Aren't weddings supposed to be a fun and beautiful occasion? Well, that wasn't the case for these guests!
We've rounded up our favorite Reddit stories about bad weddings. Kick back and enjoy!
“They Did Not Receive A Gift”
“A couple of years ago, we were invited to family member’s wedding. It was out of town (about an eight hour drive for us). Actually, the vast majority of the guests were from out of town like us.
So we get the invitation and notice there is an ‘A’ reception and a ‘B’ reception. The ‘A’ reception was right after the ceremony and just for immediate family and close friends. It included a catered dinner, a wedding cake, all the normal reception stuff.
The ‘B’ reception was for everyone else, and occurred about eight hours after the ceremony and just included dessert. All guests invited to the ‘B’ reception had to provide their own meals and entertainment during the eight hours that the ‘A’ reception was happening. We, like most other guests, were invited to the ‘B’ reception.
This is BY FAR the rudest and tackiest thing I have ever seen. Just to have two receptions is incredibly offensive, not to mention that most people were from out of town. Having to provide our own meal during that time just added to the cost of an already expensive weekend with gas, hotel, and other meal costs.
One other thing I thought was weird was that I was invited to (and attended) the bridal shower. So I was good enough for the shower, but not good enough for the real reception? Seriously??
Needless to say, we attended the wedding, but they did not receive a gift.”
“I Have Been Waiting For This Moment”
“Two years ago, my husband (then boyfriend) and I attended the wedding of two of his friends, Matt and Victoria. There was an open bar, and everyone got merrily trashed. Lucas and I left the reception to go to the house at which we were staying for the night. After we get there, we get a call from Lucas’s friend, Kaitlin. She is in tears, and her boyfriend, Brian, can be heard yelling in the background. Kaitlin tearfully accuses Lucas of stealing $4000 out of Brian’s car and begs him to return the money. All the while, Brian can be heard in the background, threatening Lucas. Lucas tells her, truthfully, that he stayed with me at the reception the whole time, didn’t break into Brian’s car, and certainly didn’t steal Brian’s money. Kaitlin continues that they know he did it, and if he’ll just return it, they will let the matter drop. How do they know it was him, you may ask? They found a white pocket knife on the seat of the car, and Lucas is known for always carrying a pocket knife. Lucas hangs up on her and we don’t hear from him for the rest of the night. The next morning, Kaitlin (not Brian) calls and apologizes. They had gotten home and found the money on his dresser. He hadn’t even brought it to the wedding and he didn’t have the balls to apologize himself. Fine. Whatever. We let the matter drop, but, being a petty and vengeful person, I have never forgotten that evening.
So that’s our backstory. Fast-forward to this year, and Kaitlin and Brian get married in Jamaica and their stateside wedding reception is this weekend. Lucas can attend the reception, which is out of town, but I am stuck in our hometown because of work. I am put in charge of purchasing the happy couple a wedding gift. I have been waiting for this moment for two years.
What, you may ask, did I purchase them? That’s right, a white pocket knife. Included with their gift is a wedding card containing $4000 in Monopoly money and signed ‘Just in case you lose yours again, here’s an extra! Best of luck and all of our love, Lucas and Kimberly.’
The best part? Lucas is usually a ‘Take the high road, Kimberly; don’t stoop to their level, Kimberly,’ kind of person. He was on board with this whole plan and told me not to even bother getting them anything from their registry.”
Dress Codes and Destinations
“I’m not a huge fan of weddings. Yet. I have received numerous invitations over the years, several of which I declined. Here are two of the more memorable ones.
Dress Code
I once received an invitation that came with a card that took you to a custom made website that detailed the list of approved dresses and suits for the wedding.
The men only had a choice of three different cuts, all of which looked similar to each other, and which cost over $250 to rent.
Women were only allowed to wear one style in one color, and banned from wearing anything white. It was extremely expensive to rent. I also remember hearing a story involving the bride asking a woman to cover up her white tattoo because it distracted her.
This couple got divorced 2 years after the wedding. I specifically remember turning to my girlfriend at the time and telling her that I was grateful for having the foresight to skip it.
Destination (and more)
One of my college friends got married on a beach in Mexico. The only problem was that after airfare and hotel costs, it would have cost me more than $2000, not to mention the cost of a tux rental. I couldn’t go due to financial reasons.
Not only was it a destination wedding, but the invitation asked for some baby items in lieu of gifts. The bride wasn’t even pregnant at the time.
It turned out that the primary reason she had married him was to gain citizenship into the United States, which she confessed during the honeymoon.
