it was obvious that this happened to him before and it wasn’t his first rodeo. While everyone was gasping in shock, I packed up my stuff and left. This is exactly why I ask for half upfront, non-refundable. Anytime I would bring that up, the bride, groom, or parents, etc. would always say, "That won't happen to us!" and try not to pay.
I would simply say, “Okay, get someone else". They usually pay me.
49. Stomping Down The Aisle
Last weekend, a bride strode into a gorgeous rented chapel four hours early while 30 people were praying. She was in her super short makeup robe. She then freaked out because one table was not set up at that moment. Her reaction? Epic—she picked up a chair in front of everyone and threw it at a trashcan. Yep. We were all staring, slack-jawed.
Sources: Reddit,
