Your wedding day is supposed to be a magical day, but for some couples, it was a complete disaster. Content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Controlling Mother-In-Law (MIL)
“My wife’s parents were against us getting married. First, my wife’s brother is a pastor. She wanted him to perform at the wedding. Her parents talked him into refusing. Then my FIL said he wouldn’t walk my wife down the aisle.
Then, when we were continuing to plan the wedding anyways, my MIL ‘surprised’ us by showing up at our door. Luckily, she lived in Washington and we lived in southern California, and my wife’s brother (not the pastor) was able to warn us she was on her way.
We then found out she had an appointment set up with our pastor and my parents to try to get the rest of them on their side to get us to call off the wedding. It didn’t work, and my MIL was shocked when she was told by my pastor ‘They’re adults, and can make this decision for themselves. I’ve known him for years, and he’s a good man.’
That was the final straw, we canceled the wedding and went to the courthouse to get married by a judge, followed up by some breakfast burritos on the way home
When we got back, my MIL was trying to get my wife to get an annulment, including giving her information on how and where to get an abortion, in case that was a factor.
My wife’s brother was upset, saying we were basically saying ‘forget you’ to the whole family, to which we replied ‘well, ya.’
Then her parents planned a joke of a ‘wedding’ where we got no say in who, where, or what was involved. They had the wedding in Washington, so it was cold, wet, and gray. That also caused the only people from my family to be there to be my parents. My ‘best man’ was my wife’s brother, who I didn’t like at the time, as my best friend was too poor to make the trip to Washington.
They basically didn’t think we were really married until after that glorified party. It really would have been nice if they used all the money they used to throw a circus to help us with a down payment for a house or something instead.
It has caused issues between me and her parents ever since. Meanwhile, we’ve been happily married for almost 9 years.”
Ex-Boyfriend’s Threats
“My ex-partner threatened he would get a group of guys to come to our ceremony and reception to rob all the guests.
He called the electricity company and water to have it disconnected on my wedding day. The ceremony took place at my parent’s house. No water and no electricity on that day so I called them to find out why. They told me a man who claimed to be my father asked to have it disconnected from the service because we would move that day.
After I told them about my ex-threats, they immediately reconnected the service. Since he threatened me, my husband and I decided to hire nine off-duty cops to protect us on our wedding day. The cops came and surrounded our house.
My brother saw my ex’s car driving back and forth watching our house. Since he saw the cops he wouldn’t dare to do anything. After the ceremony, my husband brought a weapon to protect me at our reception. The nine cops also surrounded the restaurant where the reception took place. Nothing happened but when all the guests left, my husband and I went to our car with four cops and I saw his car parked in the parking lot. My parents wouldn’t let us go to the hotel so for our safety we ended up staying with my parents and all of my seven brothers were there as well.
It took years to get over that horrible day. He ruined my wedding.”
Worst Maid Of Honor Ever
“My wedding was beautiful, but I’d say someone ruined my wedding planning and experience—My maid of honor. She was my best friend and of course, without hesitation, I asked her to be my maid of honor.
In the beginning, she was so supportive of everything I wanted to be done, however, once it came down to choosing bridesmaid dresses, venue, colors, etc., and I asked her opinion, she always had a negative and discouraging response. I brushed it off most of the time since my bridesmaids were very supportive.
To make a long story short, she never arranged to have or help host a bridal shower. And for my ‘bachelorette party,’ she surprised me to go out of town, only to find out it was her family vacation, and I was just coming along. None of my bridesmaids or friends were invited. Needless to say, I was livid and very hurt.
Two days before my wedding, she showed up late for rehearsal and had a lot of attitudes, which I ignored since I had to host others as well.
The next day (the day before my wedding), I did not hear from her. She ignored my calls and messages and only responded when I said if I would not hear from her by the end of the day, to please not show up at my wedding. Total nightmare! She did call back and apologized and blamed the lack of communication for ‘phone issues.’
On the day of my wedding, she was in a better mood, and just when I thought everything was finally going to be okay, the MOH and Best Man speeches were up. Can you guess who didn’t have a speech?
