Worst wedding you've been to?

[Clawdy]

My worst wedding memory was when DH's cousin got married. He was reluctant to go, and said it might get rough....It did, rather! Drunk old Uncle Wilf fell down the steps and broke his leg, and the bridegroom had to be restrained from attacking his new MIL with a bottle of wine! DH's mum chided his brother for not going, saying "You missed a lovely wedding! "

I was also at a conference last year and there was a wedding. I felt sorry for them as there were lots of us and it clearly wasn’t the vision they had. They seemed to have lots of frippery (master of ceremonies in a fancy outfit) but no one seemed to be enjoying it much. I also suspected covid rearranged wedding so bridesmaid dresses were far too tight and the bridesmaids were wrangling prams and babies - life had moved on.

It would be interesting to ask the couples from the merely badly planned but clearly expensive weddings what they thought of the day - was it amazing for them or were they aware their guests were having a shit time?

That is unbelievably cruel

I had a very very good friend of about 30 years. I separated from my husband and had had a really tough time, she was no where to be seen. I had also had some serious health issues.
During this period she met a man and I was invited to the wedding. During the wedding I learnt that all her other close friends had been involved in the wedding. Eg hen party, bridesmaids, going to the registry office (was a few days before), giving speeches etc etc. I was not asked to be involved at all. I was so hurt, but didn't want to ruin her day! Spent the whole wedding wanting to cry! I'm not sure what I've done to upset her but, regardless and of course she can have who ever she wants to help her at her wedding. But I felt her behaviour was pretty horrible.
Thats the end of the friendship

The first was a strictly teetotal wedding where I didn’t know a soul other than my DH who was a friend of the groom. The bride was from a strict Baptist family. We were seated at a table with 2 older couples who we didn’t know and they didn’t say a word to us other than monosyllabic replies to my attempts to have a conversation. It was baking hot, only water to drink and Schloer for the toasts!

A family member’s wedding was memorable for the father of the groom standing up and saying what a catch the (very pregnant) bride was because she drove a sports car and owned a house so clearly had plenty of money - that marriage lasted 15 months.

A local family had a wedding, the church was next to the pub so the men of the families started off there before the ceremony, had to be dragged back out of there for the photos and were completely smashed before the reception where most of them disappeared into another room to watch the football, leaving the female guests and bride to entertain themselves.

At my cousin’s wedding in a country hotel, her father went off to bed as soon as they got to the reception and wasn’t seen again that day. The photos went on for 2 hours while the guests just stood around doing nothing.

At another wedding the gusts were asked for donations for the honeymoon to an exotic location because the couple couldn’t afford to do anything or eat when they got there! A top hat was handed around for contributions and the person holding it stood in front of you until you paid!

The last wedding we went to the church was in a pretty little village but the reception in a field 30 miles away - and nowhere near the postcode given on the invitation. We ended up driving in convoys up and down narrow country lanes for well over an hour and when we got to the venue the field had cow pats everywhere 🤢

@Dixiechickonhols, We also went to a wedding that turned out not to be a wedding as the couple had got married the day before. I thought it smacked of deception!
Worse, although my DH and I were invited to the whole thing, our adult DC, (teenager, and one at uni), who still technically lived with us; well they were 'only' invited to the ceremony and then the evening reception.
As we drove them to the wedding, this caused logistical problems for us.
Also, although a very small extra buffet style food was provided in the evening, as the ceremony was at 12.00, followed by the meal, many of the daytime guests tucked into the buffet when it was served, before the evening guests had got any, and many including my DC didn't get any!
With hindsight, I wish we had declined it all!

Not the worst wedding, actually one of the nicest, but the bride had decided she would walk down the aisle on her own. Her dad turned up, when everyone was seated and walked the full length of the aisle with his 2nd wife on his arm. She was dressed in a meringue-like white dress and carried a posy of flowers. It was funny rather than awful.

I went to a friends wedding and was seated next to her mother whom she had a very toxic relationship with. Her mother kept making snidey comments during the speeches then heckled her own daughter at one point and had to be asked to leave.

Actually though the worst one was one where they catered absolutely terribly for vegans (severe dairy allergy) and the offering was a very very tiny side salad, and then some sort of pastry with tomato’s on, then instead of a nice pudding like everyone else they did some melon balls. It all came hours late too. That was only four years ago and there was plenty of vegan options around at the time. I genuinely felt I was being punished for being vegan.

@Justmeandme19 maybe she hadn’t wanted to stress and tire you out with your health issues? Maybe it was misguided concern for you and she thought you’d not be up to it?

This reminded me of my neighbour who deliberately didn’t invite a vegan family member to her vow renewal as she said she’s not catering for fussy eaters!!

It really is. I can't imagine being so fooled by my own husband.

There was an awful wedding we didn’t go to. Someone from DHs family. They had been going out for 20 years and suddenly decided to get married (no children, never lived together).
groom was very wealthy but for some reason decided wedding was to be on a Tuesday as it was ‘easier for everyone’.
It was over 200 miles away for us so we didn’t go (never met bride/groom and still haven’t) and they rang DHs mum to complain as they had a children's entertainer. We didn’t have children.
It was term time so no children went anyway, there were long readings from the bible and no alcohol. Very few people went and apparently they were very annoyed.

