A bride's wedding day is supposed to be the most magical day in her life. Unfortunately, a lot of things can go wrong when they least expect it. From unwanted guests to crazy interruptions, these Quora users share the reason they absolutely felt terrible for the bride on her wedding day.
Content has been edited for clarity.
Invite Said No Kids For A Reason
“In a controversial fashion, the invites clearly stated ‘no children.’ Being that 80% of the invitees were her family members, including myself, there was a lot of uproar. It was the topic of Thanksgiving, Christmas, the reunion……you get the picture. Mothers were talking about how rude, and ungrateful she was for stating this in the invites.
Truthfully, I think it was because of one of two reasons. The bride desperately wanted children, and had found out right before the invites were sent that she would never be able to conceive. Due to a childhood disease, the groom was also sterile. Secondly, the bride and groom were teachers, in the public school system, and our state is notorious for low paying teaching jobs. Since the couple was paying for the wedding themselves, and inviting all her cousins’ children would add a good 75–100 guests. They would outnumber the adults. So, by not inviting the kids, the couple could save quite a bit of money.
Anyway, I felt terrible for the bride, as a family member decided her kids had never been to a wedding, and this would be a good time to take them, as the girl was in elementary school, and had the bridal crazies. Sadly, those three kids got bored, as dinner wasn’t to their liking, and the speeches were long. The kids started playing tag, and got into a disagreement as siblings often do. It was right in front of a beautiful wedding cake the bride and her grandmother had gone through great lengths to make. The ‘well-behaved’ children crashed not only into the wedding cake, but into the expensive groom’s cake flown in from up North. The groom’s cake was the bride’s wedding gift to the groom, as it had special meaning to him. Three children covered in cake and frosting, crystal toasting glasses smashed, and the time and money wasted had to have hurt the bride to her core.”
No “But” In This Objection
“A friend of mine from high school began dating a young man from a different church when they were in university. My friend was several years younger than I was, and, in the zeal of my new faith, I had attended her church once in an effort to make her see that her church wasn’t theologically sound.
Ahem.
What can I say? I was young.
Anyway, the parents of the groom had the same… concerns… about my friend’s theology, and weren’t best pleased about their son’s choices.
The son proposed anyway.
The whole wedding ceremony was carried out in the traditions of her very strict church (I won’t mention the denomination), and many of the guests felt a bit uncomfortable, but it was still a lovely ceremony and we were all very happy for the lucky couple.
Except, it seemed, his father.
At the reception, he got up to give his speech.
He started by laying out all his objections to the relationship and the marriage. We were all smiling, waiting for the ‘But’ moment.
You know, the moment when he said, ‘But I can see how happy you make our son, and we’re so happy to welcome you to the family.’
‘But we’ve realized that all objections were unimportant, and we all love and serve the same God, so welcome to the family.’
Or even, ‘But it’s none of our business, and we’re so happy that you are happy together.’
Nope.
There was no ‘but’ moment.
He calmly and logically laid out all his objections.
And then he just as calmly sat down again.
My husband and I were horrified.
I felt absolutely awful for my friend.”
The Wedding Still Happened
“In 2013 I was invited to a wedding that was being held in Boston. I lived in California at the time, but I was happy to make the trip since she was a good friend.
The unfortunate thing was: the wedding was slated to happen on April 19, 2013.
For those that may not know, or remember, Boston was literally shut down that day in order to search for the Boston Marathon Bomber.
The. Town. Was. Shut. Down.
A ghost town!
The tuxes that the groom and his groomsmen had rented? Unavailable. The shop would not open. They had nothing to wear!
The church would be open, but they didn’t know if the venue would be open for the reception.
The poor bride was a wreck. Feeling horrible for her: drastic understatement.
Luckily, the wedding did happen, and they were somehow able to find tuxedos for the groom and his 7 groomsmen in a neighboring city.
Talk about the worst possible situation for the poor bride!
Sometimes it rains on your wedding day…sometimes the entire city is shut down.”
They Just Popped Right Out
“My dad, a retired pastor, tells a story about a wedding he officiated for a couple in their mid-40s who were both on their second marriage.
The groom was what my dad affectionately refers to as a ‘good old boy,’ which is polite for redneck.
The bride was quite well-endowed, and was wearing a strapless dress.
