Weddings are such a beautiful time to get everyone together to celebrate a loving relationship. Each wedding is made unique by special songs, stories, speeches, and more. But sometimes, they are made unique by a shocking disaster. Whether it's a hammered cousin, a rotten in-law, or a bad secret coming out, one thing can make a wedding go into a downward spiral, quickly.
Sometimes people can laugh it off, and other times it can end a marriage on the day it began. We wanted to see just how bad some of these disasters could get, so we looked throughout Reddit and found the worst hiccups that happened at a wedding. This content was edited for clarity.
The Mother Of The Groom Went Too Far With These Comments…
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“My mom owned a wedding floral business and I was an employee for 6 years. The bride wanted to be alone for a bit before the wedding and asked me to deliver the bouquet to her dressing room. So I went over and the mother of the groom was at the dressing room door screaming and banging on the door to be let in because she insisted that the bride needed her help. She kept saying, ‘your mother is dead so this is my job!’ To top it all off the mother of the groom was wearing a cream dress. I texted the bride, not wanting to open the door or go near that mess and was able to hand her the bouquet through a window.
Luckily, when the maid of honor got there she threw a red drink on the mother of the groom’s dress forcing her to change. Then, halfway through the night when the groom heard his mother say the bride’s mother was dead AGAIN, he threw her out. I was glad to hear that her husband stood up for her. Definitely worked some weddings where the the husband looked the other way or appeased his mother more than the bride.”
They Had To Laugh It Off…During The Ceremony
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“My sister and her now husband’s wedding had a few small disasters, but the biggest was the creepy priest they chose to marry them. My brother-in-law’s family were all devoted Catholics and although my sister and brother-in-law were not religious, they agreed to have a priest marry them to keep everyone happy. Moments before the bridal party is about to begin walking down the aisle, the priest came up to me and my dad and said, ‘Woah Ryan (my bro-in-law) is one lucky guy tonight,’ as he looked my sister up and down and used his thumb gesturing to her chest. He said this to MY DAD. The FATHER OF THE BRIDE. My dad looked at me and I put my arm around him to keep him from punching in this guy’s face. It didn’t help my dad is already not a huge fan of the Catholic church and wasn’t too keen on them being married by a priest.
Next, as this bozo was reading throughout the ceremony, he continued to call my sister by the WRONG NAME. Chelsea, instead of Kelsey. At this point, my sister and her husband stop caring and are trying not to laugh while they say their vows, which ended up being cute in itself.
To top it off, this was a College football Saturday and one of their good friends showed up wasted to the wedding. He proceeded to stand the entire time they said their vows then fell out of his chair at the end of the ceremony. Then as everyone was getting drinks after the ceremony before food, he tried to buy a full bottle of Jack Daniels from the bartenders. The bartender, knowing I am the Maid of Honor, came up to tell me that this guy needed to go before he caused any trouble. I ordered him an Uber back to the hotel and told him to sleep it off. He then proceeded to try to get me in bed with him while I wait for his Uber. He was married and was at the wedding alone because his pregnant wife is due in less than 2 months.”
The Bride Didn’t Even Want To Go To This Wedding
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“I thought my Dad’s small city hall wedding would be the most awkward wedding of my life. He and his partner were late to their own ceremony because they couldn’t find a place to park, the bride was a jerk to the attendant who was marrying them, and she tried to pick a fight with my dad at the dinner afterward.
But no, the most nightmarish wedding was the one that was two months afterward, my partner’s cousin. For reasons that are still unknown to us, he decided to marry his much older girlfriend so she could get residency in the country, even though she was cheating on him, using him for his money and couldn’t even speak English (he was trying to learn her language). My partner and I went to that wedding like we were going to a hanging. They got married by a celebrant who went on and on about how marriage is about two best friends coming together to make each other stronger and unifying forever, whilst this woman refused to even kiss her groom until the wedding certificate was signed. Even then, she grimaced as she gave him a peck on the lips. We went to a restaurant afterward – the bride was an hour and a half late, showed up for 20 min, then went outside ‘for a smoke’ and didn’t come back.
They’re still married so far.”
The Mom Had The Funniest Threat
“The wedding had an all-out brawl with 30+ men fighting. It started because one of the groomsmen’s girlfriends was being aggressively hit on by the bride’s cousin. The guy wouldn’t take no for an answer and then he apparently grabbed her butt. And then it all went crazy as each side tried to break it up but then just ended up fighting. The best part was the mother of the bride kept screaming she was gonna call all of the guys fighting mothers.”
It Took A Turn For The Worse
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“The groom had a heart attack and died before the reception.
To elaborate, they lived in another country, came back to the UK to make it official, signed the register, and did all of that good stuff. They had a little wedding then flew back ‘home.’ The reception was scheduled for Saturday, tables ready, food covered and ready to go out…then he died before the ambulance could get to him on Friday morning. They were together for 3 years, married for less than a week. The bride had to call around to all of their friends to tell them the reception was canceled. My mother was there at the time and she made a few calls, but the kid needed looking after and other things needed to be done too. The bride insisted she do something to help.
