Weddings can sometimes be unpredictable. These people in the wedding industry have seen it all and are spilling the tea on the wedding fiascos that they've had the unfortunate pleasure to deal with.
The Groom’s Parents Were Nothing But Unsupportive
Nejron Photo/Shutterstock
“I used to be a banquet manager at a high-end hotel. An insanely wealthy, old money guy marrying a second-generation Asian-American woman. Groom’s parents are displeased in the extreme. However, there is probably a billion-dollar inheritance at stake for the couple, so they are willing to tolerate some stuff.
Friday night: Mother of groom refuses to call it a rehearsal dinner – it is a ‘celebration of her son’s life.’ We are warned well ahead of time to under no circumstances allow her to have any hard drinks or go near the microphone. We make it through with nothing bad happening, but she does have the DJ play a song for a mother/son dance (last dance of the evening) – for ‘Mommy and Biffy’ – ‘Never Can Say Goodbye.’
All the ick.
Saturday Night: Wedding goes off without a hitch. Everyone is behaving, we have drinks, dinner, speeches – all is well – we’ve dodged a bullet. Daddy (who has been drinking drinks on the rocks with a twist since 10 a.m.) picks up the mic when dessert is served and starts into a slurred, speech, wishing luck and love to the couple. Suddenly, the needle jerks, and he’s saying – ‘Our family has been in this country for the last 13 generations and my jerk of a son has to screw it all up by marrying some no name (insert Asian slur here).’ Collective gasp!
Daddy’s best friend yanks the mic out of his hands, but he keeps yelling: ‘You can’t shut me up, I can buy and sell all of you, and I will!’ Then he storms upstairs and out into the pouring rain where he sits, facing the corner for the rest of the night.
The next morning, he comes into the brunch and says to everyone: ‘That was quite a show last night!’ And sits down with his son and new daughter-in-law and eats his omelet.
I hear the bride and groom are still happy far away from his parents!”
Father Of The Bride Went To Jail!
BortN66/Shutterstock
“I once was threatened by the father of the bride and had the cops haul him off, all because his daughter didn’t pay for a cake, so I didn’t make it.
We do everything online through a payment plan. You make your down payment after we agree on design/flavors from the tasting and then sign a contract. In that contract, it states that if the cake isn’t paid for in advance, I don’t make it. We send you reminder emails and such, so it’s not like we just straight up ignore you until it’s go-time, but still, it’s your responsibility to pay. His daughter never made payments on her cake, so my payment system canceled it and refunded her money minus the downpayment, as is standard.
I get a call morning of, asking where I am. I tell the venue I have no idea since I have no cake on record. They thank me and hang up.
Dad shows up an hour later, fuming. He thought it was unfair that I screwed up her big day because ‘she didn’t know any better’ even though I told her how it works and it was in her contract, and she was 35 years old. He then insisted I make her a cake in around six hours, for free. I told him there was no way I could do that even if I needed to, which I didn’t because it was his daughter’s screw-up that caused her to not have a cake. He started screaming and threatened to kill me, unaware that one of my regulars in the shop that morning was an off-duty cop with his kid.
Daddy got hauled off to jail before the cocktail hour was even done.”
Chairs Were Thrown!
“Two True Tales!
My cousin’s wedding (groom) was being held in another city. We drove to the wedding hall with him, everything was fine until the music suddenly stopped and we saw chairs being hurled at people. Apparently, a wasted uncle from the bride’s side of the family slapped my aunt’s butt. Her husband didn’t find it funny, punched the guy in the face, which led to a bride’s family vs groom’s family all out donnybrook. I remember my aunt (groom’s mother) screaming: ‘Get the bride in the car, and let’s get out of here and back to our city!’ Ten minutes later, we were on the highway, speeding back home with the bride!
My own wedding. My parents didn’t approve of my girlfriend, but just wanted to get me married (Asian parents!), and her parents didn’t want the wedding as they were in a tight financial position. My girlfriend and I forced a simple court wedding instead of a big fat Indian wedding and decided to just have a big reception for the guests. I knew stuff was going to go down as my parents had constantly spoken out of turn and belittled my fiancee and her family. Luckily (or unluckily) my cousin got my dad hammered hoping he would pass out and everything will be ok. Towards the end of the night, my dad walked up to my father-in-law and said: ‘You have stolen my son from me. I curse you. You and your daughter will never have a happy life!’ I asked my wife and my inlaws to quietly slip away. Then we got in my car and drove home.
Fast forward, we have been married for three years and doing great, but we have never seen pictures of our wedding because they just bring back bad memories!”
Not Too Happy With The Amount Of Cash Given
Mykola Komarovskyy/Shutterstock
“I wasn’t working that weekend, thank the lord, but the bride asked for money only as wedding presents. During dancing, she sneaks over to the basket full of the envelopes and opens them up, counting her take. It’s less than she hoped, so she calls the police, gets the DJ to stop the music, and accuses the waitstaff of stealing her gifts.