Whenever my dad would officiate a wedding for practicing Christians, part of the ceremony would be the celebration of the Lord’s supper, as a way of indicating that in a Christian marriage, the relationship is not only between the husband and wife, but also their savior. My dad liked for the groom to perform the communion rite with the bride, while dad spoke to the congregation about the symbolism of what they were doing, as inevitably there would be non-Christians there who didn’t understand what was going on. But in this case, the groom didn’t feel comfortable doing that and asked Dad to lead the two of them through the communion together. They chose to kneel down in front of the altar to take communion. Once complete, they were to stand and continue the wedding ceremony.
You can probably guess where this is going, but it was fortunately that the bride and groom chose to face Dad instead of placing him between them and the congregation because when they finished communion and the bride went to stand up, her dress was caught beneath her knees and pulled the front of her dress down so that her girls popped out and landed on the table.
Dad describes it as if you were to lay two loaves of bread side by side on the table.
Far from being mortified for his about-to-be-wife, the good old boy groom just looked over at the bosoms lying there on the altar, gave a long whistle, and exuberantly yelled, ‘shooo weeee!'”
…Is He Even Allowed To Do That?
“My female cousin was getting married to a wonderful man in the church his family attended on and off throughout their time in that community.
When it came to the point of ‘you may kiss the bride’, the priest stepped down from the step he was on (there were two levels to the chancel, so my cousins were on the lower area, he was on the upper), took my cousin, gave her a passionate, quite possibly French kiss. A long one.
While we all looked on in shock, he stepped back up to his spot, licked his lips and said, ‘During premarital counselling, I warned (groom) that if he didn’t kiss (bride) right away, I was going to do it for him!’. Given that he hadn’t even said, ‘You may kiss the bride’, I’m guessing he purposely planned the kiss.
The groom’s family never darkened the door of that church again. Neither did the bride and groom.”
Nasty Commentary Down The Aisle
“My cousin got married in 2016.
Since she is an only child, her parents financially supported and spoiled her for the special day. They cared for every detail: it was a fairy tale style wedding that many little girls dream of.
The location was a beautiful exclusive bay in Sicily. Her dress had been personally designed by a famous Italian stylist. Every guest was given a fancy kit to survive to the wedding ceremony: a paper fan for the heat, Band-Aids for uncomfortable shoes, a bottle of water and a repellent spray for flies and mosquitoes (it was an open-air Church)
Everything was perfect, except for one thing: the groom’s mother. For some unknown reasons, she never really liked her son’s fiancé. My cousin was already working as a lawyer at that time: she had graduated from a prestigious university, she always acted politely and it was evident that she loved her fiancé unconditionally.
Back to the wedding day, as soon as my cousin made her entrance, the groom’s mother said out loud: ‘That awful dress makes her look so fat’.
It was so awkward and uncalled-for. I felt so bad for the bride, I can’t even imagine what I would have done if that had happened to me.
I think she looked incredible anyway, and I’m not saying this because my opinion may be biased. A bride is always radiant and extremely beautiful on her wedding day, even if her dress choice is not really my type.
My cousin and her husband are now parents of a beautiful 1 year old baby girl, Ginevra. They want to keep their kid far from that woman’s toxicity, so she doesn’t have a big role in their lives anymore.”
His Parents Thought It’d Be Way Different
“A good friend of mine from high school (let’s call him Alex) got married to a girl he’d met two years prior. I’d only met her a handful of times, but she seemed fine.
Alex’s parents obviously didn’t share my opinion.
At the reception, I went over to the bar to say hello to them. Mr. Alex wrapped me in a huge hug, saying, ‘Tina! We haven’t seen you in so long. Where have you been?’
‘Around. How are you guys?’
Mr. Alex rolled his eyes. ‘I’ve been better, that’s for sure.’ Then he leaned in all conspiratorially and added, ‘We’re so upset about this wedding. We just always figured he’d marry you!’
I caught Mrs. Alex’s eyes to see she was nodding her head in agreement with her husband.
My jaw practically hit the floor. Alex and I had never even dated, so I had no idea where their thoughts about our hypothetical wedded bliss were coming from. But even worse was for them to say something like that during their son’s wedding!
I felt so bad for Alex’s bride, walking around the room all smiles, looking so beautiful, having no clue that her new in-laws thought so little of her.
