Weddings are meant to be a very happy occasion. Two people declaring their love for eachother, and preparing to start a lifetime together. A person's wedding day is supposed to be the best day of their life. Unfortunately, that does not always happen.
People share the worst behavior they've even seen at a wedding. Content has been edited for clarity.
“Should Have Been A Warning”
“My husband and I had the day of our wedding set eights months ahead. A couple of months later, his brother announced he and his girlfriend were engaged and getting married two weeks before we were. Ok, their business; at least it was two grooms so the parents didn’t have to pay for two weddings in two weeks. But that was just the start.
My future sister-in-law made sure to loudly criticize every decision I made while being smugly holier-than-thou about her own wedding.
For example, she loudly criticized me spending $1,500 on my dress, while she borrowed her dress from a friend, proclaiming ‘God doesn’t care about how fancy you dress, your clothes are unimportant!’
Apparently jewelry is important, because she told her fiance if the engagement ring didn’t cost at least $5,000, the wedding was off, while I chose to skip an engagement ring altogether. Whatever, she was doing more harm to herself than to me. My in-laws family was mostly Catholic and unimpressed with her pronouncements of what God REALLY wanted.
On to the wedding. The bride’s parents decided not to attend, which should have been a warning. The grooms family (his parents, his sisters and their families, his brother and me) were the only attendees who were not members of the church. We were seated at the back of the church. The preacher gave a sermon as part of the service, and made a point of extolling how open minded there church was. Why, it didn’t matter if you were Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or whatever, you could still come down to the altar right now, openly confess your sins, and be saved from the hellfires of damnation today! There was an expectant pause, but we refused to take him up on his kind offer.
At the reception, when my husband and I got to the punch-bowl, the cute little girl serving the punch asked ‘You’re the groom’s brother, aren’t you?’
When my husband affirmed, she said, ‘Our preacher warned us about you!’ dropped the ladle, and ran away to the protection of her mother.
She did not return until after we had served ourselves and moved on.
At our wedding reception, two weeks later, my sister-in-law made a point of going around to several people commenting I had a lot of nerve wearing white, when I had lived with my husband before marrying, a fact which was not a secret exactly, but we hadn’t advertised it either. She wore white at her wedding even though she had been married before, but that was OK, because she had been ‘born again’ since then. Besides, ‘he was a Jew, so nothing he did mattered to God anyway.”
“Guests Were Murmuring Loudly”
“As an operator of a National Historic special event center, we catered over 250+ weddings per year, most honest, happy celebrations of life. Every now and then, we would witness astounding bad behavior. It was obviously the result of deep wounds or long suffering issues that were never addressed or healed.
Aside from fist fights, name calling, and other occasional breaches of etiquette, there’s one that will forever stand out.
One wedding incorporated the sister of the bride – itself not that remarkable. This instance, she wore a maid-of-honor dress which was much shorter than her sister’s wedding dress- really too short for such an occasion. However she would soon show us why.
Inside our small stone chapel only seventy guests could be seated, with another 30 or so standing in the back. This historic stone mountain lodge was over a century old and within several thousand acres of wilderness. Only one small entrance opened into the chapel from the main lodge. Once everyone was inside, it was hard for anyone to leave the chapel until the ceremony was over.
As the ceremony began, the maid-of-honor sister stepped up onto the riser and edged closer to her sister. She didn’t say anything, but looking over her shoulder she began hiking her dress up ever so slowly. Soon guests were murmuring ever more loudly. Guests began to look around and nudge each other. The maid of honor never looked down at her dress as it came up ever higher, only had a weird grin on her face watching the crowd. She started bending over slowly, revealing to all she was unclothed.
She placed her index finger on her lip, and gave a naughty look like she was posing for a photo meant to titillate young men, turning to make sure her derrière was fully visible- and more!
As she gave the audience an eye-full, her sister the bride looked over, at first not realizing what was going on. When she, did she screamed and shoved her sister. A shoving/slapping match broke out for at least 10 seconds, which seemed much longer at the time.
