Weddings you went to where things went wrong?

These are anxiety inducing I'm getting married on Friday 😬
Worst one I heard is a family member of the groom throwing up in his pint glass after the speeches!

Love this thread although the sad stories are heartbreaking.

This reminded me of a really posh church wedding where the Vicar started lecturing everyone about Leprosy & how there would be a collection at the end of the ceremony. Charitable as the Bride & groom are I don't think they expected this lecture on their wedding day. People didn't know where to look 😳

🤣🤣🤣

I once went to one where the (religious) officient spent most of the ceremony talking about how much more special religiously-officiated weddings were. It wasn't a particularly religious bride or groom, nor in a religious location (hotel venue) so quite why he thought he'd spend about 20 of the 30 minutes of the ceremony talking about why couples who got married in religious ceremonies have a "higher" kind of "extra special" bond was beyond me.

I know this makes it sound like I have a chip on my shoulder, but I can assure you that I'm generally fairly agnostic/chilled about this sort of thing, but it was such a blunt, repeated reference to other marriages not being as "high" as ones "recognised by a representative of God" that I honestly thought they'd hired a comedian in the first 5 minutes to pull one of those American-style showy wedding stunts and he was going to reveal himself as a fake in a couple of mins.

Nope, it went on and on, and i've been to plenty of religious and secular weddings in my time, and i still can't quite believe what that ceremony was like.

I never dared ask the bride or groom what went on, but I believe they'd bowed to family pressure to get the religious ceremony arranged, and I suspect my questions would have rubbed salt into some very sore wounds. Many years later I probably should ask what the deal is!

I've no idea, you'd think that was basic, really.

One where the bride passed out cold right before the vows. She came to and the ceremony continued, but apparently she didn't remember any of the ceremony/vows at all afterwards. That whole wedding was a bit weird, tbh.

Another one with the classic mistake of the wedding party spending a looong time after church taking pictures while the guests were all plied with vast quantities of champagne and no food. By the time the B&G arrived to the reception all the guests were completely blotto and the meal/speeches were a bit of a waste of time as it was so raucous by that point.

Happened to me too. The tables were called by number to the afternoon tea style buffet. We were table 10. By table seven it was obvious that the food would run out. We stopped waiting and all went up. I had an open ham sandwich all day. Apparently the evening food was fine for the evening guests but the ceremony had been at 11am and most of us were well served.

Why don’t people cater properly? Don’t starve your guests.

I remember one where the Best Man overslept and was terribly late, and then realised that he had forgotten to bring the rings.

He had to borrow two rings from some friends in the congregation!

He made up for it later by making a brilliant speech and apparently he ended up in bed with one of the guests, so it was all fine in the end.

Looking to fill some click bait column inches?

I fainted at a friend's wedding reception! Was a tad embarrasing. Came to with a guest who was a medic taking my pulse and asking if I wanted to go to the nearest A&E but I felt much better afterwards and I was used to fainting so declined.

Years ago, pre-kids, went as an evening guest to an old uni friend's wedding with an overnight stay so not local. Then-bf now DH and my friend and her bf all went in DH's car. Was lovely to see some old friends, but the food was really terrible considering we'd driven over 100 miles to get there just for some cheese sarnies and sausage rolls!

Mine is a sad one, but so well intentioned by the FOB.

The brides mother had died after a long illness when the bride was around 16.

However, the FOB found a letter (previously undiscovered), of the mother writing to her daughter, knowing her illness was terminal.

It said how much she loved the bride, how sad she was to not see her grow, how sad she would be not to be there if the bride got married, to miss grandchildren etc.

It was heart breakingly sad, full of emotion.

The FOB decided to read it out during his speech, the bride was in pieces, not a dry eye in the venue, I think even the caterers were wiping eyes.

It really was a letter that should’ve been read in private and possibly in “bite size” pieces when the bride wanted too.

He honestly was a lovely man, but just got it wrong.

I've told this tale before, but some of the stories on this thread are so genuinely sad, I thought a silly one might lift the spirits.
Friends getting married, and the groom especially was a dedicated folkie, and a Morris dancer.
The happy couple added several of their own touches to the wedding in terms of readings etc., but the main one was the Morris side.
The plan was that, after the serious solemnities finished, the doors at the back of the church would open, and in would prance the Morris side, flowers in their hats, sticks and handkerchiefs waving, accordion playing, and of course the merry jingling of the bells attached to their person. They were to dance up the aisle, the congregation would join in a lusty rendition of "Lord of the Dance", and they would then lead the bride and groom, followed by the guests, out along the road to the reception.
Unfortunately, the usher coordinating their entrance was not concentrating properly, and flung the doors open too soon. We the wedding guests were still engaged in the quiet, solemn part of the service, wearing our best prayerful expressions.
In leapt the Morris dancers, bells a-jingling, accordion resonating in the echoey church acoustic, danced up the church, realised their mistake and had to leave and wait for the correct cue. because of the attached bells, it was not possible to slip away silently.
The bride's expression seemed to indicate that it had been more the the groom's idea than hers.

