Your wedding is supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life, but there are so many things that can happen to make it take a bad turn. Unfortunately, a guest is what caused issues on the happy couple's big day. People share their awful wedding guest experiences.
Three Police Departments And Some Ambulances Were Called
Jaromir Chalabala/Shutterstock
“My friend got married and decided to have a private ceremony, but an open reception in a massive hay field in Vermont. They invite a large number of people, over 300 show up, and it’s a predictable apocalypse now from 10 a.m. until around 6 p.m., when everyone is seriously buzzed up. People in and out all day, with four constant groups – the direct family of mostly tipsy adults, the bride’s sister’s college friends, the groom’s home friends, and the bride’s friends.
There are some minor altercations between the home friends and college friends, but it’s a wasted fire party in the middle of nowhere, so some yelling and boisterous ideological disagreement were expected, but it came to a head when a heated discussion turned to a girl getting hit with a hot coal shovel.
Utter chaos, multiple 911 calls, police cruisers from three different departments and a couple of ambulances later, we had been given the order to disperse. The problem was that we were all blind wasted and shouty, so after a few arrests and a stern tongue lashing from the cops, we put to bed several people well beyond the legal limit and sent home a lot of questionable people. What about the girl hit with the shovel? Well, the guy had no idea it was the recently-used coal shovel and just wanted to smear a little dirt on the girl. (She had dropped a drink on him) He’s a veterinarian and dragged her off, apologizing profusely and fixed her up in less than an hour. The EMT didn’t even bother taking the dressing off. Unfortunately, you can’t undo 15 near simultaneously 911 calls. Both of them being too wasted to drive they stayed the night, and we found them in the same freaking sleeping bag come morning.”
She Ruined Her Big Moment
Dean Drobot/Shutterstock
“I recently had my wedding. On the morning of the big day, we woke up together happy to be getting married. Then my soon to be husband received a text from his mother. Disclaimer, his mother had waist length black hair. It’s a photo of her, she cut and colored her hair exactly like mine. Shoulder length, brown with blonde streaks. I was livid! Of all days to color your hair! And to do it on my wedding day. Fine, I let it go and decided to just forget it. Finally, it’s the moment we all have been waiting for, I’m walking to the aisle, and we reach the front. The parents were called up so we all could recite a vow together. (Our wedding was held in front of a river bank mind you.)
His mother then proceeded to walk around me near the pastor, instead of being with the other parents near the groom. She proceeded to loudly scream and fall, as she fell she grabbed my hair, and I fell with her inches away from the riverbank. My moment. Ruined. She got up and laughed and walked away while I was on the ground trying not to cry.
I don’t remember anything else from the ceremony. We no longer speak to one another. To this day, when I think about my wedding, I tear up. She ruined it and didn’t even feel sorry for it. And after watching our wedding video, her husband and the pastor were holding her arms. She deliberately stepped back and fell. She is the youngest of four, so she has always been that way. She always wants all the attention on her. I think maybe she was mad I was taking her only son from her.”
“Once I See Her I Realize She Was Wearing”
“On our wedding day, it poured and quite a few things happened that caused our ceremony to start about an hour and a half late. My mother-in-law was nowhere to be found and we started because we had already kept the guests waiting. She didn’t show up until halfway through the ceremony, which I didn’t notice but my husband did of course.
Well, once I see her I realize she was wearing an ivory sari and was showing her midsection – my husband’s family is not Indian and it seemed kind of obvious she was going for attention. Anyways, we move on to pictures after the ceremony, in which I guess she was trying to be the center of attention by pushing me out of MY wedding pictures. My husband was pretty mad and upon talking to some of our guests afterward, plenty noticed and thought it was rude. Other stuff happened too, but that was just the most memorable.
I didn’t let her ruin my day and still had the most amazing day despite all the shenanigans. However, I was upset later when I talked to my husband and realized how upset he was afterward because his mom basically didn’t care enough to try and be respectful of us. My husband still has these issues with her and hardly talks to her but I do not speak to her whatsoever.”
