Sometimes things just don't go as planned, or sometimes the plan is just crazy itself. Either way, the following people have definitely been to some memorable weddings, as they talk about the craziest things they've ever witnessed while someone was tying the knot.
The Shocking Reveal.
“This happened at a friend’s brother’s wedding. Everybody entered the beautiful hall, took their seats and waited for the ceremony to begin. The groom comes in and announces that there is an envelope under everyone’s seat. It was pictures of what was his fiancée cheating. It’s the worst revenge I think anyone can get” (Source).
Well That’s Awkward.
“Hmm. Well. Her mom showed up. After the ceremony, during the reception. And stayed for maybe 5 minutes, if that.
She had been in foster care for almost a decade, and had just gotten back in touch with her biological family (her dad was in jail). And the woman shows up an hour late with her new man and the younger brother my new wife had never met in tow? Please, not at our wedding.
If it had been a joyful, teary reunion that would be one thing. But a ‘Hi! Congrats, here’s a gift! Bye!’? No thank you” (Source).
Both The Best And Worst.
“The best/worst thing that happened during a wedding ceremony? Well, I guess in a manner of speaking, this was both.
The minister had bad gas. He seemed to be unaware of it or maybe he didn’t think anyone could hear. There were loud releases steadily thorough the ceremony, and he had a body mic.
People were shaking in the seats with tears rolling down their cheeks” (Source).
Money Can’t Buy You Class.
“I had the misfortune to attend a wedding of an ex-girlfriend, who through a month of cajoling and emotional blackmail, and peer pressure from mutual friends, made me attend, even though every atom in my body said no.
I don’t have anything against her, don’t get me wrong, she is a nice girl. But I have no inclination to spend time at a wedding where I know nobody else but her and a handful of mutual friends who I rather see under different circumstances.
In any event, at the reception was at a very nice 5 star hotel…ugh. The groom is a successful medical professional. His family is rich. Nouveau rich, that is.
So the father of the groom gets up to give his opening speech to all the guests at the banquet. He starts off by saying his son is so great and awesome… And… his son bought him a new Mercedes as a surprise and the Mercedes costed $XX,XXX.
The father then talks about how beautiful the banquet hall was and we should know it costed them $XX,XXX to rent for the night. Next he pointed to the dinner we are to have, which costs $XXX per person. Then he pointed out the center piece at each table, which costed $X,XXX to custom order. After he went through the whole entire bill for the wedding, he then concluded with the grand total for the night which breaks down to how much per hour. He said it all with an air of conceit like we are so rich and awesome.
I’m sure he talked about the son and daughter in law somewhat and good luck and whatever, but I stopped paying attention after being told how much the night cost. Those of us who survived that night still laugh about it to this day… Talk about total lack of class…” (Source).
She Croaked.
“For the sake of our lovely photographer and for my wife-to-be’s anxiety, I really wish our photographer hadn’t taken one step too far backwards and subsequently fell into a frog pond; submerging both of her full-frame cameras.
That of course is a lie when just think about myself. It was the funniest damn thing I have ever witnessed in person.
P.S. Although we took pains to remove the batteries and dry the cameras out ASAP, neither survived. No doubt, a heartrending reality for our gracious photographer” (Source).
Maybe She Shouldn’t Be Getting Married…
“A girl slept with me during her engagement, and then invited me to her wedding.
I met her at the beginning of our junior year at college. She was founding a club, and I wanted to join because I supported the mission. After she interviewed me, I wanted to join for a different reason. Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you don’t break eye contact once? She was so tiny, but had these big, blue eyes that would sparkle every time we spoke.
She had started dating her now-husband two weeks before we met. Still, we would hang out all the time, and we would play pretend that we were in a relationship, talking about all the fun we would have and the things that we would do together. Her boyfriend, and then fiancé, would call her, and she would lie, saying that she was home alone. I wouldn’t text my girlfriend back for hours. We would usually stay in, drink wine and eat cheese, and listen to music, but one night we decided to go out. This was in December a few years back, and her wedding day was already scheduled the following May.