Even more oddly, once the two of them were separated, she pulled her dress back down, and marched out in silence. The wedding continued!
As soon as the vows were exchanged, as the bride and groom stepped down and walked down the single-aisle, you could see the bride’s sister waiting for her, standing in her way, blocking her leaving the chapel. Fearing an unsightly confrontation, two of us started heading towards them to keep the peace. Before we could get there, the bride slapped her sister hard, who then turned and ran out or the chapel while all the stunned guests stayed absolutely still and quiet.
Amazingly, rather than turn into a free for all, or break into crying or more, the bride and groom continued on, set up a receiving line that greeted them as guests left the chapel in quiet single file.
The bar bill was well into four figures that day, but astoundingly, it ended without further drama! Which to me was as remarkable as the little lap-dance the bride’s sister gave all the wedding guests.”
“It Made Me Really Upset”
“My husband and I decided to have our wedding at his hometown, so most of the guests on our wedding were people he knew. Most of our friends and my relatives were from other parts of our country, and they had to be told six months before so they could save and attend the wedding. We mailed some invites and back in our hometowns, we handed them out personally.
A few days before our wedding, my mother-in-law wanted some of their neighbors to come along too even if my husband only knew them by name. She said they had asked her while she was out in the garden if they could come to the wedding. We said that was okay. Then my mother-in-law said we had to pay for their ride as well to the venue.
My husband is generous and he didn’t want to offend anyone, so he agreed and rented out vans for them. He also rented other cars for the other guests we invited to accommodate them as well. We didn’t think about it after that and went on with our wedding preparations.
Come wedding day and we started on time and everything went very well. Dinner was at 7:30 in the evening, and that’s a usual thing for us in our country. We made sure we had snacks though in between the ceremony and reception.
Right after the buffet, we notice the hall is almost empty. We continue the program but had to cut it short (not even a bouquet toss) because almost everyone left except our closest friends. We ended at nine in the evening and enjoyed our honeymoon after that.
Then we went back to our in-laws to get our things ready so we can return abroad for work. Then we heard this as soon as we sat down in the living room and took off our shoes.
My in-laws told us people complained during our wedding. They said that the dinner was so late and the food was no good. The complaints came mainly from people we didn’t know tagged along with the friends of the in-laws and the neighbors we also didn’t know. They said it would have been better we had our wedding elsewhere. They also complained we didn’t let them bring home some of the food still in the buffet. Seriously, they asked for food while people were still lining up to get it!
It made me really upset, but my husband just laughed at this. He told me that’s how some people are. You give them a free ride to your wedding and free food and they tell the driver that right after the meal to get them home. They come without any gifts, but still complain.
We wished we were more strict about our guest list but in our culture we had to make adjustments. I wish we were never told about what people said. We really loved our day and every time I think of our wedding all I remember is how the hall looked after dinner because people only came for the food and not for us. We are just grateful we have true friends and family who stayed late into the night.”
“How Does Somebody Think It’s Okay?”
“When my husband and I got married, we had a very large wedding. There were approximately 400 guests. There were people on my husband’s side I did not know, and there were people on my side he did not know.
When it was time for me to throw my bouquet to all of the single ladies, this woman caught the bouquet that I did not recognize. She looked a little out of place as she didn’t seem to be dressed for a wedding. When I turned around to see who had caught the bouquet, it looked as though one of my friends from work had caught it – but this mystery woman ended up with it in her hands; my friend was left with a couple of leaves in her hand!
I had assumed she was on my husband’s side of the family, while he had assumed that she was on my side of the family. Right after she caught the bouquet, she came over to me to INTRODUCE herself. She told me that she had the same name as me. I then asked her who she was related to from the wedding.
Her response astonished me and caught me off guard. She said that she was at the wedding because she ‘came to pick somebody up who needed a lift home from the wedding.’ I kid you not!
This woman who caught my bouquet – who actually GRABBED my bouquet right out of my friends’ hands (as an added bonus, it was captured on video!) – was not an invited guest to my wedding! She was a complete stranger. How does somebody do this and think it’s okay? I guess it takes all kinds!”