Her Sister-In-Law Made It All About Herself
“My husband and I got married 12 years ago, and he and his sister ruined my wedding. To start, we lived in Oregon at the time, and all of my family live in Georgia, so since I have a huge family who didn’t have the financial means to travel, and his family is very small, we went to Georgia to get married.
The BS started as soon as we started planning. The sister-in-law would make comments telling us we should just get married like she and her husband on Christmas in a tiny church with a couple of people. She made a lot of other suggestions about how we should do things. Then, while at my in-laws on Christmas morning, nine months before our wedding, my husband asks his dad to be his best man. It was a very touching moment; his mom cried. Later that night, his sister corners him and asks why he doesn’t make her husband his best man. The fight about that between the whole family on Christmas day was really great.
Lots more happened but I’ll move on to our wedding day. We are all getting ready at a rented beach house. Admittedly, my sister-in-law can really bring out the worst in my husband. He’s stressed while getting ready and being a jerk. She’s being passive aggressive and making everything about her.
For photos before the wedding, we are meeting at a park. I am riding with my friend and he is going to follow. On the way to the park, we get lost. No worries, we will just go to the wedding venue. With guests arriving, somehow my husband and his sister start fighting in front of everyone. She’s manipulating and pushing buttons, he’s blaming her for my not showing up at the park for photos. I finally arrive at the venue with my very soon to be husband, hands in pockets and saying ‘WTF.’
My sister then tries going between my husband and his sister to diffuse everything with my sister-in-law calling her an idiot, and then the minister threatens to leave because of the fighting.
So after the ceremony, my sister-in-law has a horrible face in every single photo that includes her, and then had the nerve to tell me during my reception that her day was ruined, and she would never speak to her brother again.
So then, two days later, as I am packing to leave the beach rental, she comes into my room to tell me how hard the week has been for her. She goes on to say that there was ‘God knows who sleeping on the couch’ (my best friend since fourth grade) and ‘Unruly, undisciplined children running around’ (my nieces and nephew) who really are great kids.
Yeah, my husband brings up renewing our vows occasionally, and while we do have a very happy marriage now, I have no desires for a vow renewal.”
This Actually Wasn’t His Fault
“I ruined a wedding one time, but it wasn’t my fault. I was a friend of a friend of the groom, and I had an F150, so I got asked to bring some chairs and a table to the reception hall, as people who own trucks are often asked to do. I agreed and was told I would be met there by a couple of women and a few guys to unload everything and place it.
One of the women was pretty hot. I flirted a bit and she flirted back. She asked if I wanted to take a walk along the river that the reception hall was on. Sure! We walked for a while and talked, and it got hotter and hotter. We ended up making out on the riverbank for a bit and walking back to the hall, where I invited her to go for a ride in my truck.
This was in rural Indiana, so in about 10 minutes, we were along some numbered county road in the back of the truck laying on a blanket and going at it. It was late evening and there was no one around. Then a car comes towards us. We laid still and waited for them to pass, but the car stopped and a girl from earlier got out and started screaming at us. Yep, the girl I was with was the bride.
The wedding got canceled. My friend punched me in the face (he found out later that I had no idea who she was and apologized, we are good now), and it was quite the scandal for a while.
The groom wound up feeling like I did him a favor. Once the important people in this figured out that I didn’t know the bride and thought a hot chick wanted me, they all were in agreement I did nothing wrong and she was a huge tramp. I’ve spoken to the groom a few times at social gatherings and he is still friends with my friend. No ill feelings, thank goodness.”
His Father’s Speech Had One Thing Wrong
My father-in-law repeatedly used my husband’s ex-girlfriend’s name during his speeches, and when talking to me. His toast at the wedding was full of slurred speech, and a story about Mark and Alyssa and their budding romance and how adorable it was. I’m not Alyssa. Alyssa was his girlfriend in high school.
His parents got divorced when he was young, he was a severely abusive drinker, and I’ve met him twice outside of our wedding. He was lit when he arrived at 11 a.m. By dinner time? It was hard to tell what he was saying.