It wasn't a mention.
That was my point.

I know of someone who had a huge brain hemorrhage on the day of her wedding. She was feeling unwell for a few days beforehand but put her headache down to nerves and stress. Ended up collapsing unconscious while in her wedding dress just before the ceremony. She made a full recovery after a long stint in hospital, but wow, what a drama.

I was also at a wedding where an elderly relative of the bride had a funny turn in the middle of the vows and had to be laid down in the church aisle while an ambulance was called.

Make sure there are enough loosing at the venue. Then make sure they are well supplied with toilet paper and paper towels.
I was at one where no one mentioned the bride and how beautiful she looked. The band leader had to do it.
Also was at one where the groom snogged the bridesmaid on the stairs.

Another one. My parents were at my cousins wedding,both of the grooms parents areTechers & they expected a degree of decorum We couldn't manage but on reflection all we missed was a big brawl amongs the grooms friends towards the end of the reception. My father told me there was food flying & eventually the police were called & they managed to end it. Excessive alcohol &;weddings are not a great mixture especially when it's on the house.

1. Old university friend's very small wedding. Undoubtedly the most expensive I have ever been to by some margin. Her father mentioned her and her new husband once in his speech, then spent a good 20 minutes waxing lyrical about how marvellous her single younger sister is. It was a very -in-your-face attempt at getting one of the well heeled young men in the room to hitch up with her. She was so embarrassed.
2. An old primary school friend who married a keen rugby player. His best man's speech came complete with projector and slideshow of all his most embarrassing moments, including full nudity, in front of everyone including the bride and groom's grandparents. We sat there in stunned silence wondering when someone would step in and tell him enough was enough.

Tight wad bride and groom massively under-catered the evening do.

So, a random uncle of the groom ordered about 50 Dominoes pizzas to be delivered. He was very popular - lots of drinks, lots of thanks, a whip-round.

Bride was distraught that this random uncle had shamed her for under-catering and was getting too much attention.

So her dad punched random uncle in the face breaking his jaw bone and giving him mild concussion.

thunder and lightning started at the same time as the service, luckily it was indoor but still creepy.

photographer lost all the photos

At our wedding in London our guests brought gifts and they were all piled on a table at the reception ... at some point many were stolen.
As they were all wrapped we had no idea what went missing so we had to ask guests what they had given and guess how many had been taken and estimate the ££cost. Really embarrassing and awful. The hotel was very apologetic and gave us some compensation. (But then they also forgot our breakfast in bed in the morning ...)
At my friend's wedding (he was the groom) his mother died on the morning of their marriage day. She had been very ill with cancer. Wedding went ahead but was obviously subdued.
Best friend's wedding her much adored father died three weeks before the big day ... so sad. She chose her beloved uncle to give her away instead, and he died 2 days before the wedding day. Really tragic for her.

Went to a wedding where they was an extensive family punch up. Excellent entertainment! Beats a string quartet easily.

Best Man got very drunk and was heckled (including by his own mother) during the speech. He ran out and the bride & groom didn't speak to him for years.

Sooo at my wedding my side of the family and bridal party had booked to stay in a hotel down the road the night before. Hotel was weird to say the least. No other guests there apart from my wedding party, barely any staff, service so sporadic, evening food was awful and they forgot about breakfast the next morning until my mum went down and had a word and they rustled up some bacon sandwiches! When guests got back the evening after the wedding, so like 12-1am, all their room key cards had been deactivated so they were locked out, and there wasn’t a single member of staff to be found - but everything had been left open, even the tills and a safe apparently! My auntie was in the kitchen, offices, back rooms etc trying to find someone. Eventually found a cleaner who worked nights and they were able to call someone so people could actually get in their room, but it took hours to sort. We found out later it went into administration a few weeks later so that explained why everything to chaotic. Meanwhile my DH was disgruntled because his hotel hadn’t given him the biggest suite! 😂

Oh, and we had a mini seating plan for family and bridesmaids/groomsmen in the ceremony room - the front 2 seating rows - as we’d rehearsed the entry/exit of the bridesmaids and groomsmen, so they were sat on aisle ends opposite each other etc. My MIL (didn’t know it was her at the time) went round just before the ceremony and moved all the names we’d put on the seats around because she felt the sides needed evening out (we didn’t have sides!) and she wanted a better view - she’d even seen the seating plan beforehand and hadn’t said anything! When it came to exiting the ceremony it was a big jumble and crush of bridesmaids and groomsmen and then eventually guests just following us out in a crowd 🙈. It looks a mess on the video.

However, we still had such a lovely day and even though little things didn’t go to plan it really didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I don’t look back and get bothered about them - we even laugh about the hotel now!

Tbh no amount of pre planning will avoid issues as no matter what you do it will never please everyone, the only thing that matters is that the wedding is about the bride and groom and its what makes you happy.

I went to one where none of the bridesmaids turned up, we weren't told why but someone stepped in last minute to act as bridesmaid. The bride was clearly very upset.