Whose Special Day Was It?
“I asked my mother to be my Matron of Honor, mostly to make her happy and to avoid a crisis. I chose her favorite colors for my bridesmaids so she wouldn’t be wearing something she didn’t like. I gave her free reign to choose a dress she liked, in the color I ‘chose’ for her. Keep all this in mind.
From the very beginning of planning, she claimed the wedding was not for the bride, but for the mother of the bride. She dictated my dress, my veil, my flowers, my cake, the food at the reception, and the music that would be played. I got to choose my invitations and announcements, but only because I hid the catalogs from her.
I allowed all this because I believe a wedding is not nearly as important as the marriage, and I knew my husband and I would be fine.
Fast forward to the day of the wedding. I hadn’t seen her dress yet, but she assured me I’d love it. I was so busy getting myself ready, I didn’t worry about it. My wedding was scheduled for 3:00, so I and my bridesmaids were ready to go at 2:30. My mother insisted the ceremony wasn’t until 3:30. I showed her the schedule and she got mad, but allowed that I was right. I still hadn’t seen her dress.
At five minutes to three, she was ready. My bridesmaids and I were already in the car with my dad when my mother came out of the house. I finally saw the dress. It was the exact same off-white color as mine. She was also wearing a small tiara with a little veil attached. As it was too late to do anything about it, I let it go.
I got married (we’ll be celebrating 29 years this July), and a good time was had by all, even with my mother telling everybody who would listen that it was HER day.
Quite a few people who have seen the wedding photo of the whole bridal party ask which one of the women wearing long, ecru gowns is the bride or was it a double wedding.
To me, my mother hijacking my wedding and my special day was the biggest breach of etiquette. The funny thing is, both times my brother got married, she told me that it was the bride’s day and we had to respect her wishes.”
“Humiliating. So Humiliating.”
“I picked my Maid of Honor because she was my best friend for 11 years, since the beginning of high school. I considered her a sister since I’m an only child. We were practically joined at the hip. We were always hanging out or on the phone with each other.
When it came time to marry my husband, I told her she had to write and give a speech at the reception and plan the bachelorette party. I said ‘no’ when my mom wanted to give me a bridal shower, because I didn’t want to get gifts for so many events. I felt uncomfortable, like I would have been milking everyone. Plus, my husband and I were living together and didn’t really need anything anyway. I do not regret the decision not to have a bridal shower. Wedding gifts were enough for me.
My Maid of Honor didn’t throw me a bachelorette party. I really wanted one, and was hurt that she decided not to do it after I asked her to. My husband thought it was very sad. The night before the wedding my husband’s best man and his groomsmen picked him up for his bachelor party. He called me a few hours later when I was getting ready for bed, and asked me if I was ok and told me he loved me. He asked me to come out to where they were because he wanted to buy me a drink.
My Maid of Honor was with me, so she came with me. My husband wanted his party at a brew house instead of a club. They have a band, not a DJ. I went outside between drinks because my friend and my husband’s brother and best man smoked. Every time we went outside, the best man and brother told me how bored they were. They wanted to go to a club and get crazy, but they let my husband choose where he wanted to go. They also said that my stepdad was boring and old and shouldn’t have been there. They said this to my face. They ended up DITCHING my husband because they were bored.
My Maid of Honor didn’t write a speech for my wedding. She told me that she didn’t know I was being serious about the party and the speech. I was embarrassed and everyone was shocked with the speech she gave. This was 13 years ago and I still skip over it when I watch the video.
It was along the lines of, ‘Boy am I nervous, I love this girl, I’m nervous. She’s my best friend, I’m nervous and I don’t know what to say.’
Humiliating. So humiliating.
Hindsight 20/20. I should’ve fought harder to get the party, even though I shouldn’t have had to. I realized how much my friend really didn’t care about me when she couldn’t think of anything to say to me at my wedding in front of my friends and family. I felt unloved.”
“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.”