We decided to drink more than our fair share of margaritas, and by the time we got back to her apartment, we were both on the drunker side of tipsy. I laid down on her bed, not interested in moving an inch for the rest of the night, and then she cuddled up next to me. We kissed, and then we were naked. That being said, she still invited me to her wedding, which was probably one of the most memorable experiences in my life.
My +1 was my best friend from my hometown, and when we pulled up we were feeling a little out of place. Naturally, we decided to see what was happening at the bar, and managed to squeeze in a few glasses of champagne before the ceremony started. We sat in the back row, next to the aisle. When the ceremony ended, the moment happened. This girl is walking down the aisle, freshly married. She is looking out at the crowd with sort of a glazed look in her eye, giving everyone the signature prom wave. As my friend and I are sitting in the back, we see all this unfolding, and don’t expect anything different when she reaches us. Right before she exits the aisle, she makes eye contact with me. She stares directly into my eyes, and I can see her eyes sparkle again like when we used to hang out. She flashes me a big smile, all teeth, and then bites her lip.
My friend, who knows the story about us, tells me that he wasn’t looking at her, but rather at her new husband, who I didn’t notice. Apparently, the husband was looking at me also, with, to quote my friend, ‘The most hateful eyes I ever saw.’ It was a movie magic moment of eye contact, wrapped up in the most comical context, dressed with the sweetest of dramatic ironies. Oh, that moment was so juicy, I can still taste it” (Source).
More Serious Than They Thought.
“My brother was my best man. He was not in good shape that day. We chose a morning wedding, and he worked evening hours at the time. When the time came, he seemed just angry. Not happy to be there, acting like was entirely put out for the inconvenience of having to be around humans that early in the morning (8am call time for a 10am service). Between his wife and our sister, they did a halfway decent job of distracting him.
My brother is also bipolar. That’s what we all thought it was – either he was off his Lithium or he was having a bad reaction. At least that’s what we all blamed it on in the moment. Incidentally, one of us also happened to notice that his hands were shaking. Odd, we thought, but the focus of the day was on myself and my soon-to-be wife.
Two months later, after exhibiting some other symptoms related to headaches and perception, my brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Now his wedding day behavior made sense.
Ten years later my brother is still with us. He seems normal aside from a reduction in short-term memory skills” (Source).
The Single Worst Wedding Ever Attended.
“This is a tale of the single worst wedding I’ve ever attended.
Many years ago, at a previous job, I worked with a young couple who decided to have a wedding as cheaply as possible. I normally am pretty supportive of such efforts…but this just went bad.
To start, they arranged the wedding at a public park…but they neglected to arrange it with the Parks & Recreation department (most likely to save money on reservation fees), so on the day of the wedding there was a children’s birthday party in the most desirable area for a party (tall trees for shade, flat land, near the parking lot, away from the busy streets). You may wonder why I pointed out the shade…well, this was May…in Arizona. The temperature at the start of the wedding (listed at noon) was about 92 degrees; it was rather uncomfortable. And they had no refreshments.
So, as we all sat and waited…and waited…we got to see, step-by-step, the wedding get more…odd. The groom arrived with his groomsmen; oh, at this point, I should point out that the groom was rather proud of his Scottish heritage, so all of them were wearing kilts. Now, this can normally be pretty cool…when you’re talking about men who don’t spend every waking moment indoors eating junk food and playing role-playing games. Every one of these men was at least 100 lbs overweight and pasty white, a horrible sight in kilts.
They’d had a blacksmith friend forge light-weight swords for them to wear for some stupid reason…of course, two of them pulled the swords and sparred for a few moments, long enough to bend the swords dramatically.
Time wore on as we watched this and the other preparations…that were really, really late, as it was approaching 1pm when the reverend arrived. And yet, we waited, as the bride was nowhere to be seen.
Two men arrived and sat directly in front of me…I was wearing a dress shirt and tie, with slacks…they were both wearing camouflage pants, wife-beater tank tops, and bandanas around their heads, with one wearing a baseball cap on top of his. They obviously wore their Sunday best (In hindsight, they probably made the right decision, as people were growing increasingly dehydrated and miserable).