She lines up the guests, asks each one, publicly, how much they gave her. Screams at the police when they arrive to do something. Then she sues the restaurant, or at least was threatening to when I stopped working there.”
A Wedding Guest Got Tackled!
Lopolo/Shutterstock
“I worked at a wedding reception for four years, and boy, do I have a lot of stories. However, I’ll try to condense it down.
Probably the one that was the most messed up. Bride and groom are middle-aged with a few kids already, one being an 8-year-old boy. Towards the end of the night, we witness the groom and the father of the children beating the life out of a guest. After breaking up the fight, we learn that this guest had attempted to attack the young boy (son of the groom) in the bathroom. It was the worst thing we have ever experienced there, and I felt terrible for the kid and the parents.
We had to hide the man because the guests wanted to hurt him, but regardless of what we thought, we couldn’t let that happen. So the guy is in our office area where I’m working, and he is with the woman he came there with and judging from the nature of their conversation, I gathered that this was not the first time he had acted inappropriately towards a kid and she seemed to just accept it. I was seething and it ended up going to court, we gave statements.
We had a wedding canceled a few days before due to cheating (they still hoped to get a refund).
The obvious pants splitting, the groom needed an emergency set of pants after splitting them just before the ceremony.
A lot of fights have happened, people getting wasted and angry is too common. From what we gathered, there was animosity between two sides of the groom’s family, and it ended with a huge fight between brothers and uncles in the car park.
Someone’s grandma had a heart attack mid-reception and had to be taken to the hospital.”
She Wasn’t Aware That He Had A Fiancée
Master1305/Shutterstock
“I am a professional singer for weddings. I was asked to sing at the wedding of an old friend about ten years ago.
The ceremony rehearsal and subsequent dinner were great fun and I had a good time meeting all the fun people in this huge, elaborate wedding party. A cute groomsman caught my eye and, after getting wasted at the rehearsal dinner, we stumbled back to my apartment that was a few blocks from the restaurant and hooked up. He was hot and fun, and we had great chemistry, considering we had never met before. He didn’t stay the night (which was fine by me), and we didn’t exchange numbers or anything.
That morning, as we were all getting ready for the ceremony to start, he took me aside and said: ‘So, you’re going to be cool, right? Because my fiancee is here.’ I was HORRIFIED. Not wanting to ruin my friend’s wedding ceremony with a spectacular dramafest, I kept quiet until the reception, where I got wasted and, thereby, lost all my decorum (I’m six years sober last month). I hand-wrote a note on the back of a program and gave it to the fiancee before I wobbled back home.
I later heard there was crying, screaming, and punching.”
The Caterer Ruined The Wedding?
“The caterer got wasted at the reception. This was before food service and at least partly on the drinks purchased by the wedding party. He may have had some drinks in one of his coolers too. The food was at least an hour late and not good.
Supposedly the people he had coming to help serve bailed on him, so his girlfriend came to help. She was wearing a dress that barely covered her cheeks and he was enjoying being able to get handsy with her. Yes, those were the same hands prepping the food.
He got wasted after the food was served and took the mic from the DJ and proceeded to propose to his girlfriend when he was supposed to be working. Someone from the crowd shouted out, ‘But I saw you with another girl, Thursday!’
He left the sink full of dirty dishes, an inch-deep puddle of chicken juice in the fridge, coolers of food outside, and had to leave his truck/trailer because he couldn’t drive home. He then denied leaving the mess despite the photos of it.
We don’t have a preferred vendor list, but we have a list of one vendor who isn’t welcome back.”
Bride Came Across An Interesting Text Message
“I work for a restaurant that caters at least one wedding a month.
At one wedding, the bride was six hours late, which delayed the reception itself. The father of the bride had no problem with the delay or the cost that came with it. Some people were begging to eat the food we had brought, but the parents of the bride said that everything had to be in place for their daughter.
She finally arrived, gets married, and the reception begins.
People are understandably angry at the reception and after a few trips to the open bar, start telling the staff what happened. Apparently, the groom got a text message from his best man’s wife the morning of the wedding just saying she hoped the boys had fun the night before and she wished him the best of luck on his big day (she couldn’t attend because of work and had known the groom for about five years longer than he had known his then fiance). Bride saw the message because she had an app that apparently sent all of his messages to her phone and accused him of having an affair. A big fight ensues. The start of a wonderful marriage.”
“An Absolute Nightmare To Work With”
Ljupco Smokovski/Shutterstock
“A bride punching her sister in the face and giving her a bloody nose. This happened in front of the hair and makeup team about two hours before the ceremony. Then the bride insisted that they fix the sister’s makeup.