“He Obviously Took Offense”
“I have a family that has a very old school mentality when it comes to things like respect, loyalty, and how we show someone they’ve made a misstep with their personal conduct. So in the mid to late 90s, one of my female cousins got married. She was in her mid 20s and had been living with her husband for a couple of years before the wedding. After the wedding, there were probably 400–450 people at the reception. After all of the traditional festivities of food, toasts, and dancing, the party atmosphere cranked up. As people danced, drank, and generally enjoyed themselves, seven or eight of us guys were behind the head table talking about the new couple’s life going forward.
As a group of guys often do, especially after a few adult beverages have been deployed, we were breaking balls and laughing when the now husband says something to the effect of if she doesn’t do something to get control of expanding fat sloppy butt, he’ll have to take action. Unfortunately for him his wife’s father was right next to him and he obviously took offense. He immediately told the husband, she is his daughter, he’d better show her the respect she deserves, further disrespect would not be tolerated. The husband replied she was now his property and he’d any say anything he wanted.
It was at this point my uncle decided to show the husband how serious he was when he spoke. He did this by tackling him over the head table and throwing him a beating for the ages. Still the only wedding I’ve ever heard of ending with the groom leaving the reception in an ambulance due to injuries inflicted by his new father-in-law. Good times! They are no longer married, it only lasted a short time after the wedding day.”
Off To A Great Start
“My husband and I just got married in June. My mother-in-laws behavior was appalling. She started eating appetizers before the wedding, which in itself isn’t that bad. She stood during the entire ceremony, blocking the view of many of the guests, including my parents who paid for everything. They had to move in order to see. She also blocked the view of the wedding photographer we hired.
After the ceremony, she didn’t even give my husband and myself a second to ourselves to celebrate together. She threw her phone at me, demanding I take a picture of her and her son. My sister said something to her, and she nearly threw punches at her for speaking up.
When I didn’t take a picture of them because the photographer walked up and asked to take family pictures, she pestered her to take a picture with her phone for about 15 minutes. The photographer offered to text her photos, but she refused.
At the reception, she complained about the food, saying it was too spicy (we had a taco bar). Despite complaining, she tried to get seconds before everyone had even been served their first plate. My husband told me she complained when I didn’t spend the whole reception at the head table. All I can say now, is that I’m so glad my husband is the polar opposite of her.”
“I Was So Upset”
“My husband and I got married in September 2018. At our wedding, his younger brother (who I am not fond of at all due to his lying, stealing nature toward his brother who’s only ever done good to the undeserving brat), he was one of the groomsmen.
We were fortunate enough that we could afford all our guests to bring a plus one. This obviously applied to little brother too. His girlfriend is another story. She literally (and I am not kidding there are witnesses!) behaves like a pathetic girl (definitely cannot class her as a woman). So she’ll do something just so she can get everyone’s attention and sympathy.
This stupid girl. She was a plus one. She was NOT, I repeat, NOT EVEN INVITED TO THE WEDDING. She did not receive an invitation. She was listed as partner on the guest list.
She decided she is going to wear black to my wedding, and bring her own camera. She stood in the middle of our ENTIRE ceremony and took photos on her camera.
I paid for two photographers to document the day.
She is in EVERY SINGLE PHOTO OF THE CEREMONY! I obviously didn’t see this until I got my photos.
To this day (almost a year) we have not received the photos she took. It’s constant excuses. And everyone keeps telling me to leave it. Don’t say anything. As if being completely rude at someone else’s wedding is just a normal thing because oh shame she’s stupid.
I was so upset. Still am.”
Familial Revenge
“When I married my first husband, we didn’t have much money so all of our preparations were strictly budgeted. My parents were on a fixed income so they couldn’t help either, or at least, that’s what I was told.
We had a small affair, we had been living together for a year and a half and I was about 4 months pregnant, so we kept things very intimate. My dear friend and her husband were in a band, so they offered to gift us their services for the night. My grandmother and I made all the food in advance, so it just needed to stay either refrigerated or needing heating just before the reception, and since the town hall had a kitchen, that part went smoothly. We purchased what we could afford for drinks and told everyone if they wanted something different, they were welcome to bring their own.