The bride arrived, finally, about 1:30. As she got out of the car, the first thought I had was, ‘Oh my God, they made her up to be a fat geisha.’ And yes, they had. They’d taken a morbidly obese woman and put white pancake makeup all over her face with a bright red circle on each cheek. It was bizarre in…well…it fit in just fine.
The bride, her parents, her maids, and the groomsmen lined up for their walk down the aisle. The reverend turns on a boom box playing the wedding march…nobody can hear it. They walk anyway and as the mother-of-the-bride gets halfway up the aisle, she steps in a gopher hole, falling flat on her face, spraining her ankle badly.
We finally get the ceremony started. The bride and groom stand facing each other and the reverend begins speaking. Of course, the children’s birthday party has chosen that moment to begin firing off bottle rockets. Really, it couldn’t get worse, could it?
The reverend talks to the groom: ‘Do you promise to have, hold, and honor your wife?’ He says he does. The reverend turns to the bride: ‘Do you promise to have, hold, honor and obey…at this point, I should discuss what is meant by ‘obey.’ What that means is that, if it’s in the Bible, she MUST do it…’ For the next few minutes, the reverend attempts to explain what that means in the nicest possible way…but it basically amounted to a description of indentured servitude. It was horrifying. As he’s talking, one of the men seated in front of me lit a cigar.
Just when I think the nightmare is ending, and the bride and groom lean in…did I mention that the spot chosen for this wedding was near a fairly busy intersection? No? Oh, well, that’s pretty important, as the moment the bride and groom kissed, a voice came from a passing car: ‘F–k her! I did!!!'” (Source).
How NOT To Deliver Your Maid Of Honor Speech.
“I got hit on and outed by the drunk maid-of-honor during her speech.
My good friend was getting married to the girl of his dreams, and they had a perfect wedding planned out. It was kind of odd going however because I didn’t know anyone at his wedding save for him and his soon-to-be wife, but I talked with a few people and tried to get to know the wedding party at the cocktail hour before the wedding reception. That’s where I met the maid-of-honor.
She was a pretty, blonde Southern girl, and she confided in me that she was nervous about giving her maid-of-honor speech, which is why she was having a whiskey. After another whiskey, she confided in me she thought I was cute and made sure I knew what hotel she was staying at. I said I was flattered, and I thought she was cute too, but I was gay and had a boyfriend. She blushed and excused herself…to the bar and ordered yet another.
That was cocktail hour. At the reception, it came time for the best man and maid-of-honor to give their speeches. She stood up and started with, ‘I’m not sure if I should say this, but…’ (which is how you should never start a maid of honor speech), ‘I am single, and ready to mingle!’ Everybody laughed. ‘But I don’t know…the guys here are kinda…meh.’ Everybody groaned. ‘I met one cute guy, but it turned out he liked boys.’ She looked around, saw me, and pointed. ‘Oh there he is! Hi cute gay boy!’ Everyone laughed. I’ll admit I did too. I think the only one who didn’t was the bride. She looked less than pleased.
Amazingly the night didn’t end there. I was walking to the bathroom and saw her again sitting in a chair, leaning back to take a selfie with her iPhone. Clearly she had been continuing to drink, as she lost her balance and started to fall out of her chair. This girl was so drunk she lost her balance sitting down. I managed to catch her before she hit the floor. She looked up, bleary-eyed, ‘Oh! It’s you!’ Yup, your knight in shining rainbow armor…”(Source).
Timber!
“Our wedding cake fell onto the floor. Yup.
We had cut the cake and each had a bite for the pictures, everything was fine. After a while someone who was helping with the cake thought it might be safer if we removed the top tier. So she lifted the top tier, turned, the second tier started to go with it, she got flustered, tried to put it back but missed entirely and knocked the entire cake onto the floor. You could have heard a pin drop.
I was stunned. This was a huge wedding cake, although it hadn’t cost me anything, it was a gift of a professional cake decorator who was a friend of my mother in laws. Obviously she had worked very hard on it. And she was there.