The hair and makeup ladies refused and left, after calling the police to report what happened.
Afterward, the owner of the hair and makeup company charged the card on file for the full amount. When the bride threw a fit over the charge, as only two people, out of her party of eight people, had hair and makeup completed, I had the pleasure of reminding her that in the contract she had agreed to pay in full in the event regardless of the circumstances. She was free to dispute the charges.
I spoke to the hair and makeup company and the bride didn’t bother disputing.
I wonder how the heck nutjobs like that, are actually married? She was an absolute nightmare to work with.”
A Homeless Man Passed Out In The Aisle?
Brian Eichhorn/Shutterstock
“I don’t work in the industry, but I attended a wedding where this happened.
My coworker was having her wedding on a public beach in Southern California, they weren’t able to reserve anything, just make do with it the best that they could.
Well, right before she was due to walk down the aisle, a homeless man stumbles into the group of people guests and passes out midway into the aisle. A couple of guys go over to get him to move, but the dude wasn’t waking up. Ended up giving him CPR for a solid 20 minutes while waiting for the ambulance. Didn’t hear anything else about him after they carried him off the beach.”
Trash-Talking Each Other
Voyagerix/Shutterstock
“I used to be a receptionist at a private club that often hosted weddings.
My desk was in the lobby where the bridal party would line up to make their entrance into the fancy wedding hall.
Once, the bride and groom were having an argument in front of all the groomsmen and bridesmaids. Maybe 16 people. Not sure what started it, but they were both hammered, and she was screaming: ‘Screw you, you piece of garbage!’ And he was saying he wouldn’t be such a piece of garbage if she didn’t act like such a brat. She was bringing up past arguments, he was talking trash about her in front of her to the groomsmen, it was a mess. The music was starting and they were supposed to make their grand entrance any second now. I thought for sure they were about to call off the wedding, this fight was so intense and mean.
Finally, the maid of honor pipes in and says maybe they should all start getting in position. The bride screams: ‘EVERYONE SHUT UP! THIS IS MY DAY! DON’T RUIN IT!’
I kid you not, on cue, they all straighten up, put on beautiful smiles, and walk arm in arm through the door as if nothing had happened and everything was perfect. It was like something out of a robot flick. This was 2013, and I still think about them and wonder if they’re still married.”
A Horse-Drawn Carriage Made An Appearance
“I used to work at an inn that specialized in hosting weddings. A family connection got me the job and she even warned me about the kinds of people I’d run into in this business seeing as she used to be a wedding planner but stepped down because she just couldn’t handle the people she had to deal with, especially when they were planning their weddings with their parents’ money.
One day, we’re setting up for a wedding, and I see a woman having one of the ugliest meltdowns I’ve ever seen talking to our resident wedding planner. After they leave I ask what was going on and my boss explains that she had to tell the bride that they couldn’t have their horse-drawn carriage to the reception area because where they were holding the reception was downhill from the ceremony so the carriage would get ahead of the horse and pose a serious risk to the bride and groom.
The bride didn’t take this well. She threatened our wedding planner to take away our business (I guess until she realized that the wedding was three days away) but ultimately caved to a compromise.
What was the compromise? To take a horse-drawn carriage ride in a 70-foot circle following the reception so that the wedding photographer could get a picture of it. How much did this photo op cost? $3,000! Don’t ask me how it cost that much because the bride had no clue, but it always reminds me of what people are willing to do when they’re playing with other people’s money.”
A Wedding In Vegas
“Does my mom’s wedding count?
My mom got hitched in Vegas in 2014. It was supposed to be a small intimate wedding in a fancy chapel off the strip. So her husband’s mom keeps butting in and changing everything and just being rude about what my mom wanted. Mom gets married and then we file out to go to the fancy dinner my mom wanted. Except my grandma decides were actually going to her hotel room because she canceled my mom’s reservations.
Reception is in a hotel room. Like a normal two-room suite. Okay. She asks my mom if my brother and I (16 and 14) could drink some wine. My mom says sure. Grandma proceeds to continue pouring us glasses that we kept drinking, trying to be polite. Got us smashed. My mom, still in her wedding dress, had to walk both of her hammered sons to our hotel room while my youngest brother at 12, kept asking why we would be dumb enough to get smashed.
My mom was livid. My grandma’s partying continued well into the night. My mom stayed with us to get us feeling better and didn’t even attend the rest of her own wedding reception. Her husband stayed the night in his mom’s hotel room instead of checking on us or my mom at all.
The marriage has not been pleasant.”
She Disappeared Right After The Ceremony?
Vereshchagin Dmitry/Shutterstock
“Hedge fund manager groom is a narcissistic jerk. Sweet fashionista bride wants to take a few pictures after the wedding, but the groom insists that all his friends and admirers will want to see him right now. She is begging him. He starts walking away towards the cocktail hour, turns, and sneers: ‘I suggest you re-read your prenup, MY DEAR.’ Their florist backed out last minute cause he was such a jerk, too.