He didn’t see much of my husband after he was 12 years old, very out of touch. That said – we had been dating seven years before we got married. He should at least get my name right.
My dad was FUMING. I watched him almost go purple during my father-in-law’s speech. I just had to laugh. We don’t interact with him, I have only talked to him once since our wedding.
I actually knew Alyssa. She was a good friend of mine in high school. She cheated on my husband, and I pounced like a majestic tiger as soon as he was single. So, if anything, I’m annoyed I was confused with a cheater. I’m dark haired, green-eyed, tan skin, and on the short side. She’s light blond, pale skin, blue-eyed, tall and willowy. I’m not even sure how he got confused.”
It Could Have Ended Way Worse
“It didn’t exactly ruin the wedding, but for a while, things were a little tense. For a little background, my high school boyfriend apparently called his wife by my name during an intimate moment. His parents told my parents when explaining why I wasn’t being invited to the family party that year when I came home from school for winter break. I made sure to keep my distance since that had the potential for more drama than an episode of Maury.
Well, then he showed up to my wedding reception IN ANOTHER STATE with his wife dressed in a white lace gown with what I can only describe as a bridal hairstyle. She kind of charged up to the bridal table and announced that she needed to meet me. She was just standing there, refusing to move, and looking confrontational. I grabbed a couple chairs and asked someone to bring the couple plates of food. Then I warmly asked for an introduction and complimented her hair and dress. For a moment I thought she was going to hit me with the chair. Instead, she sat down, ate some food, and calmed down a lot.
My wedding planner stopped by a couple times to make sure I was okay, but aside from a late arrival asking if we’d had a double wedding, the rest of the reception had very little drama. The happy couple chatted amicably with us, and the wife called me a lovely person before they left. It was a bit surreal, but I didn’t want a fight on my wedding day. I refused to engage in that, and through some happy circumstance that worked out for me.”
The Best Man’s Speech Was AWKWARD
“I wasn’t there, but some friends of mine tell the story of how the best man’s speech involved telling everyone that he and the groom had been lovers since college and that if there was any real justice in the world the two of them would be getting married. At the reception. In front of everyone. Sounded epic!
This happened about a decade ago, long before the whole ‘it’s a prank bro’ thing became a thing. Also, given that he then smashed a champagne flute and burst into tears, I’m thinking pretty serious. The groom was marrying a woman; the best man wanted none of it. This happened about 15-20 years ago in Britain, so not much gay wedding action going on at the time.”
They Didn’t Invite Them For A Reason
“An aunt and her family are notorious for showing up, eating all the food, stealing drinks, and leaving. Her one son, nice guy that he is, has substance abuse problems and just can’t keep it together. Her daughter is trashy and has a new boyfriend every week. She will show up to family events, make a gigantic plate of food, talk to no one, and leave.
So when my wife and I were planning the wedding, we didn’t invite the one cousin with abuse problems and we didn’t let the girl cousin have a plus one because we were making some guest list cuts. Well, you can guess who shows up at the reception (skipped the wedding part). We had an open bar, so the abuse cousin gets blitzed immediately. He was jumping into every picture he could and becoming a real nuisance. My dad (no relation to this cousin) almost had to kick him out before other family members took him away.
The girl showed up at our semi-formal wedding wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt and her boyfriend of the week was wearing a camo shirt and ripped jeans. She was filling her plate multiple times (she’s not fat, she just takes as much as she can and stores it for later) while her boyfriend got hammered. Then they had an awful makeout session in the middle of the dance floor while groping each other. I went to the bar to get a drink, and since I was the groom, people let me to the front. Her boyfriend was there and was like ‘WTF?’ Someone else said I was the groom, and he was like ‘Yer the groom! No way, let’s take shots!’
Everyone else that night was wonderful. It only takes a couple trashy family members to bring the mood down.”
