Weddings you went to where things went wrong?

I've told this story before but it fits nicely

My ex BIL shot his brother ( my EH) at our wedding reception

He spent night in hospital having bullet removed from leg
I spent night in estranged parents spare room

Wild West Scotland lol 1983

This is the best post on the thread. Glorious!

I can never, for the very life of me, understand why people who are still in love with their exes have any desire to attend their weddings. Even if I wasn’t still in love with them, I would respond to an invite with a gracious ‘no thanks’.

Four weddings:

My cousin married a girl from a wealthy family. We wolfed down the canapés when we arrived at the reception and looked forward to the main meal. Turned out it was only canapés. We left early and went for a curry.

I went as an evening guest and the groom was absolutely plastered. He stopped the dancing and announced to all present that he preferred me to his bride. I left.

At another cousin's wedding when the groom's mother collapsed out cold. She was still unconscious when taken away by ambulance. Everyone was frantic. Turned out she was dead drunk and had been secretly drinking since first thing.

My stepson's wedding. I was asked to make the video. The bride burst her wedding dress all down the back during the ceremony. She chewed gum the whole way through. She swore and spat out her gum on the grass to chain smoke. All caught in glorious colour. We've been NC for 15 years now.

Grooms ex girlfriend was on my table, sitting with her mum and aunt (obviously still very close friends considering he had chosen to invite the three of them) and she - literally - ugly cried / sobbed throughout the speeches. It was a little awkward to say the least.

My photographer was an hr late and very hung over. The photos he did take were ace but missed those getting ready shots

Not me, but as teens me and my siblings were left alone for the day as my parents went to a wedding, and we had to frantically stub out our fags and spray air freshener as we heard them roll into the driveway 8 hours early 🤣 apparently the groom backed out as he’d fallen in love with a colleague and left it to the morning of the wedding to say something to the bride. The mistress was waiting outside the church for him in a car, they drove off and my parents never heard from him again.

(Our mitigation of the smoking didn’t work BTW, they sussed it and we all got a massive bollocking)

Bride & Groom’s toddler daughter was clearly unwell and cried all
rhe way throughout the ceremony. By the time we got to the meal, she was screaming the place down. Bride sat there with a face like a smacked arse and had a bad attitude for the rest of the day.

The wedding was at 12 so I left at about 8.30 to get there. The food didn't come out until about 3.30 and everyone was starving. The menu they had ordered was clearly one that was meant to be for an evening buffet so there was only a sandwich and a small cake. They are divorced now!

At another one the groom got into an actual fist fight with his young adult son. It was horrible and we just left.

Not so much something going wrong as terrible planning for the guests. Wedding was at 11am in a church in one location, then had to traipse across London to the reception.

At the venue there was a welcome drink and a couple of canapés each - for 3 hours! It was warm and no air conditioning. I ended up having to go down to the kitchens and ask the staff to please bring jugs of water and glasses for the guests because it was so hot inside. We weren't allowed in the garden because of another event and the bride and groom were nowhere to be seen as they were having 10,000 photos taken.

The meal and party afterwards was lovely but that 3 hour standing stint where there weren't enough seats really took the shine off.

Mine. (I should say DH has a big family with lots of aunts and cousins in case of any confusion!)
Hen night - my cousin stole all the money from the drink kitty. We know it was her as a friend saw her do it, but DM refused to let us upset DAunt
also Hen night - DHs aunt1 and 2 cousins(f) didn't want to chip into aforementioned kitty because they were only having soft drinks. Then DAunt pointed out DM was paying for everyone's meals and they'd had the most expensive meals of us all.
Wedding - BILs GF turned up in white. Their DD (then 2yo) was in a flower girl outfit despite not being a flowergirl (too young). MIL was pissed about that and therefore bought the flowergirl outfit in defiance.
BIL made photographer take lots of photographs of DNiece meaning there are loads of her red face (she spent most of the day crying) Obviously wasn't happy with photographer about that.
MIL said DH Uncle could do a wedding video which I stupidly agreed to as i thought it would be nice and save us money - it was all their family.
MIL insisted on making the cake - I agreed for same reasons as above. it was stale, lopsided, nothing like that design I'd shared that she said she could do (and it was a very simple design too). She was pissed no one would eat it.
DH aunt2 said she'd do favours - yes I agreed, lesson learned, she arrived late to the wedding as we were walkinng back down the aisle and was putting favours on the table whilst people were trying to eat.
DH aunt 3 said DH 2 cousins(m) would not be coming. Not only did they come, they brough their GFs. Cue having to find additional seats/space at extra cost (which ILs pled poverty about when it came to pay)
DH cousin (m) was found in our dressing room, where me and BMs had gotten ready, by my DM who is certain she had locked it so how did he get in. She asked him to leave, he said he was just looking around the hotel but why there and our underwear was lying around where we'd left it as we thought no one would obviously come in. He also turned up in jeans.
DH cousin (f) said she wasn't coming as she was due a baby. Not only did she come, she came with her husband, toddler DS and newborn DS who screamed place down. She was breastfeeding, not a problem in itself, except she whipped off her entire top and bra and breastfed with both tits on display to all, not even trying to be discreet about it.
Hotel pissed due to extra number of guests, lack of room, had to put people in a side room if we weren't going to send them away.
DAunt heard MIL and GMIL bitching about family being put in side room for meal etc and not being able to see what was going on etc. DAunt had sharp words for them apparently.
And my own paternal aunt got pissed, decided to belly dance, fell flat on her face on the dance floor.
First dance song was the wrong one.
DHs friend stood on my dress and ripped it, boy was I pissed off about that.
Hotel room had massive spiders in it, like massive, so I couldn't sleep as I am terrified of spiders.
Portable cameras I'd put on tables all got taken home instaed of being returned.
Sorry that's a long post!