It was a bride who was on her second marriage and her dress cost $30,000. She has clearly been pregaming by the time the ceremony rolls around and disappears right after. F&B director finds her in the bridal suite, under the covers in this dress that costs more than my car, out of her mind on pills. Four-year-old son says: ‘It’s ok, mommy does that a lot.’
I lied, this is the weirdest one. The cuckoo bride spends entire wedding trying to make out with most of the catering staff. Her guests are skipping down the halls inappropriately touching everyone. She had been flirting with one of the hotel bartenders the night before and waved to him from the altar during her vows (the bar was on a balcony above the ceremony site and people would watch from there). I think that whole wedding was on some sort of illegal substance. She made our gay male wedding planner escort her to the toilet and handed him a used tampon.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Another bride attempts suicide on Tuesday. Controlling parents/groom force her to get married anyway, pumped full of Thorazine. That one was sad.
Maid of honor (bride’s sister) hates the bridesmaid dress. Claims to have forgotten to pack it but conveniently has slinkier, lower cut version of the dress in suitcase. Sings a different song during ceremony than what her sister had wanted.”
The DJ Was Not Too Happy
“Occasional wedding DJ here, nothing too wild so far but at one wedding I worked this summer everyone was super cool except the maid of honor, who sucked.
I arrived to set up and she was alone in the little DJ alcove, shoes off, reading a book, while everyone else was enjoying cocktails below. Ok, maybe she just needed a break? I tried making polite chit-chat and asked her about the ceremony. She kind of made a face and said it was weird that her best friend was married. Every other topic I tried had similar results – every glass was half empty for this girl.
Dance time rolls around, and I’m playing the music the bride and groom requested, but the Maid of Honor doesn’t like it. She keeps coming up and yelling in my ear that no one is dancing and that everyone hates the music. I always have a pen and paper handy so people can write down their requests. The Maid of Honor writes down a list of seven songs to be played in that order. Wildly different songs from what the clients requested. She wanted hard rap and club bangers that would horrify the older guests when the clients mostly wanted stuff like Grouplove. Comes back up to yell at me and demand I play her songs one or two more times. I tell her I’m getting there.
Finally comes to a head when I start playing a Donna Summer song that a polite and sweet young groomsman requested. He and his friends are dancing away having a grand time. Maid of Honor storms into my alcove, gets in my face, and goes: ‘WHAT is THIS? I thought I told you to do THIS’ (pointing to her crappy playlist).
I wish I could tell you I headbutted her or something but I just told her I was going to stick with the bride and groom’s requests, and she finally ran off.
The bride was so sweet and chill. No idea how the two of them were best friends.”
A Very Redneck-Russian Wedding!
.jpg){kind=link}
“I work in the events production industry and sometimes the events we do are weddings.
The craziest wedding I have ever worked was a redneck family and a Russian mafia-esque family.
Two families that seem like they should have nothing in common were drinking and being volatile and rowdy together. The pinnacle of ridiculousness though was that as per the contract we struck, I was to stick around and show them how to take apart the staging pieces; However, eight large, wasted, rambunctious rednecks and Russians do not like a skinny, mid-20-year-old, short female to tell them what to do. Or they were too wasted to listen. Either way, this was a laugh riot with all these big, burly wasted men, unable to take apart the stage, not listening to the fact that they just needed to unlock the panels from each other.
Needless to say, some of those steel framed panels had to be thrown out because they were unusable.
Not a particularly violent, but definitely the RIDICULOUS wedding I have ever worked.”
What Happened To The Elderly Woman
“I work at a wedding venue in the UK. I started working in the office doing accounts, and one weekend I offered to help on the bar when someone called in sick. Two years later, I now run the bar and/or host for basically every wedding we have.
Two incidents come to mind.
Elderly guests quite often struggle with everything going on at a wedding, and we had one have a heart attack and collapse as she was walking her daughter down the aisle. It just made for a difficult rest of the day for everyone, as one can imagine.
My favorite incident, however, wasn’t actually a wedding – a guy hired out the venue to celebrate his mum’s 80th birthday. A casual Sunday afternoon in the countryside, with the majority of the guests being over the age of 60. The guy’s children were there and were struggling for entertainment with the immense level of an elderly company. The guy’s son (who was 13) was clearly so bored that in an attempt to liven things up he thought he’d do a couple lines of illegal substances in the men’s toilets, in full view of myself as I was walking in. I promptly made his dad aware of the situation, and I will never forget hearing the words: ‘I’ve told you to take it easy on the coke around your dads family,’ as his mother arrived to take him home. Rather worrying that it sounded as though a 13-year-old taking in illegal substances was a regular occurrence.”