I was reading a post on here earlier, about a wedding day where some guests cancelled at the last minute. It got me thinking about my own wedding and the drama that unfurled as the day went on. DId your day go as planned or did you have a few curved balls to deal with as well? It seems so much time and effort goes towards creating the 'perfect' day, I just wonder if anyone ever actually achieves it!
My hiccups:
I got married on the day of Princess Diana's funeral and one of my guests got up halfway through our vows and walked out of the church never to be seen again. I heard later that him and his wife just felt it too hypocritical to be part of a celebration when the rest of the nation was united in mourning, and on reflection they were surprised that we still went ahead with our wedding on the same day. Err, it had been planned about 18 months previously, what were we supposed to do? The vicar did ask for our guests to partake in a minute's silence before the service started so that everyone could acknowledge the event and then move on without it casting a shadow on the rest of the service. It seems that wasn't enough for our two runaways though! AIBU to think if they felt that strongly about it, they should have just not turned up at all?
It didn't stop there...our reception was held at a hotel just a matter of minutes away from Great Brington (the neighbouring village to Althorp) and was descended upon by a host of journalists and press who were reporting on the wedding, while they awaited the arrival of Diana's procession at Althorp House. We had chosen a buffet-style meal for the wedding breakfast, with hot and cold options ranging from a couple of whole poached salmons to beef Wellington and all manner of lovely things in between. However, when we arrived at the hotel from the church, my parents were taken to one side by a petrified-looking manager who had to impart the information that most of our buffet had....gone. Literally gone, as in gobbled up by the hungry journalists, gone. Apparently, when they saw the food being set out in a room near to the one they had been allocated to put their cameras, kit etc in., they assumed it had been laid on in their honour and dug in. It was pretty horrendous, they managed to devour both the salmons, all the beef Wellingtons, most of the cold meats and half the salads before they were spotted and stopped. I honestly can't remember what the hotel managed to cobble together for us, but I do know we weren't charged for any of the food that day, and the evening buffet had obscene amounts of food thrown at it. I don't think I've ever seen so many chicken drumsticks!
Luckily, everyone saw the funny side of it and it was certainly a talking point for a good while afterwards. It didn't spoil the day one jot, as my lovely late Mum said at the time "It's food, not blood". There was plenty to drink, great music for dancing and everyone had a good time celebrating with us. And almost 28 years later, we STILL laugh over it. Although I can't help but think that if such a bodge-up was to happen in today's 'where there's blame, there's a claim' culture, that far more would have been made of it....compensation bayed for, newspapers hunted down and sued, the Daily Mail called in perhaps?