She had the most scrambled ‘message,’ that really was all over the place. Guests could tell she had no idea what to say and just rambled. It was so embarrassing. But thankfully my friends and family made the night super enjoyable that made me completely forget about what this woman had put me through.
Within of a few weeks after my wedding, I stopped speaking to her. It later became known to me that she had a crush on my, now husband. I guess pursuing a friendship with me and still having some sort of contact with my husband, was better than nothing. I felt like the biggest fool for not ever catching on to this! Someone, please give her that well-deserved Oscar.
But all in all, I’m glad it all happened because I was able to rid myself of someone fake and toxic, that I certainly didn’t need bringing into such an awesome phase of my life (marriage).”
Whose Wedding It Is? The Bride’s Or The Stepmom’s?
“My stepmother decided she was going to be my wedding coordinator right after the proposal. My husband and I gave in and said yes after my dad and stepmom bullied us into it by pointing out they were going to pay, that was the first warning sign. We planned to get married a year later so we had plenty of time to decide on a location and all of the details, which was fine. However, my stepmom wanted us to have everything booked and paid for 11 months before the actual wedding date.
I originally wanted a small beach wedding with only immediate family and probably some close friends, but my parents kept telling me it would be impossible because that would be too expensive. Later on, I found out the reason why they said no to a small beach wedding was that they already told about 100 of their friends and coworkers that they were already invited to the wedding and that their invitations would be arriving soon. My stepmom convinced us to have it at a terrible golf course surrounded by houses and desert. She also decided on the colors, DJ, flowers, and the wedding party. By this point, I was stressed out and the cost was already around 25k.
What really got to me was that I asked about getting my biological mother (I have a good relationship with her and she was excited about the wedding) a mother-of-the-bride flower pin. My stepmom just screamed at me saying how dare I ask that when she has planned my entire wedding and how ungrateful and stupid I was. Oh, this happened all in a crowded floral shop in front of the owner that we have known for years. I just started crying and was yelled at for that.
After I told my fiancé about what happened he decided we should stop this as it was not our wedding anymore. When we told my dad about it, he decided to cancel everything and to back out on paying for any wedding that wasn’t what they approved of.
After that day, we had about four months until the actual wedding day. My husband and I moved the date to the week before the original wedding date to a beach in Santa Barbara and we hired a coordinator to help us plan the wedding we actually wanted. My stepmom never came but my dad did, which I regretted after he tried to choke and punch my aunt (his older sister) in the parking lot. Because of that, I didn’t let him walk me down to the beach and if he did anything else, we would call the police.
The actual wedding went pretty well and we spent only 3k including decorations, the cake, the hotel, and the reception with food at a super nice tapas place in Montecito. On the original day and location that was set, there was a huge brushfire and the golf course caught on fire, so we dodged an even worse wedding. I wish we could have done it right the first time but we are planning on doing a vow renewal for our 10-year anniversary, so hopefully, it will go better.
This happened over 4 years ago, but we still talk to my dad and stepmom. We’re just more cautious about them helping us out with anything now.”
Who Let Him Be In Charge Of Music?
“My brother-in-law who volunteered to DJ didn’t actually bring any DJ equipment, so our reception was powered by Pandora. He also said he would video the ceremony and highlights of the reception but didn’t bring his video camera.
The florist forgot to deliver about 50 percent of the flowers.
The reception venue took everything we discussed and then decided to do the opposite (Not enough tables, big weird glass centerpieces, no dance floor) and when we tried to get it fixed, the man who was sent to change out the tables stood outside the window of the reception hall angrily smoking cigs.
I later spoke with a friend who has worked with that man who explained that that sort of behavior happens pretty much any time he is asked to do anything, so that was a bummer.
We made a CD of music for my brother-in-law to play before the ceremony began. He insisted he had something better. It was two songs played on repeat for about an hour.
My immediate family was late to the wedding, including my sister who was a bridesmaid, and my mother and father. They had originally offered to help set up everything that morning, but I guess they just got a late start.