The woman who had dropped the cake looked as if she had just died. Her face lost all color. And I felt so sorry for her. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling. That such a simple accident would have such an effect and be seen by everyone at the reception must have been terrible.
So I went over and hugged her. She was stammering an apology but I would have none of it. I told her anyone could do something like that. I told her it was a wonderful day already and this was only a cake. My husband reassured her and soon many people were there telling her it was okay and cleaning the remains. People were taking pictures and my husband and I posed crouched down by the cake. The bride and groom figures were embedded in the frosting and cake mess like landslide survivors.
I actually felt badly about it because it was so beautiful and I had only gotten to see it when we got to the reception. At that time my husband and I were poor college students who could barely make ends meet and considered a lunch meat sandwich a meal. So when I saw all the food at the reception I was really thrilled. But my biggest thrill was that beautiful cake. I had never seen a cake like that with so many flowers and creamy white frosting. I couldn’t wait to try it. As it turned out, the one bite I had was for the photo.
But I did learn to keep in mind what the essentials are. And for us it was getting married with our family and friends. The rest was extra. It was a great wedding” (Source).
The Groomsmen Stealing The Show.
“At my own wedding, all seven of my groomsmen wore black arm bands. When I said ‘I Do,’ they all spun around 180 degrees, in perfect synchronization, Temptations-style, snapped their fingers, pointed at the audience and boomed ‘WHAT HE SAID ‘ – Then spun back around to face the preacher and kept absolutely straight faces through the rest of the ceremony.
The reception afterwards included visits from the cops and the fire department, to revive an drunken attendee who, while dancing with my brand-new mother-in-law, had picked a fight right there on the dance floor with one of my groomsmen, who also happened to be a third-degree black belt – Which earned the groomsman the eternal nickname of ‘g-ddamn karate whore,’ something the equally-drunk MIL screeched after the groomsman laid the drunken clown out with one punch. After the cops had left, the groomsman came up to me in tears, apologizing – To which I took five dollars out of the ‘Dollar Dance’ profits, handed it to him and told him – ‘The guy’s an a–hole – Hit him again when he wakes up.’ The merriment continued into the wee hours” (Source).
Not Quite As She Hoped.
“I had caught a case of stomach flu about a week before the wedding, and though I was feeling better I was still running a low grade fever, and still not able to keep anything down. Needless to say, I was starving after not eating for a week, and the food from the caterer smelled soooo good. I just couldn’t resist! Terrible predicament to be in. I’d eat an hor d’oeuvre, and then run to the restroom to throw up, praying I didn’t splash on my dress. Somehow, I managed to remain spotless until after dinner when my niece (who had too much to drink) came stumbling over and spilled a full Cosmopolitan cocktail on my dress. Cosmopolitan cocktails are red! Ugh! Fortunately, with my bridal experience, I was able to get most of it out so I could at least enjoy the rest of the reception in my gown” (Source).
At The First:
“At the first one, several things I would have preferred not happen:
-Sister-in-law & future sister-in-law both turned up in white
-The priest was in a rush when I arrived (on time, not late) to the church. I was very anxious & had significantly cold feet (I should have listened to my gut feeling back then) & my brother (who was in the car with me) was patient & just sat with me. I was quite teary. The priest came rushing out & before seeing me properly told me to hurry up as he had a christening to do after our wedding. He then saw my tears & said, ‘Oh ! Take your time’ & went back inside. Too late, the damage was done.
-My (about to be) husband trod on the back of my wedding dress in the church.
-Brother (not the patient & understanding one in the car) & the aforementioned future sister-in-law announced their recent engagement at the reception.
-I am not able to smile well, due to inability to upturn both sides of my mouth equal amounts, and do not wish to show my uneven teeth. I made a HUGE effort to smile as best I could during the photos taken by all & as the cake was being cut, only to have someone yell at me in an angry tone, ‘You have to show your teeth when you smile !!’ Actually, no I don’t, especially at my own wedding.
-I told my brother-in-law & sister-in-law (husband’s sister) that I wanted them to join us dancing ASAP after we were called to do the traditional dance at the reception… as I did NOT want to be up there for long without others around. They deliberately ignored that request, making the whole thing incredibly awkward & uncomfortable for me” (Source).