She told people that she wanted to immediately get to making babies, which was a lie.
Thankfully, my friend reported this, and she was later deported back to Mexico. Their marriage was annulled after a month.”
That Poor Woman
“I was a groomsman in a wedding around a year or so ago. Luckily, the wedding went off without a hitch and shortly after, we were off to the reception. At the reception, everyone was dancing, drinking, and having an overall great time.
At the point in the evening when this ‘event’ occurred, I was standing out by the venue’s entrance drinking and chatting with some guests. Suddenly, from the dancefloor, a lady emerged– she came sprinting full tilt and was heading directly towards the bathroom. Unfortunately for her, the only bathroom in this place was a single stall that was currently in use by someone else. In an inebriated panic, she kind of did a little jump, squealed a bit, then ran out the door into the street. She was gone just as quickly as she came.
The cringey part is what she left behind. Upon inspection, we quickly came to the realization that she ended up accidentally ‘relieving herself’ on the floor. I wish the story ended there, but it doesn’t. Upon going outside to make sure she’s okay, we also realized that not only did she go on the floor inside, but she also left a trail clear down the street in the direction she ran.
She did not return to the reception.”
Relationship Moved At Lightning Speed
“My relationship was a whirlwind. He moved at lightning speed. He told me he loved me after only two weeks of dating, and for one of those weeks, I was out of town. Big yikes. We were living together within four months and quickly became engaged. After not even a year and a half together, we were getting married on a beach. As I stood there, waiting to walk across that beach, the whirlwind tornado that I had been caught up in finally slowed down, and I realized that I was making a huge mistake.
He had secrets that I’d caught on to, mainly that he was addicted to physical intimacy. I didn’t find this out until we were within a few months of the wedding, and it felt at the time like it was too late to back out. His explanations for his behaviors never made sense. His behavior itself didn’t make sense. He claimed to be this compassionate, stable person, but he could be incredibly harsh and judgmental. And he would switch jobs, careers, and even whole identities with incredible regularity. I was also going to be wife number three, a major red flag if there ever was one, and he had a long string of relationships, which sometimes started within a day of the last one. He just couldn’t be alone, at all.
But because he was pushing so hard for us to get married as soon as humanly possible, I didn’t take the time to slow down and ask myself if this made sense. I had one last inkling right before the wedding, when his best man’s marriage advice to me was, ‘Don’t be so nasty to him.’
But I felt stuck and so there I was, standing on that beach, and suddenly realizing I was making a huge mistake. I’ve never felt so sad in my life as I did during and after that ceremony. I can’t even look at the pictures, the sadness behind my eyes is truly palpable.
We were divorced less than five years later, and he literally moved in with his next victim the next day. It turns out that he was remarried only a few months later. And now he’s making her miserable. So if you find yourself being rushed to the altar and feeling miserable as you get there, don’t do what I did, just run away as fast as you can. The only good thing I can say about my marriage is that I got an amazing child out of it!”
They Really Just Didn’t Want Them To Get Married
“My wife’s parents were against us getting married.
My wife’s brother is a pastor and she wanted him to perform the wedding. Her parents talked him into refusing. Then, my father-in-law said he wouldn’t walk my wife down the aisle.
When we were continuing to plan the wedding anyways, my mother-in-law ‘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 that she was on her way. We then found out that she had an appointment setup 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. My mother-in-law was shocked when she was told by my pastor ‘They’re adults, and can make this decision for themselves. I’ve known your future son-in-law for years. He’s a good man.’
That was the final straw. We canceled the wedding and went to the court house to get married by a judge, followed up by some breakfast burritos on the way home.
When we got back, my mother-in-law 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 that we were basically saying ‘eff you’ to the whole family, to which we replied ‘well, yeah.’
Then, her parents planned a joke of a ‘wedding’ where we got no say in whom, 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 nine years.”
Their Wedding Got Politically Incorrect Real Quick And In A Hurry
Ysbrand Cosijn/Shutterstock
“I was catering a wedding in North Carolina. It was on a plantation owned by an extremely wealthy ‘old money’-type family. The daughter was marrying a black dude and the family seemed surprisingly okay with it (after speaking with some of the guests, I could tell they were pretty prejudice people for the most part, and there was kind of a general tense feeling between the families.)
During the ceremony the priest was getting to the ‘objection’ part, and before he even says the word, this giant man stood up and said, ‘No cousin of mine is going to marry a [N-Word]’ and starts barreling over people in a rampage of ignorance toward the groom. It was almost like it was planned, people were cheering, moving out of the way, and even following this guy toward the altar. All of the sudden the groom’s family got up and forms a wall in front of the couple, choreographed like they, too, were expecting it.