Not enough food for the number of people who turned up to the reception. It was a huge wedding, the only wedding I've been to where people were stood outside the church because there wasn't enough room for everyone inside. I was close family to the groom but the caterers had run out of food by the time it came to serve the table I was seated at, so the only food we got at the table was one roast potato each.

At a different wedding, in the USA, the bride's mum and dad were divorced, had an acrimonious relationship but were both invited to the wedding. DH was best man. As part of the ceremony the MOB & groom's mum were to go to the alter and jointly light a candle. Bride's dad wasn't happy and wanted to light candle as well - cue unseemly jostling and arguing at the alter. DH had to step in to mediate.

Groom had 2 younger brothers that were about 19 and 20 at the time. They both liked the brides cousins daughter who was the same age. They both asked her to dance and kept trying to out do each other all evening.

Ended up in a massive fight, brides mother had heart attack, brides father was arrested as well as the grooms father. 8 police cars turned up and 3 ambulances. Bride spent the night by her mother’s bedside who survived while the groom was at the police station trying to get his father and father in law released.

They have been married 20 odd years now.

Actually, that is not a bad thing given that most of the trouble at weddings is caused by too much alcohol consumption.

I've been to one of these! Free wine on all the tables, red and white and constantly topped up, but only tap water if you didn't drink alcohol! I don't drink, and, my goodness was I well-hydrated after that one. Apparently, if you wanted soft drinks you could go up to the bar and order (and pay) for them.
I've got a couple of DC getting married this year (not to each other... that would be a whole different class of going wrong) and I have warned them sternly to have plenty of non-alcoholic choices of drink on offer.

I worked at a hotel where there was a wedding pretty much every Saturday from May-October. The worst one was when the Mother of the Bride insisted no booze until the meal had ended. She was a Christian and was worried some of the men would get drunk. It was the most quiet, dull, lack lustre wedding ever. People just kept coming to the bar asking for pints or a glass of wine and we had to say ‘sorry the bride’s family want things teetotal until after the meal’. It was so awkward. No one was gagging to get blotto, just wanted to have a drink with the meal. The hotel was pissed off as they made no money behind the bar, the guests were pissed off as they were standing round for hours drinking orange juice, the best man was gagging for a drink to calm his nerves before the speeches. But the MOTB was delighted it was a dignified affair. Honestly we had wakes that were more jolly.

Mines unfortunately another catering one! They couldn’t afford it, simple as.

Winter wedding (December) and a flipping cold one at that! It was below zero degrees.

Service was at 10am at their church. I don’t know why it needed to be so early, but it was. After ceremony, it was pointed out that the reception location was not open for guests until 1pm. It was now just after 11am.
So into the church hall and found jugs of squash and a few plates of biscuits for over a hundred people. And that disappeared quickly. Thankfully, some church guests who were also church regulars switched on the hot water and got out the tea and coffee, someone discreetly went out for more milk and biscuits but Bride was a bit questioning and said “oh I just didn’t think people wanted tea and coffee at a wedding, why have we switched on the urn?” Thankfully she accepted that it was colder than she had anticipated as an answer but it was odd.

Arrive 2 hours later at venue - a very beautiful place that costs a fortune. A popular venue. Off they go for photos. At the venue……no canapés, no drinks. Just a few bowls filled with those tiny bags of Haribo sweets, and we were told the reception wouldn’t begin till 4pm. Someone enquired about the bar and we were told that B&G had not booked for that to be open till 4 so no staff to run it. Isolated venue, no shop or cafe or anything nearby. Thankfully they at least brought out jugs of water (and paper cups because again, refreshments had not been booked or paid for).