At The Second:
-During the ceremony my (about to be) husband had his hands in his pockets (he was very nervous) until I took the initiative & took one of them out of his pocket & held it during the ceremony. That he had his sunglasses atop his head didn’t bother me so much.
-We were married in a park. I had taught one of our dogs to fetch a little cloth bag that held our rings. I’d put it just behind a tree not far away, and when the rings were asked for, I asked him where the rings were (he was off a leash). Just at that moment a couple of people walked past with a dog on a leash. He was only marginally distracted, looking at the passing dog briefly, but the guests (not being dog people) all started yelling at him very loudly, thinking he would walk off after these passing people & their dog… various things from ‘Fetch’ to ‘No’ to his name, ‘Cocoa,’ over & over again. What a cacophony! I took a deep breath, told everyone to stop, and calmly & quietly asked him, ‘Cocoa, where’s the rings?’ at which he refocused after all the crazy people yelling at him, and completed his allocated task with wagging tail & broad smile. I wish they hadn’t all yelled at him. To be fair to them, our other dog had managed to get away from the best man & she nearly leapt into the creek after a bird that she’d spotted. He saved the day, racing after her & pouncing on her in his suit as she neared the edge of a bridge. She spent the rest of the ceremony trying to get that bird, and he ended up having to carry her. I suspect the guests thought Cocoa might create a similar scene. Never. He was the bestest dog in the whole world.
-I wish I had not invited the guest who, after the wedding & as we were about to head off to the reception venue, asked how long it would be until we arrived at the reception venue as she had other plans. I said that there’s an open bar before we get there, and we wouldn’t be very long, maybe half an hour. She said in that case she won’t go. I thought not much more of it. We weren’t very long (in comparison to every wedding I’ve ever been to before or since) & took a detour to drop the dogs home & partake in some afternoon delight before heading to the reception, arriving maybe an hour later. She was leaning on the bar, drink in hand & looked at her watch as we walked in, with her first comment being, ‘I thought you weren’t going to be long.’ She then said she had to go, and promptly left with a scowl on her face” (Source).
He Had ONE Rule.
“I didn’t care to provide much input when it came to my wedding. It was my wife’s domain, and I wanted her to enjoy it. However, I did have one unbreakable rule that I absolutely insisted on: Under no circumstances was there to be even a HINT of Kenny G music at the reception.
I don’t care if you torture puppies, kick babies or slap grown women. There is no assault to the human ear so heinous as Kenny G honking away on that stupid clarinet thing he plays.
We hired family friends to DJ the reception. I made it clear I didn’t want to hear one note from Kenny G. I even gave them a complete playlist to make sure Kenny G did not sneak his way into the mix.
But what did I hear as the wedding party arrived at the reception and waited in the hallway to be announced? Kenny freaking G. Full volume, full force Kenny G. It was a slap in the face.
I wanted to enjoy the reception, but all I could focus on was the obnoxious, high-pitch squealing of Kenny G. I’m telling you…fingernails on a chalkboard. After that, I was done with those particular friends. They all come from the same family, and sixteen years later, I still avoid them at all costs” (Source).
Attack Of The In-Laws.
“My husband’s family ruined the whole day… I truly wish we had eloped instead of going through the pain that I had to go because of them.
The ceremony was suppose to be at 12pm. Since it was a destination wedding, we were flexible about it when my brother-in-law asked if we could move the time so he would have time to catch an early plane. We decided on 3pm instead. The morning of the ceremony, my mother in law had the balls to ask to move it to 5 pm because she wanted to go to a spa… yep, this happened. At 3pm my mother-in-law says that we cannot start the ceremony because my brother-in-law is not here… he is 30 min away in a bar getting wasted. Yep, this happened too.
At that point I didn’t care. My family that came over from 10,000 miles away were there, but my in-laws couldn’t be on time just a 2 hour plane ride away. So we started the ceremony without my mother-in-law who was waiting for her son in the parking lot, instead of being with her other son who was getting married.