He was only 40-years-old, and left his 4-year-old daughter that day.”
“Well, I Guess That’s That”
“Backstory: I used to shoot weddings and, given the similarity between ceremonies, I had a standard way of shooting and editing it together. For instance, the last shot before credits is usually the throw-rice-at-the-happy-couple-and-usher-them-into-the-car. This wedding did not get that far.
So this particular wedding is your classic Georgia redneck wedding: a huge open bar and gifts of weapons and ammo. It was actually a really fun wedding to shoot but by about 7pm (of a 5pm wedding) everyone is wasted face. For the DVD the last shot before the credits is the bride looking lovingly (and somewhat trashed) into her similarly inebriated husband’s face. Fade to black; credits. Wanna know why? Because right after that shot the bride horked all over the groom, herself, and two of the bridesmaids who were in the vicinity. Like epic levels of puke. And there was this clear alien-goo component that was super greasy. And the smell. Holy moly. Captain Morgan and high-fat food make a god awful combo coming back up. The whole room cleared in record time. I remember the groom coming up to me still dripping going, ‘well, I guess that’s that. Let us know when the DVD will be ready.’ So I got to leave early.
There was another wedding where the DJ stole all the gift cards while we were doing the usher-the-couple-to-the-car scene and then tried to pin it on me when she was caught by the wedding planner. But that wasn’t a disaster per se unless you look at it from the DJ’s perspective.”
Only His Mother-In-Law Could Predict His Biggest Flaw
“I happened to be a DJ at a wedding one time. I was setting up to play the first dance. The bride walked into the dancehall room streaming in tears, alone, and shut the door behind her. I went over to her and asked what’s wrong. She said, ‘My new husband….the love of my life…just told me he gambled our honeymoon money and lost….literally last night…we are going to Australia and New Zealand….with no spending money…..I had no idea he gambled!’ I started thinking how bad that was. But I did my best to comfort her and gave her some water. The husband came barging in. I was sitting next to the bride and he thought I was trying to hit on her and marched over to me and told me I was fired. I got confused, I told him that was ridiculous I was just giving her some water because she is upset at what he did. Now I don’t normally get involved in peoples personal stuff but having literally just been canned by this moron I had no real reason to be all that courteous. So I said he was only sacking me because he probably can’t afford to pay me. He grabbed her and left the room. Then after about 10 minutes after I had packed my stuff away the Master of Ceremonies opened the door and announced that the disco is up and running.
There was an awkward silence. I said, ‘Sorry folks. I have just been unceremoniously fired, so there will be no first dance and no disco. Have yourselves a lovely wedding reception.’
The mother of the bride walked up to me and looked furious. I was fearing the worst.
Her: ‘Did he sack you?’
Me: ‘The Groom? Yes.’
Her: ‘Well I am hiring you. How much did they book you for?’
Me: ‘£200?’
Her: ‘I’ll double it, I am so sorry about that. Can you unpack and I will just tell everyone there was a mixup with the start time?’
Me: ‘Thank you so much!’
So I unpacked and wired the decks up again, did a quick sound check and that’s about when the Groom comes flying into the dance room.
Groom: ‘I said you were sacked! Now go away!’
He shouted that with a room full of party goers and guests and relatives. Everyone was absolutely stunned silent. I was literally standing there so flustered when the Mother of the Bride walked up to him and gives him a resounding slap across the face. The kind of slap that echoes throughout the entire room.
Her: ‘Shut up, find my daughter and get on with it.’
He did as he was told. The first dance was the single most awkward one I have ever witnessed. I played ‘Fields of Gold’ by Sting/Police which is a really moving song, and he was just holding her at arm’s length and shuffling about, not really giving a crap. She was sobbing into his arms. So I ended the song and put on one of their requests, I think it was ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen, and he just up and left her on the dancefloor. Towards the end of the night, as the guests are filing out, I was playing a couple of slow tunes for other couples to dance to, and she was sat in the corner, by herself. So it was about 10:30 pm at this point, and I was booked until midnight, and the place was emptying out fast. Taxis start arriving etc and there is almost a queue at the door.
The mother of the bride came up to me and handed me £400 in cash and thanked me for staying after such a debacle. I said no worries, and we got to chatting.
Apparently, this had all come as a total surprise to everyone except Mother, who sensed he was up to no good. So, in secret, she told me she put aside an extra £5k for their honeymoon because she had an idea something like this might happen.
I never did find out if they kept it all together. It may seem like a tame kind of ‘disaster’ but this was in England/Britain so it was actually a deeply shocking scandal.
I met the couple two times before the wedding, they came to a club I was playing at and then I met them in their lovely 4 bedroom house in the countryside where they seemed really excited, normal, well-adjusted people. He was really affectionate towards her and she looked really happy and so did he. He did keep checking his phone every 10 minutes, but this was 2013 and it could have been anything.
I can only guess he was checking on bets.”