My veil got lost the night before the wedding. It still has not resurfaced.
After everyone was done eating and the cake had been cut, I dimmed the lights in the reception hall to change the atmosphere to a more fun, party vibe and get people dancing. Everyone got up and left.
It didn’t go great, but my husband and I ended up married and we’re still very happy together, and that’s the most important thing. Still, I wish I’d saved the money from the whole thing and gotten married at the county clerk instead.”
The Break-Up Text
“My husband and I got married a month before our actual wedding, just for background info.
The night before the wedding, at the rehearsal dinner, he ‘broke up’ with me in a text message. Told me to pack my stuff and get out by Monday. We were already technically married. I was running on three hours of sleep and nerves. This was after he was so wasted he could barely recite the vows during the rehearsal. He’d been ignoring me for about a week up until that point.
I went to speak to his stepfather about the text I received, only to have him blame everything on my mother, whom he called crazy. To my face. And I had no idea how she was relevant or what she was to be blamed for, to this day. This started a huge fight between families. I mean, adults screaming obscenities at each other in public while I stood in a corner and cried on my best friend’s shoulder because I was so embarrassed and disappointed and disgusted.
My husband was screaming at anyone who would listen about how terrible I was. My father, who did 20+ years in the army and is retired, later told me he was so angry that he felt he was experiencing PTSD. He was 61 years old. I have never seen his eyes look so dead, and I’ll never forget violently he shook. I felt like I had aged 10 years that night. I was so worried my dad was going to have a heart attack or a stroke.
My parents paid for everything. The wedding venue, decorations, a dj, food, bridesmaid stuff, and even groomsman stuff. They shelled out more than 12k for me to have my dream wedding, only to be ruined because I married a prick with a personality disorder.
This dude has some serious issues that I should have not handled by looking the other way because he was pleasant 50 percent of the time.
Did I mention his 7-year-old daughter witnessed all of this? Because she did. I will also never forget her asking me when we were gonna have the wedding again. I can’t imagine what she told her mother.
Anyway, I’m still kind of bitter. Mainly because it was humiliating and so much money was wasted. I had to send all the gifts back. People were embarrassed for me. People traveled to come to share what was supposed to be a special day with me. After a while, all the pity started making me angry. My therapist had a field day with that. I still had the party, it just went from being a wedding to my mom’s incredibly expensive graduation party. I’m glad it was an open bar too. I drank a lot that weekend. Beautiful, beautiful venue. It looked like a mansion.
I never want to see it again.”
Poor Hubby
“I’m a simple girl from a poor family. So, I thought everything we planned was just fine. I would be married in my childhood community center, and the reception would be in my grandparent’s backyard. All the food would be cooked by my grandmother, mother, and aunt. My grandmother picked out and paid for my dress; I saw it a week before the wedding and it was beautiful.
We sent out about 50 invitations. As the RSVPs rolled in, none of my fiancé’s invitees had responded. When people started arriving at the community center, my side was filling up but there was not one person on my fiancé’s side. I asked the ushers to start seating people evenly between the sides.
The ceremony was beautiful. The modest reception was fun. My nephew stuck his fingers in the cake before it was brought out and everyone laughed because it was cute. It started to rain right after my family brought the food out. So everyone grabbed the dishes and rushed them back into the kitchen again. Everyone laughed and told us how it was good luck to have rain on your wedding day.
Eventually, the party came to an end and we left for our honeymoon.
I thought the wedding was perfect except that there was no one there for my husband except his father and sister. When we got home my husband’s father called to tell us that my mother-in-law had called everyone we invited on his side and told them that the wedding was canceled.
My MIL tried to ruin our wedding. She didn’t ruin it for me but it really hurt my husband.”
Stepmom’s Horrible Wedding
“My dad and stepmom’s wedding was a mess. For context, her family was terrible on both sides (abusive father, neglectful mother, and step-parents who didn’t care about her much) and she basically ran to my father to get away from it all when she was 15. The bigger problem was, my dad was 26, and also abusive.