And then we had the reception where everyone finally showed up. After the whole ordeal we went back to the hotel to continue to party. Well my mother-in-law decided that she hadn’t had enough attention so she started to cry, saying to my husband how sorry she was, how bad she was feeling for everything that had happened, how bad she wanted to leave because everyone hated her… yep, this happened too. Instead of having a normal wedding night with tons of sex I had to sleep on my own because my mother-in-law needed attention the day of our wedding.
I have never forgiven them for this, nor will I ever. I am a very simple woman who doesn’t like the spotlight, but that day was suppose to be about my husband and me. But they decided it was more important to be about them” (Source).
Girls Gone Wild.
“At our wedding, it was the women who really got down.
A cousin’s wife (who we had never seen drink before, and she was in her 30s with 3 children) got totally blotto, and was dancing on the table. Her husband tried to get her down, but she wasn’t having any part of that. In fact, she convinced another almost tee-totaler (also drunk)up onto the table, so she wouldn’t have to dance alone. For some reason, their husbands weren’t interested in dancing on the tables.
Then, a bit before supper, my MIL came to talk to hubby. ‘Em is throwing up behind the hall,’ she tells us. We weren’t particularly concerned, as Em was a professional party princess, one we went out with all the time. But she was good at holding her liquor, so there was a touch of worry. So we went out to check on her, just as she was coming back in. ‘Em, are you all right?’
‘Yeah, sure,’ Em said. ‘I just got rid of all that beer, too much on an empty stomach. I’ll switch to whiskey, and I’ll be fine.’ And she was – she was right there to the end” (Source)!
Making Death Threats.
“The worse thing I’ve seen or heard at a wedding:
Me, pulling the groom aside telling him, face to face, eye to eye… ‘If you hurt her, I will kill you.’ I smiled, gave him a hug, pat on his back and walked away.
I had flown to Atlanta for this wedding, where my bestest childhood friend had moved away to. I knew of the groom, but had never met him. The first times my eyes took him in, I knew it was bad news. He was older and divorced. Divorced? What was she doing? We were in our 20s.
I found out later he told my best friend what I had whispered in his face. I have no idea why that shocked me. She never said a word to me about it. What didn’t shock me was the marriage lasted two years. Sadly, he still walked the earth last I heard. I usually follow through. I take pride in keeping my word. But sometimes you make exceptions.
She re-married very soon thereafter. Sigh. I wasn’t invited to the wedding. I wonder why” (Source).
Still Have Nightmares About It.
“I have nightmares about my wedding day.
I was the first of 6 kids in my family to get married and let’s face it, it wasn’t my wedding, I was just the reason for my mother to throw a wedding.
She obsessed over every detail, clashing with my future husband who for some reason, seemed to think it was his wedding. Silly man.
They fought over everything by proxy. Through me. My mother and his mother constantly mispronounced each others’ names as a subtle passive aggressiveness, not to be confused with their aggressive aggressiveness.
By the time the wedding came, I was a nervous wreck. And it rained buckets. We had an outdoor reception planned.
The nice thing was that my aunt was an interior designer and the reception was to be in her beautiful garden- the day before, in the rain, her friends came over and constructed a beautiful tent out of clear plastic that was just phenomenal. Best part of the whole event” (Source).
Stage Fright.
“At one wedding I attended, the bride became so self-conscious that the minister had to stop the ceremony to talk to her – and since he was wearing a microphone we could hear everything. He’d asked her if she wanted to go through with it, and she nodded her head yes. He asked her if she wanted to sit down or a minute, and she shook her head, no. Then he asked her if she could continue and she just started shaking, so he grabbed hold of her to keep her from fainting and asked if she’d like him to hold onto her and she whispered yes. So, the remainder of the ceremony went on with the groom on the right, the bride in the middle and the minister on the bride’s left holding on to her while they did their vows. We in the audience were all pretty hysterical laughing but everyone held their hands over their mouths so she couldn’t hear, and she never did.
It ended up being a great day, the bride got over her stage fright, laughed like crazy, and she ended up with a very memorable story to tell of the day how the minister and she really married her husband” (Source).