Her Last Hoorah Went Too Far
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“I used to work for a tux rental place. One of our agents called up needing to cancel a booking, the booking was 20 guys so while I’m going through and voiding each one I asked what happened. Apparently, the bride had her bachelorette party and hooked up the adult entertainer on the stage.
Needless to say the groom wasn’t best pleased.”
She Thought It Was A Club, Not A Wedding
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“I went to a wedding for one of my male friends, his bride was very beautiful, she was also very vain, and her mother was no different. One could tell upon arrival that a lot of money went into this. During the reception, the bride sang to the groom, very touching. Right after, they had their first dance. As soon as the music stopped, all these girls wearing very short dresses and a ton of makeup with the fake nails, all go out to the floor and club type music is going on. Now one might think, no big deal, but everyone else was dressed in an elegant manner as it was a traditional church marriage, very conservative. The club type music wasn’t even the good type to dance to. Instead, it was more like rap, just beats and many of the songs were about cheating or shooting up. The groom got pushed out by all the bride’s friends dancing around there, many of them grinding each other. The rest of the night, the groom just stood like a wallflower. Many people left, especially those that brought kids. The marriage barely lasted a year. It was just very tacky. The bride even had a 4-year-old child that was basically lost half of the time during the wedding.
If it wasn’t for the groom’s mother, I am sure that child would’ve wandered away and been lost forever.”
It Just Kept Getting Weirder
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“I went to this odd wedding that was Fallout-themed. I’m not really a gamer so this didn’t appeal to me at all, but it could have been cool if they really committed to it. But the only decorations were a black, paper mache tree and an arch made of chicken wire and empty Coke cans.
First off, the bride showed up an hour late, not ready in the slightest, completely wasted from the night before. The groom seemed to be just fine with this, but his mother was not. When the ceremony actually started, the bridesmaids danced down the aisle to ‘All About that Bass.’ The groomsmen danced down the aisle as well, but I can’t remember the song. For whatever reason, the bride and groom were very firm about no one in the bridal party wearing shoes, so they all were wearing either white socks of going barefoot. Also, the bridesmaids were wearing rainbow dresses, and the groomsmen were wearing all white with rainbow suspenders. As this was not an LGBT wedding, it remained a mystery why these colors were chosen.
To top it off, the bride sang herself down the aisle as ‘All of Me’ was being played on a karaoke machine in the background. She had no mic, so it was barely audible.
All in all, the weirdest ceremony that I’ve ever been to. It was more like a bad nerd prom than anything else.”
I’m Sure Her Boyfriend Didn’t Like That!
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“I was at a wedding reception with a table of friends and among them was my best friend and his wife. The groom’s mother kept coming over to my best friend’s wife telling her that it should’ve been her up there. Apparently the groom’s mother never quite liked the bride and preferred my friend’s wife. They had gone on a date two years before that.
The mom hadn’t let go, apparently. It was so awkward.”
No Means No
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“At a church wedding, the Pastor saw that about a dozen people had large bags of confetti to throw at the couple on the church steps following the ceremony. He warned everyone not to do so because it created a large clean-up mess for the church staff. The priest went on to add, ‘Throw $20-bills instead, or I’ll withhold the couple’s marriage license until the wedding party cleans it up.’ Well, they threw all the confetti anyway, just to spite the pastor. The several tiers of front steps and sidewalk were plastered with it. And true to his word, he wouldn’t present the license until they got out brooms and trash barrels to clean it up thoroughly.
Meanwhile, the bride left in the limo with tears and her livid groom instead of celebrating their wedding day.”
She Had A Bit Too Much To Drink
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“I went to a wedding with my girlfriend. We were at the ‘college friends’ table. I was still in college and everyone else at the table was about 5 years past their drinking prime. They tried to hang, they got crazy hammered. At the end of the night, the bride and groom were going to do a grand exit. I went back to the table to get my jacket this girl was passed out face down on the table and my girlfriend told me to carry her out. She was about 90lbs soaking wet, so I agreed. We made it about halfway to the grand exit spot when the girl woke up and started punching me for all she is worth. I tripped, so the girl and I flew into a table which destroyed it in a wrestling-type style. Turns out the bride and groom were right there queuing up to walk out. I congratulated them, picked up the hammered girl over my shoulder and walked out.
That friend spent the ride back to the hotel making out with my lower leg. Good times.”
She Didn’t Approve
“I was at the wedding and the DJ said, ‘And now, some words by the mother of the groom!’
Mother of the groom: ‘I give them six months.’ Mic drop. Leaves.
The groom hasn’t talked to her since.”
All It Takes Is One Fight To Ruin The Night
“I was at a wedding where some random 2nd cousin from the groom’s side was hitting on the bride’s mother… in front of the bride’s father.
After some shouting, it looked like it ended. Then, the cousin threw a bottle, and the bride’s brother beat the living heck out of him.
This all went down HOURS after the wedding at 2 am, but it was the only thing people remembered from that wedding.”