Tacky, tacky, tacky.”
“She Never Had A Clue”
“Well this girl in the back row stood up when the preacher asked does anyone object to this marriage or something of that sort and she said ‘I object.’
It was the groom’s ex girl friend and she was pregnant. Apparently he had been seeing her on the side and when she told him she was pregnant he hauled tail to another city and when she saw the engagement announcement in the newspaper she decided to attend the wedding.
I felt horrible for the bride and she never had a clue. The father of the bride got up to the microphone and said ‘well folks looks like there will be no wedding today, but please eat the food and dance and make this a party.’ These were some of the classiest people I had ever met.”
Cold Hearted Parents
“I officiated a wedding for a very sweet couple, who had a beautiful little girl of about a year and a half old. They had met on the job, had fallen in love, and been disowned by the girl’s family, even before their child was born. The girl’s parents had never met their own grandchild, and had no intention of ever doing so. The bride had reserved seats for them in case they softened, but the seats remained empty.
When it came time for the bride to come down the aisle, the groom and I both went to her, we each took an arm, and accompanied her up to the front. Everybody in attendance stood up and applauded her. Her eyes filled up, she took a deep breath — and then we went on with the wedding.
Her stubborn, bigoted, narrow-minded parents will never get back the very special day that they wasted. And their lovely daughter will never be able to forget their cruelty on her wedding day.”
No One Showed.
“Nearly 90% of the 500 invited guests didn’t attend the wedding.
This wedding was recent, just last Christmas. The bride and groom, let’s call them Michelle and Paul, were married on December 24, of all dates.
Michelle is a goddaughter of my aunt and her mom has been friends with my aunt since high school. Paul is a third generation Filipino Chinese but his grandmother is very traditional. She insisted on consulting a feng shui expert, who claimed that December 24 was the best date for the couple to get married on. How he decided on this advice, I have no idea.
In Filipino culture, Christmas is the most important holiday of the year. During Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Filipinos will surely be home to celebrate these days with their families. How Filipino families will spend Christmas is always pre-planned, so don’t think they’ll give up being with their families on a very special occasion just so they can attend your wedding.
Michelle’s mom lamented that her daughter and future son-in-law almost had no say on the details of their own wedding, and that everyone in Paul’s family seemed to blindly obey their matriarch.
As soon as my aunt received the wedding invitation, she called Michelle and her mom right away to let them know that she won’t be able to attend the wedding. To make it even less likely for guests to attend, the wedding was set at 6 PM, which is going to be followed by dinner at a hotel. Knowing how big weddings really go, the 6PM ceremony will last for an hour, then it’s followed by endless picture taking in the church, which is followed by even more picture taking at the reception. When guests finish dinner, there’s going to be a program and other traditional wedding stuff that will take hours. So, the guests will be essentially spending Christmas Eve at this wedding and not at home with their families.
So the wedding took place as planned, but only two or three members of the entourage made it. After pictures were taken in the church, the two bridesmaids and the best man, who is the only part of the groom’s entourage who made it, left and rushed to get home.
The reception was really sad. Only family members were left in attendance that the program was nixed.
A few days after the wedding, my aunt had a chat with Michelle’s mom and she was still disappointed. She had hoped that the wedding would be set on a different day so that most of the guests could attend. She said that the function hall was practically vacant with rows of empty tables. The servers who were hired to accommodate 500 guests ended up serving one guest each.
It really baffles me why this wedding still took place as planned and there didn’t seem to be any adjustments made. It’s truly bizarre and not something a bride would like to remember about what could have been the happiest day of her life.”
His Side Of The Family Might Be Evil
“This happened 12 years back. It was the wedding of my cousin sister. She is such a sweet person, so kind-hearted that everyone simply adores her. After the wedding, when it was time to bid farewell to her, we could not stop our tears… she was the apple of our eyes and to see her going away was heart-breaking. We were happy that she was starting a new phase in her life, but at the same time, we knew that life would no longer be the same.
My cousin sister also started crying. It was a drastic change for her, and to step into a new life without her family was a little frightening for her. She had been cherished and protected her entire life, and now, she was going to venture into unknown territory. She did have the support of her husband, but, only a newly-wedded bride knows how she feels when she begins her new life.
