Weddings are supposed to be the happiest day of someone's life, but sometimes, things don't exactly go as planned! Just ask these people.
People on Reddit share the one thing they regret from their wedding. Content has been edited for clarity.
They Did Not Split It Equally
“I wanted a small event for about 20 people. My fiancée agreed, but then her mom insisted they have a lot of very close and important family members they JUST HAVE TO invite. So we agreed on a bigger wedding, but our parents were supposed to help pay. We searched for a wedding venue and estimated a cost for 90 guest (less than 30 were from my side of the family), but everyone was happy about it (including me at this point).
They all agreed for the costs except my mom, who was widowed for 10 years at this point and couldn’t afford it. So I offered to cover her part myself. I was working abroad and sending most of my money to my future wife, and was letting her organize everything. I trusted her with whatever she was doing with that money. A few months before the wedding was due and I came back to my country, I discovered my money covered the whole wedding. Her parents ghosted the subject.
That marriage didn’t hold up. I calculated how much money I’ve put into the wedding just because of my ex-mother-in-law’s delusional thinking, and I’m still furious at this waste of money. I wish I didn’t give my ex-wife all of my money for this wedding.
Also… only 20 members of my family showed up against 60 of hers (that totally had to be invited), and the ratio of money in the envelopes from both sides was still 50-50. I’m even madder.”
The Doctor Thought This Would Help
“Taking a higher dose of my new anti-anxiety medication was my mistake. I had been on a new regimen for a month and had responded well, so my doctor raised the dose for the week of the wedding. He did so because he assumed I would have even more anxiety than usual and would need it to cope.
Instead, it super amplified my anxiety and I had quite a few attacks in the lead up to the wedding. This culminated in me being completely absent for about an hour during the wedding reception as I tried to get a grip on myself. Eventually, I got back to a functioning baseline and got through the rest of the day, but yikes.
Turns out that the medication can sometimes exacerbate anxiety instead of relieving it, and I had managed to hit upon a dosage that really wrecked me. A follow-up appointment with my doctor a couple of weeks later put me back on a lower dose.
Never, ever, ever radically adjust psychotropic medication before your wedding.”
A Lot Of Red Flags Before The Wedding
“All this ties in together:
The wedding package fee went on my credit card when my husband could have easily paid for it in cash, as he’d just received a large settlement that I encouraged him to pursue. I could have reimbursed him with payments for my half. I’m still struggling with the interest.
Also, I reluctantly agreeing to a more expensive package than I wanted, so he could invite a lot of family–most of which cancelled due to illness. The cancellations took place last minute, leaving no time to find replacement guests we had wanted to invite, but couldn’t because of space.
My husband’s parents thoughtfully sent a large monetary gift as a wedding present. My husband assumed he was going to keep the funds to do as he wished. Eventually, I spoke up and asked for a portion to help cover my credit card costs, but by then the interest had done a lot of damage. I should have spoken up sooner when it became obvious he wasn’t going to send over any to my account.
To sum everything up: I wish I would have put common sense ahead of my romantic feelings, and looked out for my own interests better. I’ve taken a hit to my credit score that could have been avoided if the planning had gone better.”
She Should Not Be In Business
“Hiring a subpar photographer to pinch pennies is by far my biggest regret. She was a friend of a friend who offered me a ‘friends and family discount.’ which I jumped on cause it saved me thousands of dollars. By the time my wedding day rolled around, the photographer and her husband (who was her backup shooter and plot twist, not a professional photographer by trade) were going through a divorce, and they got in a fight at the start of my reception.
So, she walked out and sat in the car the whole night and left him to take my photos. He got belligerently trashed at my reception, and all of my photos turned out blurry, off-centered, etc. We only have about five decent photos from our wedding day, despite paying for eight hours of coverage. It honestly kills me that I don’t have those memories to look back on. My only specific request was for them to get a picture of my husband’s reaction to seeing my dad walk me down the aisle in my dress for the first time, and I didn’t even get that.
I didn’t get a single sneak peek photo until four months later, after asking five times. I even had to threaten to sue to obtain my raw files, which thankfully a friend who does photography on the side was able to edit and somewhat salvage for me. Her excuse for not communicating with me for four months about my photos when confronted was, ‘I didn’t know my life was going to fall to trash and end in divorce when I wrote my client contract.’