My friend was a bridesmaid at a wedding. Bride had seen BM dresses on sale so she had returned and re-bought them. They weren't the same size and friend said they were 2 sizes too small. Strapless and very tight. Said she spent most of the day trying not to cry. After the photos her mum came and dropped an alternative outfit for her and bride was annoyed.

Such a great thread to read.

Mine are nothing compared to them but 2 spring to mind.

• My Uncle's 3rd marriage. His best man did a speech where he keep going on about 'nuts' (balls). Must have said it about 4 times. My grandparents were bemused. Uncle's new wifes kids didn't give us the time of day as, they thought (we found out later) we were rough northerners they didn't have anything in common with!
• Ex colleague. 4 hours drive for evening do, a few of us went together. Very hard to find, in a massive tent. Chairs and tables in the way and too small for the number of people there. Bar had ran out of most of the drinks from earlier in the day. 1 little portaloo for everyone and only food was little buckets of fish and chips but they were passed down a row and rather than pass to the end people where scoffing on the way down the row and they soon ran out so nothing to eat.

The wedding of my step brother was pretty grim. We had all travelled a considerable distance to get there, staying over the night before etc. The actual church service was fine, but they had decided not to have hymns, readings etc so it was pretty short. We then all travelled another considerable distance to reception venue, only to be told that the reception wasn't going to start for another hour. Furthermore the bride had told the venue that the bar wasn't to be opened as they didn't want people to drink too early. Cue lots of bored, thirsty people milling around in the car park waiting for ages to be allowed in. To make things even worse, after the wedding breakfast the guests were all then told that there wasn't actually going to be an evening reception, so could we all kindly leave. The whole day was poorly planned and we spent most of it either waiting or driving.

Mine.

Both of them.

Both absolutely shit.

Lots of complaints about too cold, hungry, no seats, too much waiting. Are people just too polite to say anything to bride & groom when they are planning or do they ignore it.
The Lake Cruise in December example someone mentioned - surely Mother of bride would say nice idea love but your Granny/Auntie etc will be freezing and I’m sure a cup of tea in hotel lounge whilst you have a few photos would be better.
I had my small reception at home in May and remember most of my older relatives just wanted a cup of tea (which we happily made)

Nothing particularly bad about the wedding. But I was invited without a +1 and only knew the bride. I tried to get conversations going with people but couldn’t get into a group. Ended up walking around the room alone, then sitting alone, then felt embarrassed so I sat in the toilet for an hour until my pre-booked taxi arrived.

My story pales in comparison to some of the others on this thread. The wedding was ok over all, but the groom was clearly struggling. He look miserable, terrified, and panicked. Multiple people I knew at the wedding commented on how they noticed it to.

Less than a month after the wedding, he walked out on his wife and never returned.

Personally the worst one I went to was where we had nothing to drink (save for 1 tiny glass of wine/ water) from 2pm-7.30pm on the hottest day of the year. It was in a hall, so there was nowhere to buy a drink (until the bar opened at 7.30), no water taps, nothing. We were all dehydrated by the evening! The worst part was that some years later, the bride confirmed this was a mistake, they'd bought boxes of wine and mineral water but the waiting staff put the first bottles out (1 per table) but never replenished them except for top table! Hence why after the wedding she and her husband had about 8 boxes to return

I also know someone who went to a wedding that was on Don't Tell the Bride. Also on another hot day. They were told to turn up early, had to wait around outside a marquee for hours due to filming (!) and when they did finally get in about 4 hours later found all the food (full buffet - meat. fish etc) had been laid out for at least that long. No one ate anything for fear of food poisoning.

Agreed some of these sat there for 5 hours without nothing to eat or drink . Why ? I would’ve gone home .

Friend of my DH. We stayed for 2 nights at the venue hotel as it was a long way away. We’d booked a double room. We got a small dark room smelling strongly of a dead rat with a 3’6” bed. We later discovered that we paid rack rate for this. We did ask to move but the hotel was full. There was a full scale fight Friday evening between guests to one of the Friday weddings (the venue was a wedding factory), we had to retreat from the bar to our room to avoid it. Following the service we hung around with little to do except get cold, as the earlier wedding went on for longer than expected and there was no where inside for the wedding party to go. Then there was a fairly horrible wedding breakfast, it was really mean in terms of quality and quantity, one small glass of red wine / vinegar each and a tiny portion of chicken casserole. Then nearly every one of the bride’s family (which was large, several sisters and brothers and parents) gave a performance of some sort of other - singing , playing various instruments or dancing. They were not talented, it was cringe worthy. Overall just awful. We did get drunk at the bar later, which helped!

The wedding and reception were nice - but the best man informed everyone that the groom was into group sex during his speech. He was taking the piss but being serious. The groom has a reputation as a notorious womaniser and his wife still has no idea. The whole room fell silent and the vicar was blushing. It was awful.

Thank you for saying this, Scottish weddings are generally great fun-especially with a ceilidh band