The ceremony was actually held at the JP’s office a few weeks before with just immediate family but we wanted to celebrate with extended family and friends so we splurged on the reception. We had to pay for everything so it was very informal, my friend and I had even written the invitations. She had been teaching my calligraphy for months before so they turned out beautiful. For several months, my mother kept telling me how broke they were so they couldn’t help at all and I told her it was ok, I understood. My father did offer to pay for the drinks behind her back though because he felt I was being cheated. So the day of the reception comes and only 30 people show up. I have 5 sisters, all attached in one way or another, so they were the bulk of our guests. I was so disappointed and hurt that no one could show up for us and most of those invited, actually lived in the same town! AND they were mostly relatives!
The next day I put my hurt aside and since we had so much food and drink left, we decided to invite neighbors and friends to my parents house for a party. Well the WHOLE neighborhood showed up for THAT, including the relatives who couldn’t attend our “paid” event. I had gotten 2 gifts and a few cards at our reception so we just waited to open them the next day. The gifts had been from 2 of my sisters. One was a $20 coffee maker the other was kitchen towels. The cards were from aunts and uncles who put in what they could. I think all told we spent $400 on the reception/party and received about $150 in monetary gifts but were happy for it, because we were married and that was what the day was about anyway.
So, while I’m wallowing in misery because my own family didn’t count me as important enough to even come to a party where there was free food and drinks, but COULD show up the next day without obligation to partake in the same food and drink, MY MOTHER decides it a GREAT time to show my new in laws all the things she purchased in advance for my sister, who decided to get married just months after me! She brought these things out to the tables we had set up in the yard and was showing them off!
When my father saw what she had done, he was furious! He didn’t insist that she take it all back, because it was for another of his daughters, but he told her in no uncertain terms that she was not to spend another dime since they would not be able to pay the next month’s bills! She then told him that she had opened a credit card just for the occasion and that since he had paid for the drinks for my reception, that she was allowed to do something for my sister as well!
I later found out she had also purchased my sister’s wedding dress, paid for the hall, the flowers, and all the wedding favors. I knew she didn’t like me, but this was so hurtful and blatantly obvious of her dislike for me that I didn’t speak to her, not even when we were in the same room, for months! When my sister got married, I attended for her but was still resentful. The next day she was opening gifts from our other sisters and I found they not only gave her expensive gifts but cards with cash! Well that was the last straw for me. When they all got married for the first time or 2nd marriages, I didn’t even attend. I refused to even get them the cheap coffee makers they pawned off on me (I found out later that the coffee maker was a Christmas gift to one sister who didn’t want it so she “re-gifted” it to me).
When I remarried 25 years later, we decided to make it all about ‘us’ and went to Vegas to be married and have our honeymoon all in the same trip. I didn’t invite any of my family, except for my brother, who was only 10 when I got married the first time. I knew they wouldn’t show up anyway, so I saved myself the heartache. We had a fabulous time! My brother brought his new girlfriend and informed me ‘first’ that she was ‘the one’. They were planning to be married but were keeping it secret, since they didn’t want a ‘fuss’ made about it. I felt so honored by my brother that day that we loaned them the cheesy bride and groom hats we had purchased to wear around the next day and took pictures of them wearing the hats. I knew that none of my sisters would believe that my brother would tell me anything first so we sent them the pictures as a joke and I was right, they didn’t believe it. They did 6 months later though, when my brother told them all he had gotten married by a JP!
He had gotten revenge for me. He and I had not been close growing up. We were 10 years apart in age, so we didn’t have a whole lot in common for a long time. But, he never forgot my pain during my first wedding and told me he secretly hated mom for the longest time because of it, even though he and the sister whose wedding was right after mine, were her favorites. Mom died before she got to see her only precious baby boy get married, but I think he might not have even told her about it if she had been alive, that is until it was over.”