Really regret that we didn’t take her to civil court for breaking the contract, but I know it would have been a lost cause because we would have never seen the money again. Apparently, she acted similarly at other weddings following mine, got dragged on Facebook by a scorned bride for being unprofessional, and sold all her photography equipment on the marketplace shortly after. The moral of the story- you get what you pay for!”
So This Had Happened Before
“I regret hiring the videography company from the underworld. It wasn’t like we’d picked a cheap option, but his film crew, while friendly, could not shoot the key wedding shots. I still have footage of me walking down the aisle, but it’s all out of focus and shaky to boot, and footage of us saying our vows keep going in and out of focus. Between this and all the drama, he got into a fight with my photographer (who was excellent and professional). So, we gave him a two-star review on Google, explaining our rationale (We gave an extra star for at least having a friendly and enthusiastic film crew).
That was when the problems started.
The proprietor responded publicly to our review, saying it was a fake review and denied having us as clients. Privately, he sent multiple emails to us and blackmailed us, saying if we didn’t remove the review he would be calling our employers, which he did attempt on multiple occasions. Luckily he never got through to anyone, but I guess in his head he wanted to ruin us professionally.
Thing is, my husband and I never told him who we work for, so he must have searched for us on LinkedIn and found out, then tried to use that date for his own means. A clear breach of privacy and personal data.
Anyway, in retaliation for the bad review, he left a 1-star review for ME on my company’s Google listing, putting my full name in caps as part of the review. The review made zero sense, but that’s what he did.
The episode ended with us calling the police on him. And along the way, our bad review of his company disappeared. I suspect he’d flagged the review to Google as spam or something, and Google just decided to remove it without actually bothering to see if he was the one lying (I would have easily been able to show proof we were in fact his clients, and the quality of the company’s work was poor). So yeah, that company’s average Google rating is now still at 4.9 stars because it solely consists of 5 and 4-star reviews (many left by accounts with just 1 review). But at least now I know that rating is a lie because he probably did the same thing to all his other clients who left honest reviews.
That’s the abbreviated version. I skipped out the horror show between him and the photographer, who was only trying to do his job, but that became an issue for the videography company.
And oh, yeah. In hindsight, the fact that they wanted to be paid for a $3,000 package in cash made me wonder. Tax evasion? I really think so.”
What Was He Going To Say?
“Before the ceremony began, I was greeted by my uncle where I was waiting for my dad, and sneaking a peek of the ceremony area. We didn’t see my aunt and uncle often, as we lived far from away and they didn’t travel often. We hadn’t initially expected them to make it, but they ended up at the last minute able to come. He was very soft-spoken and spoke with a slow, southern drawl. He wanted to tell me something, but I was nervous and impatient so I excused myself and ran off to take care of something else. They ended up leaving as the dancing and celebration part of the evening started. We were able to catch up with everyone who came, except my aunt and uncle.
He passed a year later from prostate cancer. He’d just been diagnosed right before my wedding and didn’t tell others for several months. That’s my only regret from my wedding day, not talking the five minutes to listen to what my uncle wanted to tell me.”
So That’s Why The Phone Was Going Black
“Inviting my son’s ex-wife and my grandson was my biggest mistake. I had one other person, my cousin. It was on the grounds of a beautiful museum. She showed up in solid black. I did not think much about it. It was late spring.
I was reading my vows on my phone. We wrote our own, vows. I typed mine on the phone. I was reading them, and my screen kept going black for some odd reason. I couldn’t understand why it was happening because I read on my phone all the time. I finally saw my daughter-in-law’s name, but I did not understand what was going on.
We walked to another area to take photos. It was under a giant deer sculpture, and I was carrying my grandson. When we got to the statue, my daughter-in-law came up and told he could not take his picture with the deer. I asked her if we could do just one photo, but she still said no. She sat and watched us while my sweet little grandson wept. I could not take his sadness, so I cut it short.
She grabbed his little arm and started walking away fast. I asked if I had done something to upset her, and she said, ‘It isn’t just about you.’
She marched off with my grandson still weeping. I could not understand so I ran up to talk to her again. She whipped around and said she was mad, (pointing her finger) because I, love my husband more than my own grandchild. I was incredulous! One had nothing to do with the other. She was mad because I had spent more time with my fiancé, and did not keep my grandson as much as I had.
She also knew I had been through two years of torture because my first husband was dying of cancer, and her husband, my son was struggling terribly with other issues. I had just gotten in a headspace, started dating, and gotten engaged. For the first time in 10 years, I was happy.