On my father’s side of things, he hated his mother and blamed everything wrong in his life on her (as he did to most women in his family, later doing it to my stepmom). So the wedding was doomed to be terrible.
It started when my stepmom was walking down the aisle. She’d reconnected with her father in the last year and had recently been in a fight with her stepfather, so it was just her dad walking Her. There was a branch in the way (outdoor wedding) but he pulled it out if the way for her. As she thanked him, he let go and flung it back into her face and literally collapsed laughing. She awkwardly chuckled, no doubt knowing he was going to get mad at her if she showed she was upset, and the day continued but she was visibly upset.
After the toasts, some people didn’t drink. The one thing she had asked of her mom was that she not drink. She was even given sparkling juice.
So while stepmom was changing into her reception dress, her mom went from table to table pounding down all of the drinks she could get her hands on.
A cousin of mine who didn’t know what was happening started chanting, ‘Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!’ and my stepmom walked back to her mom downing the last one. Yet she denied everything.
My stepmom came out crying a few minutes later, went back to her car, and didn’t come back for a good 20 minutes.
While all of that was happening, my grandma pulled up and started cursing out my dad for a ton of nonsense, including marrying a kid (my stepmom was 25 at this point), hating my stepmom, not letting her invite a friend to the wedding, and him owing her a bunch of money. My dad told her to buzz off and she left.
Then my dad got mad at my stepmom for being gone so long, accused her of either ‘being a baby’ for crying or of lying and cheating on him. So she sat down on the fringes and tried to not cry and also remain visible to my dad for the next several hours.
They may have been dating for 10 years, but the marriage only lasted six months.”
“My Husband Managed To Ruin A Part Of The Wedding I Had Been Looking Forward To The Most”
“My husband and I were married in January. I was about three months pregnant at the time. Leading up to the nuptials, I did nearly all the planning and anything that was tasked to my then-fiance had to be double-checked since he’d leave 95 percent of the details out. I felt like such a nag, and he made me feel that way, too.
The Christmas that had come and gone two weeks prior was when I should have walked away.
We were on our way back from a Cirque de Soleil show with his brother and my four-year-old in the car. He was giving me stuff about getting the directions out. I asked him why he didn’t do that before he started driving, especially if he didn’t know his way. Why couldn’t he just backtrack?
He told me to shut up.
I wanted to end everything there but he talked me out of it.
He even managed to ruin a part of the wedding I had been looking forward to the most: I wanted to take all the photos myself with our high-quality camera. I asked him to get it out and ready weeks before the wedding. The day of, he still couldn’t find it and he had already left for the venue. Instead, his friend took awful photos with her camera. The file type wasn’t even compatible with the programs I had on my computer.
During the wedding, he spent his time with everyone except me.
Not a darn thing went as I would have liked. It was one of the worst days ever. In all honesty, anything involving him isn’t much better than our wedding day, either.
He ruined Valentine’s day because he said he should hit me when I called him out for driving like a manic.
I got nothing for Mother’s day.
He ruined my birthday. And I got an adult toy for our one-year wedding anniversary.”
Momma Didn’t Like Sharing The Attention With The Bride
“My mother, who has mental health problems, got increasingly upset as the attention from the family was taken from her. It escalated to her barricading herself in her apartment, refusing to take her diabetic medication or eat anything, followed by taking all of her medication at once and then calling for an emergency ambulance four days before the Big One. The doozy is that the person who answered the call was my fiance’s mum (mother-in-law-to-be) who was working at the call center and was nothing but professional whilst they got my mum assessed and well-sectioned. She signed herself back out the night before the wedding citing it as a reason and then continued to cause merry havoc for attention for the whole thing.
Highlights include shouting at the hairdresser, introducing herself with a shout, ‘I’m the mother of the bride, who are you?!’ to all, changing all the tables and seating arrangements two hours before the reception, and refusing to state if she would be at the wedding.
Then after the wedding, she had another self-harm attempt for attention, forcing me to spend my second week married with her in a clinic rather than with my husband.”