They Never Figured Out Who Was Trying To Sabotage Them
“My wedding wasn’t really ruined, but it almost was. My husband and I still haven’t figured it out. Everything was going according to plan, and a few weeks from the wedding, the owner of the venue was supposed to contact us and tell us the exact total to be paid. When he didn’t, my husband called him up to ask how much we owed and the guy says ‘nothing, you canceled the wedding.’ What?
After some back and forth, they figured out that someone who was not my husband had called the venue, claimed to be my husband, used his name and contract number, and canceled the wedding. The only people who would have had access to that information is maybe one of the owner’s employees or someone in my husband’s family. We tried to get the phone number from the service provider, but for obvious reasons, they did not disclose.
Other things to go wrong were his brother partially shaving his hair into a horrible haircut the day before the wedding without consulting us. His original haircut was excellent, but he decided to do something that didn’t work for him or the style of the wedding (it was steampunk). He was also the one who was whining about the clothes he had to wear. He was just a pain for the whole thing.
The place we’d planned to take pictures at ended up being on fire when we drove there. It was outside in the trees and a huge section was just up in smoke. Fire trucks, the whole shebang. So we had to take pictures elsewhere.
And someone kept trying to hack into our wedding email account. We never figured that one out either. We also forgot to put the sand out, so during the ceremony, my cousin had to sneak behind the stage and set it up. She managed without being noticed and saved us the disaster.
All in all, it was an average wedding, I’d say.”
His Brother Protested The Wedding
pathdoc/Shutterstock
“Not really ruining the wedding, but it certainly killed the vibe leading up to the wedding. I asked my brother to be my best man at my wedding (brother and I: Catholic; girlfriend: Episcopal). He says yes. Months after saying yes he comes to us and tells us that he can’t be the best man or even be at the ceremony because his priest tells him it will be a mortal sin for him to be a witness to the ceremony because I am not asking for dispensation and getting married in an Episcopal church. Okay, understood. Sad, but if that’s the way you see it, we’ll deal with it. At this point, I ask my best friend to be my best man and all is good. Or so we thought.
A couple months before the wedding, my brother starts a campaign calling my entire family and telling them they will be committing a mortal sin if they attend my wedding, and explaining how my children will be sinful in the eyes of God and anyone who even sleeps under the same roof as us will be committing sin.
I find all this out through cousins and friends and am in complete shock. Luckily, I have a few cool family members and they all show up for the wedding. Everyone had a ‘What the heck is wrong with your brother?’ question on the day of the wedding, but it was a great time with an open bar and live band. Here’s the kicker of it all: my Mom is Catholic, my Pop is Episcopal (no divorces or any unhappiness, just your normal suburban family).”
The Bride’s Sisters Were NIGHTMARES
Gumirova Elvira/Shutterstock
“I used to volunteer at a hospital that had an attached venue they would rent out as a side business. I usually was in transport and the psych wing but since they knew I was strong I’d sometimes be requested to go and help down there carrying food, tables, and the like. This one wedding reception was good except there were these two guests who were sisters of the bride. They were loud, obese, racist, rude, and were trying to talk politics with other people who totally didn’t care. A few of the things were calling the saucier who was black either ‘boy,’ ‘monkey cook’ or ‘it’ the whole time he was helping set up. They went into a conversation while the groom was talking and making a speech that ‘If Romney doesn’t win then the whole country will go to the wetbacks.’
Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ was the song for the first dance. It was really nice and everyone was quiet. A few seconds after the song ended, the one said ‘I really like that song, too bad she was a (N-word).’
Food time. The way the lines were set up were three long tables that went into an L shape. The first two were Identical while the third had some specialty drinks and led back to the main hall. As instructed by the couple, everyone got a small platter and walked down either side. We were told to do two slices of meats, two scoops of sides, and so on. You could get as many different options as you wanted, but the limits on how many of each were in place. The two women arrived and IMMEDIATELY began arguing. None of it was enough. They got everything. At the meat area, they were arguing and the caterer just said ‘I have to follow the rules set in place by the bride and the groom.’