As she stormed off with my darling grandson weeping, my new husband told her he didn’t want to be around her anymore. I cringed when he said it because I know her personally. She whipped right around and told me I would never see my grandson again. I had given him gifts, her a gift, and a bouquet. She tossed the gift I gave her and the bouquet at me, snatched the toys (hot wheels) out of his little hands, tossed them at me, and stormed off. My grandson was screaming at the top of his lungs. Utterly traumatized. She ruined my 15-minute wedding.
In talking with my cousin who was there videoing, I realized my daughter-in-law was calling my phone the whole time I was reading my vows. At that time the phone went black with an incoming call. I realized she had been there to sabotage our little wedding.
My husband and I were so upset, we could really enjoy the rest of the day and my wedding night.
I have been in court for one and a half years trying to see my darling grandson again, but I doubt I will.”
An Uninvited And Unwanted Guest
“Letting my mother invite her friends.
Backstory: We were having a small backyard ceremony. We had it at a central location, at the middle point to everyone so that there was no ‘But I had to TRAVEL!’ Yeah, well so did we.
Fast forward to the month of. My Mom casually mentions, ‘i told everyone at work and I invited so-and-so and their family and your cousins and…’
Whoa. What? No. I said small. But they’re going to help cook! My now-husband said it’s her house… just let her. Is it really enough to fight over? Hindsight… yes.
Day of. One of her friends loudly announces she smells ‘rotten fish’ and I’m freaking out, thinking, Is the gumbo or crab legs we’re boiling bad?!
She then proceeds to grab the bottom of her apron, wave it, take a big whiff and announce loudly, ‘Nope! It’s just me!’ and proceeds to laugh hysterically.
She continues to do equally nasty things to the point everyone is just avoiding her and it’s awkward as heck.
My Mom’s other friend… invited her whole family. While I was in the room with my husband changing after cutting the cake, they cleaned out the kitchen. I’m talking packed everything up, including the wedding cake, and took it home.
Unfortunately, this story gets worse. The same friend brought over karaoke and starts hitting on my sister-in-law (who is married to a man and definitely not a lesbian) who is about 30 years her Junior. She tells my aunt to stop singing and she only wants to hear my sister-in-law sing. My aunt gets offended and leaves. Then, the same friend starts talking to my new in-laws about how RUDE I am for ending the ‘fun’ at four am. And to top all this off, after I come inside upon seeing everyone off, I tell my mom I’m upset about her friend’s behavior. All of them. The next thing I know, this 400-lb woman is coming down the hallway like a linebacker to attack me and stops her fist about an inch from my face and tells me she’s going to mess me up.
Two years later… I found out that she and my Mom have been dating in secret this entire time.”
At Least Only He Knew
“I had written a bunch of arrangements for the prelude and ceremony. I met with the quartet two hours from home to have a rehearsal that I could listen to, and everything seemed all right for it being about four months out. Come wedding day, there were two members of the quartet I didn’t recognize, one of whom was late. They brought the wrong movement of the standard quartet that I asked for (I’d gotten the number wrong, but had also given the tempo), and they didn’t properly secure their music to their stands, so they lost half of it to the wind.
One of the players also dropped their violin, that was a thing. Anything that I’d asked for specifically, despite their assurance they could play them, sounded like a Classical Shreds video, except, thankfully, the song I’d composed for my wife, the most important of the program. Fortunately, I was one of very few who could hear there was a problem, and that was literally the only thing that went wrong.
Lesson learned: don’t hire musicians who only play weddings if you really care about the music.”
The World’s Worst Coworker
“So, my wife and I didn’t have a lot of money so we decided on a very simple wedding. Neither of us is religious, so we rented a small venue, invited a small group of family and friends, and just had what we called a ‘cake and coffee’ reception.
So, a few months before, one of the women my wife worked with (who was a notary) offered to officiate as her ‘wedding gift’ to us. I’d never met her, but my wife had worked with her for years and well, we figured one notary was as good as another.
It was a freaking disaster. She nearly ruined the entire wedding.
So what we wanted was simple: My wife and I are atheists, her family is Southern Baptist and mine is Catholic. So, we said to leave religion out completely, That was it. We also told her we weren’t writing our own vows, so just follow the basic ‘town hall’ wedding script.
A couple of weeks before the wedding, she straight up ghosted us. She would not answer her phone, return a message or answer an email. My wife insisted she wouldn’t let us down, told me not to worry, she’d get back to us soon. She never did… and we held off for so long, by the time we realized we could have a real problem it was too late to get an alternate. So on the actual day, we went to the venue with no idea if she’d show up. We literally planned what we’d do if she didn’t (basically have the reception, then go to the courthouse later).