Anyway, we cried softly, just a little, without creating any scene, without making any noise so as not to disturb anyone. We hugged her and wished her all the very best. We were all smiles by the time she sat in the car when we heard the following nasty comments from my brother-in-law’s sisters:
‘Just look at all this drama. Pathetic people. Did you see the bride? She looks like she’s not happy, when in reality, she should be thanking her lucky stars that she got someone like our brother. Ugh! Look at them hugging and all! Tell them to stop their nonsense!’
We were all at a loss of words. Luckily, my sister was in the car and did not hear anything. But, we could not stop ourselves from feeling horrible for her. Here she was, the bride, leaving her family, her whole world behind, to start a new existence with people who were strangers. She at least hoped that they would understand her, especially since they were someone’s daughters too, and they also had daughters themselves. Instead of understanding her plight and encouraging her, welcoming her with open arms in their family, they started with their rude and insensitive comments. We realized that our beloved sister only had the support of her husband and she would be really heart-broken when she saw the evil side of her new family. Boy, we were so right and we felt even more miserable for her!”
Meddling MILs
“Around three years ago, my cousin got married.
His family, like mine is very religious, albeit more controlling.
Because his mother has a big name teaching in mosques, she made sure to pick her sons’ wives with them so that they suit her image to the public as a religious, righteous person. But her son chose a woman who’s not to her liking.
His bride wasn’t that religious. She was average. She wore good old shirts and jeans with a small scarf, not the loose ‘modest’ outfits that her mother- in-law would’ve liked.
So that mother-in-law hated her guts.
On the day of their wedding, the mother-in-law was furious. The wedding was anything but a good representation of her and will leave a dent on her reputation and name.
The bride’s family played loud ‘vulgar’ songs, the women dancing and swooning with their tight clothes. Then the bride herself dared to ask our groom to go for a slow dance with her.
Her mother-in-law had enough and got angry. She headed towards her son and whispered to put a stop to all these frivolous acts or she will leave.
Naturally, he couldn’t just go to the DJ and give him a new playlist at the moment, nor could he go around ordering people to stop dancing. He sweet-talked her to no avail.
She fought with him and told her children to tell the DJ guy to stop the music.
When things got out of control and people started noticing the commotion, she threatened that if she left the wedding, her son shouldn’t even dream of an income (she was the CEO of their family’s company).
When she attempted to leave all her kids ran after her, including the groom, to apologize and tell her to just let it go for tonight.
She kept muttering, ‘What will people say when they know that my son threw such a wedding when I preach in the mosque about modesty?’.
But in the end, she did let the wedding keep going and attended. I felt bad for the bride for all this ruckus happening simply because she wanted to rejoice.
This situation wasn’t new in my family. My grandpa actually kicked out the DJ guy from my uncle’s wedding for the exact same reason.
That being said, my family is more religious than 90% of Egyptians I come across. So even by Egyptian standards this is way too much.
Exactly after 4 months of this marriage, the couple split up. And unsurprisingly the mother-in-law played a huge part in that divorce. But this time she swore to choose a more religious bride for her son, and she did.”
Notice The Red Flags!
“Quite a few years ago I was invited to the wedding of the daughter of a friend of mine. She was a pretty girl with a lovely personality, and the wedding was beautifully done. The one thing that made everyone uncomfortable was that the groom seemed furious with everything and everyone. He frequently took the bride aside to reprimand her, as we could tell by his intensity and his gestures. He glared at the guests, didn’t speak with anyone and walked out of the room often, for example when it was time for the bride and groom to cut the cake together.
The poor bride seemed nervous and afraid throughout the reception. She mentioned to her father that the groom was upset over something, but we never found out what it was. Apparently this was just his normal way, but what man stays that angry throughout his wedding reception? Everyone pitied the bride and tiptoed around, avoiding the groom.
Less than a year after the wedding, the bride was found dead in the back seat of her car. It was a hot summer and she had been there for a few days before being found. The police investigated and of course suspected the husband first, because of his continual anger toward his wife and because he never reported her missing. Nothing was proved, the husband was not arrested and to this day everyone who knew the couple, including her family, thinks the husband murdered her. The police have kept watch, but the husband has now remarried and I lost track of the family so I don’t know if anyone was ever charged.”