I swear it was dead silent for an instant, and all of the people I was working with stood there, frozen, excitedly mortified as we watched this race war unfold, it looked like a scene from ‘Django Unchained,’ mixed with ‘300,’ and a little bit of ‘Roots.’ Complete pandemonium rhetoric from both sides, screaming from the women and children, it carried on for what felt like an hour (about 15 minutes) when someone yelled, ‘Where’s the bride and groom?!’
Apparently, they had run off and no one could find them. About an hour later, the father of the bride informed everyone they had eloped, and set off, not disclosing where they went (she had called him). He then proceeded to say, ‘Well, I guess we should eat since I already paid for your dinners.’ Everyone from both sides sat down, ate, some even danced, some made up, and they all left without any incident. One of the most bizarre things I have ever witnessed. I still wonder if the couple ever came back.”
Influenza Take Over
“My ex-stepsister’s wedding was a destination wedding, and everyone – I mean EVERYONE – caught Norwalk flu. I was a bridesmaid (although once we got there the bride hammered ‘JUNIOR’ home pretty hard, still don’t know why she wanted me in the wedding) and ended up in the hospital with dehydration.
In addition to everyone constantly puking their guts out, the groom spend the majority of the trip getting trashed with his friends instead of hanging out with his wife, the bride last minute decided to dictate what hairstyle each bridesmaid should have (which included asking them to try to ‘dye over’ my black hair with brown because it looked ‘goth,’ which obviously didn’t work) and was overall miserable to everyone, and one couple full on broke up partway through the trip and still had to travel back together. The bride and groom also constantly fought in full view of everyone at the resort, which made a lot of strangers do double-takes on their actual wedding day.
We all got a free trip to another tropical location because the company knew Norwalk was going around the resort when we booked, so most of the people who went the first time went again for the couple’s anniversary and ‘vow renewal’… and, minus the flu, it was just as bad.
The bride’s been estranged from the family for years now, but surprisingly she and the groom are still married!”
“She Threatened Me, But I Didn’t Care”
lipik/Shutterstock
“This story is about my friend’s mother-in-law (MIL), and her wedding. Strap in guys, this is a wild ride in which I did THE THING that got me banned from any of her family functions (plus a few threats of dismemberment and bodily harm).
A good friend of mine from university was getting married! They had been a couple since junior year of college, through her 2 years in the peace corps and currently her return to this continent. 6 years in total. She had been to many family functions and always came back with a strange story about how she thinks her MIL secretly hates her. But she being a very quiet and sweet person pushed those thoughts aside.
A few friends and I were asked to be in the wedding. Friend has a HUGE family and so this was not going to be a small affair. Neither of them are particularly religious, but friend said it was would be nice to be married under a chuppah (think an arbor but 4 poles and covered with a white cloth and lots of flowers). Husband said he could care less, and told her to go and rent one for the wedding.
I was at the bridal shower when MIL found out the ‘pretty canopy’ was actually a chuppah. She almost lost her marbles in front of a bunch of people, but managed to compose herself and laugh angrily that ‘if the Jews were being represented so would the Catholics.’ In my head I heard a record screech, guys… they aren’t Catholic.
So after much fighting, a lot of screaming, crying, threatening to pull money (which is funny because she contributed nothing), MIL lost. The boot was firmly placed, and nothing was moving it. Chuppah yes, Catholic priest no.
Things got stupid quiet, my friend texts me the night before the wedding that she has a bad feeling. I tell her it’s probably just nerves, she is getting married and this is a big deal! Oh, how wrong I was.
We all show up, get our hair and makeup done. Slip into our bridesmaid dresses and hang out waiting for the bride to be finished with her hair. She makes a comment saying she hadn’t seen MIL all day and that she skipped her hair and makeup appointment. We all side-eyed each other, took a few sips of vino and hoped the eerie feeling would go away.
30 minutes later as we are helping the bride into her dress; guess who shows up. If you guessed MIL, you win a cookie! Flushed from coming up the stairs (she is not a light woman), in full hair and makeup…and a white dress. Not ivory, not cream, full snow-freaking-white. The dress was clearly a wedding dress; it was even from David’s Bridal (which she would later shout at me). Floor length satin with a sweetheart beaded top, a bit of a train and off-white lace on the bottom. The dress was even tailored to her, this was a long con she had orchestrated.