We arrived, there was no sign of her… until, literally five minutes before we were due to start, she wandered in. I asked her where the heck she’s been and she said, ‘Oh, sorry, I got your messages, I’ve just been really busy.’
I nearly lost my cool at that alone. Really? Too busy to pick up a phone and say, ‘Yeah, I’m still coming?’
But before I could get a word in, my wife basically steered me away.
We told her we were ready to start the ceremony. She went to the front, and I went to tell one of my soon-to-be in-laws to get ready to start the music. I got to the front, take my place, but she’s not freaking there. The Bridal March started, and my wife started to walk down the aisle. I’m looking frantically around the room for where the notary is… and she’s sitting in the back row, messing about with her phone.
My wife’s started her walk at this point. I managed to signal to one of my wife’s cousins who was sitting next to the idiot, who was still totally engrossed in her phone. She nudges Notary Idiot, who looks up, sees my wife walking down the aisle… and then she looks at me and holds up one finger like ‘Give me a minute.’ I don’t know how to react, paralyzed by the sheer ‘what-the-hecktitude’ of the situation, until, when my wife was almost halfway down the aisle, Notary Idiot finally got up. Acting like this was totally normal, she heads down the aisle herself, pushing past my wife in the process.
Then came the ceremony. Remember that part where we said ‘no religion’? The stupid freaking idiot kicks off proceedings with a 20-minute sermon. Bear in mind, my wife and I are both atheists, and our families, well, Southern Baptists and Catholics tend to get a little touchy about Christian religious beliefs outside their particular corner of it. She’s banging on about God while my wife and I were both giving her death stares. She’s oblivious.
Then, she starts conducting the actual ceremony and in the middle says, ‘Now, the bride and groom will recite their vows to each other,’ and stands back.
What…the…heck? We specifically told this dumb woman that we weren’t writing our own vows. We just wanted her to follow the basic script. So now we’re standing there, in front of our friends and family, and there’s absolute silence. Notary Idiot has got this dumb grin on her face… and neither my wife nor I have got a freaking clue what to say. There’s an awkward silence and then I just try to come up with some vows on the fly… while my wife wasn’t looking lovingly into my eyes, but still giving a death glare to Notary Idiot
Then, once we’d given our vows, she goes into another 20-minute religion speech.
Finally, she pronounced us Man and Wife, I kissed the bride, we go into the other room to cut the cake. Notary Idiot wanders off again to play with her phone.
About 20 minutes later, I realize she’s nowhere to be seen again. I ask around and my new sister-in-law says she saw her just leave and was heading to her car. I manage to flag her down as she’s pulling away. She asks me what’s wrong. I remind her that as a Notary officiating a wedding, it’s normally traditional for her to, actually give us the paperwork to sign and for her to notarize it before leaving. You know the whole reason you have a notary at a wedding in the first freaking place.
So, she freaking laughed like it’s some cute misunderstanding, and pulled the paperwork from her bag. Instead of coming back inside so we can, you know, make our marriage legal in a somewhat traditional, formal way….she lays out the wedding certificate on the hood of her car. Romantic. Classy. The way of formalizing our commitment to each other we’d always dreamed of. Formalizing our love on the hood of a Toyota Camry in the middle of a parking lot.
I got a pen, we signed the paperwork, she signed and notarized it, then handed us the certificate and just said, ‘Okay, there you go.’
My wife said, ‘What do you mean? Aren’t you supposed to take this to the courthouse and file it?’
She looked at us blankly. I took it from her. I’d had enough.
I said, ‘We’ll do it. If we leave it to her, she’ll probably stop for a McDonalds’ on the way home and use it as a napkin. She’s messed up everything so far, do you honestly think we should trust her with this?’
Notary Idiot looked very shocked by this, and my wife was caught between complete rage at the idiot and the idea that she still has to work with her. So, in an effort to break the tension, she pulled out a card, hands it to Notary Idiot, and said, ‘Here, we got you this.’
As Notary Idiot took it from her, I thought of something. With a big smile I said, ‘Hang on, can I just see that for one sec?’
I tore open the envelope, took out the card, opened it, took out the $200 we’d put in there as a thank you, put the money in my wallet, replaced the card, and handed it back to her.
Then, I just looked her in the eye and said, ‘Leave.'”