B&G and their quite big but close family who were in the photos were completely oblivious to the bored, starving freezing guests when they returned and it was only then that a few more snacks (think crisps and party rings) were brought out.

Into the reception finally, 12 tables plus top table. Food was a buffet, Top Table were first (food was dished out by the staff at venue I should say) - food ran out by table 6. 50% of guests (including myself) were left with nothing. Staff said they served what was paid for. Pudding was purchased separately - ie supermarket desserts, The MOB was a lovely lady doing the rounds and got to our table and wondered why we had no food and realised the issue. She quietly said she had been worried, they wanted this venue but In reality just didn’t have the budget, she was looking so sad at her daughter knowing bride would genuinely be upset if she realised and asked us to keep quiet and she would try and solve it. In the meantime, she approached MC and was having a quiet chat.

When desserts were set out, most of us at the 6 food deprived tables could see that there was a pitiful amount and nowhere near enough. The MC announced that Top Table would again go first, and that they would then go in reverse and used a sweet toothed uncle famous for his cake baking as the reason why they would start at the other end. Good old MOB. However, the first few tables were largely filled with family including a lot of children and the Bride called out that, as she had chosen lots of specificity things for certain people, could all the children and cousins get their pudding after them and then go through the tables. Well you can guess the result! Same 6 tables basically ended up with nothing.

Nothing from bar was included and evening buffet was also absolute minimum. Lots of guests were leaving by 8pm and, myself included, did spot bride getting a bit upset that so many people were departing so early.

This couple are a lovely couple but the reality was they couldn’t afford that location. They really couldn’t, they don’t have the funds at all. They could have had just as beautiful a wedding in a cheaper location - where everyone would be fed. The final carriages were at midnight, a 14 hour party and with Haribo, digestives, a few bags of crisps, a buffet for 60 out of 120 odd guests and dessert for less than that……I could never get the logic.

The bride had a broken arm, at the reception the bride and groom admitted that they didn’t love each other, and the groom’s father announced he was gay and in a relationship with the best man (this was 40 years ago, caused quite a stir!)

Food was terrible, like fray bentos meat in a mini bread bun, and french fries and frozen peas. No starter or dessert, thankfully really.

Obviously he misjudged his audience if it fell flat like that, but I still don't think it was a terrible joke to make - it was just a pun. A different audience would have laughed.

My DH's best man was quite ribald, alluding to a running joke about an unusual place DH and I had supposedly had sex in during our courtship (we hadn't, it was just a joke based on our mutual hobby) and that was in front of both our parents, the best man's adult DC and his young granddaughter (over whose head it happily sailed) - everyone laughed and, 20 years later, Best Man is sadly deceased and it's a fond memory of him and the only thing we remember about any of the speeches!

Many, many years ago at my cousin’s wedding reception, a friend of the family (very extroverted, large in body and personality!) got up on the dance floor and started to undress. My Nan had a fit of the vapours that he’d ’taken his shirt off’ and had to be swiftly ushered out of the room by my Mum and my Auntie. No-one ever told my Nan that the gentleman in question had stripped stark naked and was waving his penis around! I was only 15 at the time and it was certainly an eye opener for me!

I was half an hour late to mine because the dressmaker was late delivering the finished bridesmaid dresses (3 am on the morning of the wedding!) and then when the bridesmaids put them on in the morning the necklines were wrong and a family friend had to re-sew them.

Yes, I was cross.

@Bupo are you getting married hence the question?

First of all you need to recognise what you can and can't control. E.g you can't control the weather but you can plan what you'd like to happen if you have an inclement day.

The worst weddings I have been to are due to the following:
The wedding / church is miles away from the reception - just a rigmarole for most of the guests.
Timings don't work- you get married early but then there's no food for hours. Bride and groom bugger off for photos. People drinking a lot on empty stomachs - it can get messy
Food - it's tricky as everyone will have a different view on this. The worst food I have had at a wedding was when there was food sexism - men and women got different meals - men had beef, women had fish (really bland). The women's meal was just shit. I asked if I could have a 'male' meal, the waitress said that they had none left as so many other women had asked the same 😬
Some of the best food I have had have been buffets at low key weddings.

Personally, the weddings I have enjoyed the most / have been the easiest to attend as a guest, is where everything is either on one site or really close together and they've been early afternoon so people can eat first, then enjoy the afternoon with family and friends before the wedding breakfast in the early evening.
Also weddings that are authentic to the bride and groom - I am not a fan of 'insta' weddings

Me too @ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews
In my experience Jewish people know how to look after the inner person- perfectly.
See also funerals

The groom got punched in the face about 15 minutes after getting married.
I didn't see it happen just saw his face after.