The bride burst into tears and aunts and friends ushered MIL out. We did our best to console the bride, touched up her makeup, and I made her a promise that the dress would never be seen in a photo. She looked me dead in the eye and nodded. The game was on.
The venue only supplied white vino and bubbly for the wedding party. But I grabbed my purse and ran down into the reception area and managed to flag an attendant by the bar and bribe him with a cool $20 to give me a bottle of red early. I cracked the baby open, filled a solo cup to the brim with it and stalked outside. After a few swigs from the bottle for courage, I went over to where everyone was getting ready to take photos.
With one last hard stare at my friend, I got her nod of approval. I pulled out my phone, held it in front of my face like I was reading a text and walked straight into MIL. I poured the entire cup of vino down the front of her dress, jumped back and gasped.
The look on her face was murderous. She screamed, yelled, threatened, and promised she would sue me. People had to hold her back because she wanted to fight me. Eventually, she switched from screaming to sobbing and sank to the ground and threw a tantrum on the floor. Everyone moved back and just let her go at it and walked away to go take photos. It was surreal, as if everyone just hit their limit and noped out from around her. The 12-year-old flower girl whipped out her phone and snapped a few photos much to our amusement.
This is already super long, but I will say that MIL went home and changed (only 20 min from venue) into a nice dark green too small and low cut dress. Because of this, she missed all of the photos. Wedding was beautiful; I got death glares from everyone she told that I attacked her. I didn’t care as I drank and danced with friends. Bride thanked me in secret and 3 months later took me to the spa for a day of pampering. But I am official ‘that ISIS witch’ to MIL. I’ll take it with pride.”
They Knew Exactly How To Get Back
“I work for a florist/event coordinating shop, and we have several pretty high-end venues we are exclusive with. We’ve seen how lots of money breeds lots of entitlement. We get pretty horrendous bridezillas on the regular. One bride I remember was a woman who was very sweet up until after her wedding. We had to substitute peonies (every bride and their grandma’s favorite flower) because they weren’t in season and to get them, she would need to pay a ton, so she opted for garden roses instead. It rained on her wedding day, and not like ‘maybe we should make a rain call’. It was like tornado sirens and things falling over. The power went out and the hotel used all of their backup generators to light her ceremony and reception for the three hours that the power was out. The rest of their guests just had to be rich by candlelight I guess.
None of that was her fault, but none of it was ours or the hotel’s either. Nature gonna nature. She tried to sue not only us for ‘messing up her bouquet’, but also the hotel for not letting her ceremony be outside and for not letting her ceremony be in ‘the prettiest area’ of the inside of the hotel.
Thankfully, we always have two coordinators meet with brides from this venue (it’s our biggest client), but we also record consultations and have contracts notifying all parties. So she couldn’t do stuff to us, but she did decide to blast us on any social media medium she could. Thankfully, we threatened to sue her back for defamation, and she removed them all. The hotel has similar practices, but also a ton of money to throw against her in court, so they basically told her to bring it and she backed off.
More recently, a groom from a wedding we just did is claiming the venue they used stole from them because he didn’t receive wedding presents from all of his guests, and he’s 100% certain every single one brought them something (they requested money by the way, only money). So now he’s wanting to sue the venue while also calling all of his guests to make sure they gave him money for his wedding gift. This one is more fun to watch burn.”
Fairy Princess Fantasy
Image Source
“I was a wedding coordinator intern at a local banquet hall once summer. The actual coordinator on staff would work with them for months, then I’d typically help out with the rehearsal, ceremony, and reception the next day. We had one couple that we knew was going to have an interesting ceremony. We knew she was going to have elements around the hall that were woodsy and natural because she liked fairies, and also their best friend was going to marry them and it was his first time doing so.
They show up to rehearsal and she’s in full fairy wings and she confirmed that, yes, she was going to wear them in the wedding. Sure, whatever. We start getting a ceremony order together. The groom is super awkward and won’t give a straight answer. He barely even looks us in the eyes. The bride has somehow failed to inform us that her parents are divorced and haven’t spoken to one another in years. Great. That eventually gets worked out and they walk down the rehearsal aisle to the poor guy officiating. We tell the officiant that he can practice what he wants to say or just skip it and cut to the ring exchange. This man pulls out a stack of papers and proceeds to read a 25-minute speech. The bride looks like she wants to ascend to another plane of existence, and the bridesmaids are barely containing themselves. They were nice and their wedding day was great and frilly and warm. Oh, and the officiant had them do their vows while he twirled a wand with streamers on it. What a weird weekend.”