I had a break, so I don’t know what lead to the next part but for some reason, they ‘accidentally’ knocked over the ham. I came out because I heard screaming, and the one is on the floor crying, holding her hand. In ‘accidentally’ sticking her hand under the tray to flip it she learned just how hot a fire makes metal. She was screaming! The bride was in the other room and just looked so embarrassed.
Eventually, enough was enough and the bride, groom, and the bride’s mother told them to leave. They got around the corner out of view of guests and the one smacked the bride. The groom punched her in the face full force sending her tumbling backward. Security was called by the catering who escorted the two women out. The police showed up 15 minutes later (the sisters called them) and asked to speak to the groom, the chef, and the security. After a few minutes, the cops let them all come back in.”
He Messed Up His Friend’s Wedding
“This definitely ruined one of my best friends’ first dance.
So my friend asked me to be the ‘DJ’ at their wedding which basically meant being the guy with the mic for introductions and hitting play on the playlist when the dance started. I should probably mention I freaking hate public speaking but hey, anything for a friend right?
So it comes time to do introductions for the bridal party and start the first dance. So I say the names of all the bridesmaids and groomsmen during the introductions, they all did their stupid dance that all people seem to do now, then I get to the bride and groom.
My first screw up was I introduce the bride by her maiden name right off the bat, then said the F-word into the microphone and corrected myself. My second screw up was I started to play their song for the first dance before I introduced them so by the time they had walked into the venue and everyone stopped clapping the song was almost over when they started to dance.
So they danced for about 10-15 seconds, the song ended, I kid you not this was an outdoor wedding and as soon as the song ended it was dead silent except for the crickets in the field. Literally awkward crickets while everybody turned to look at me, like WTF you started the song too soon. So I was like you want me to play it again? The bride and groom said no, forget about it. And that’s how I messed up my friend’s first dance.”
The Sister And Mom Were Hammered Horrors
Ljupco Smokovski/Shutterstock
“Not mine, my older sister’s wedding. We’ll call her A. When our oldest sister, B, got married, she didn’t even invite A, but A had been trying to work on bettering their relationship and invited B in spite of this. Recently divorced B showed up to the wedding with a good friend of A’s husband-to-be. Started off the night being super rude to my grandparents and aunt and then refusing to come into the dressing room with all the girls, promptly making it awkward for everyone. For some reason, our mom also decided to refuse to be in the dressing room, as well.
Before the ceremony, B makes an uncomfortable joke to her future brother-in-law about being busy getting it on with his friend all day. B and her date are the only ones dancing at the reception (it was held in the honeymoon suite of a hotel) and was shamelessly grinding and grabbing in front of family members that changed our diapers. I pulled her aside and talked to her about this, and she laughed in my face but did stop afterward. However, she proceeded to convince her date, who had been friends with the groom for 20 years and grew up with him in Alaska, to start a fight with the groom.
I’m convinced my sister was the first person ever to let this guy hook up with her because, for some reason, he did. Some ugly things were said, a few other friends of 20 years intervened, and the best man decided it might be best if B’s date left the reception and slept off the drinking. Mind you, A and my brother-in-law didn’t ask him to do this, and it was only B’s date that was asked to leave. Hammered B responded by jumping up and announcing to anyone she passed on her way out that her ‘OWN SISTER’ had kicked her out. Our mom then went around (wasted) apologizing to everyone at the reception, including people who didn’t even see what had happened. She told everyone that A was being a ‘bridezilla’ and she was extremely worried about B being off somewhere in the middle of the night.
A Eventually suggested that my mom take her husband (not our dad) home, as he’d been passed out on a chair for several hours and had just vomited on himself. Our mom then proceeded to announce to everyone on her way out that she had also been kicked out by her own daughter. Neither of them has spoken or apologized to A and this was almost six years ago. I’ve caught them both making up lies about what happened and called them out, which apparently means I ‘think I’m better than everyone else because I’m in college and have a career.’ They make up ways to victimize themselves and start to believe their own lies.”