Weddings you went to where things went wrong?

[Bupo]

Please can you share any times you attended a wedding where things went awry. I’m just keen to avoid any possible issue.

The only one I can think of is where the bride was two hours late. Apparently her family were just really exacting with the make up artist and had a lot of the make up redone/touched up.

We were sat in the Church for aaaaages. It meant that the drinks reception/evening meal was really rushed as the bride and groom really prioritised the dancing.

Back in about 1066, I used to sing in the choir of our local church. At one memorable occasion, the best man ran out and puked and the MOH fainted. I bet that party the night before was awesome!

Sis2's wedding was fun. Stately home, but cutting costs a bit, so only one drink for the toasts, then a very expensive pay bar. Sis3, me, my now exH, her now ex Dp had agreed to stash wine etc in the car boot, buy a drink, and top up in the car park. My mum overheard, and far from disapproving supplied a cool box and further drinks. My and ex DH's smoking was going to be our cover. All good and worked well.

So, as bridesmaid, I'm top table, its a flat one looking out at the room, exH is sat with sis3's dp, my uncle and some random. Father of the bride speech commences. About 2 sentences in, I realise I've heard it before. At my own wedding. I look at exH who is shaking with silent laughter, I see him explain to the others. I hold it in, sis3 elbows me in the ribs, she's remembered. I hope to god the bride has forgotten. It was all tales of me.

Later, at a drink stop in the car park, we all, including mum, try to ask why the actual fuck he thought this was a good idea. His response was that it went down well last time.....

We've never spoken of it again.

My mum worked with a woman who was in her 50s who married a gay man 30 years her junior.
I was invited to the evening reception, as mum's +1, in a room over a pub. The happy couple sat separately all night then the groom had what looked like a fit and had to be taken home. Everyone was crowding round him, his parents and sister looked worried sick, but the bride sat with a friend, chatting away and ignoring the fact that her new husband was on the floor.
Despite all this they stayed married till she died many years later.

A big society type wedding was being held in our village. The daughter of Lord and Lady Someone Or Other was getting married. The Rolls Royce carrying her to the church broke down outside my parents house. My Dad, ever helpful, offered to drive her the rest of the way ... He drove a Reliant Robin and the offer was not accepted!

@DisforDarkChocolate I have no idea why my post has quoted you, I didn't do it, honest!

I was a guest at a wedding where the groom thanked the three important women in his life: his Mum, his ex-wife and mother of his children (who was there as a guest), and the childminder. He completely failed to mention the woman he’d just married.

A very popular and attractive friend of mine married an awful, controlling lowlife after an extremely short engagement.

The reception was massively over catered but with revolting food- masses of pale white sausage rolls and grey chicken legs. Everything so undercooked that even the grooms many drunk relatives wouldn’t eat it.

A lot of people were asking me why on earth my beautiful friend was marrying this awful bloke. Unfortunately someone was saying exactly that just as she came up to me to ask if there was something wrong with the food.
She heard and was furious. She was so defensive and it was beyond awkward.

He went on to immediately give away her dog after shaving it until it bled, drive her dd away to live with her father, move her away from her elderly parents and arrange to emigrate, all of which she went along with as if hypnotised.

Here are a pair of lighthearted stories, both involving flower girls. In one, the flower girl very meticulously crouched down to place each petal in the aisle. No amount of whispered prodding could get her to move any faster. In the other, the flower girl made it to the end of the aisle, only to turn around and start picking up all the petals. It turns out she was doing exactly what she had practiced for weeks. No one told her that cleaning up wasn't part of her job at the actual ceremony 😂

My parents went to a wedding in 1976 that they still occasionally talk about. Mass food poisoning from the caterer. Loads of people got sick, the groom included I think. My dad got it and the detail that really seared it into their memories was Health Canada calling them the next day asking for stool samples.

The couple is still happily married though!

Best man toasted the happy couple but used a wrong name for the bride! He hadn't met her before as it took place within 3 months of them meeting!! He was distraught for the rest of the day (and beyond I imagine!). Divorced 6 months later.

Blooming heck!

I hate an awkward speech..

I've heard:
Those who fail to mention to bride (or say something underhand about the bride)
Crude jokes (taking it way too far)
Awful mumbling
TMI (as above)including a not so brief dating history of the bride/groom.

Just thought of this. Utterly tragic. I wasn’t at the wedding and didn’t know the wedding party or the poor girl at all but know a few guests that attended.

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/09/24/irishwoman-seriously-injured-after-dress-catches-fire-at-friends-wedding-in-spain/

She passed away Chrustmss week after spending months in hospital in Seville

Goodness me, i am shocked at the number of comments about food for guests (quantity and quality). Makes me doubly happy we did it in secret and haven't told anyone except our solicitor (for the wills).

Oh good grief.
Are they still together? Is she ok?

That is horrendous. Unimaginable pain. It’s made me want to ensure every candle is fully covered, as they are beautiful but can be deadly.

I don’t know; we lost touch when they emigrated.

I was at a wedding where the Best Man didn’t turn up. Groom and BM had been best friends for 20 years. Another BM had to be arranged within minutes at the church as it didn’t enter grooms mind his friend wouldn’t turn up

Groom never heard from him again. His mother said he got anxious about the day and went off to be alone and he never saw or heard from his friend again

I remember that story at the time @Aliflowers but didn't know the poor lady died since.
Horrible story 😢

At my SIL’s wedding the best man was so smashed he could barely mumble out the speech.

We went to a wedding of a family member who had been more or less estranged for decades, and then suddenly crawled back out of the woodwork and started making regular visits with his GF, presumably so there would be people on his side of the church.

They got married in a baptist church. Her three year old grandson was the best man because, in her words, “he’s the only one who has accepted him.” And then afterwards we went behind into the church hall for a meal which consisted of two party sized sausage rolls and half a packet of crisps, and a can of drink. Toast was made with grape juice and we all left within half an hour.

Friend’s wedding her SIL came up to her and casually announced that today was going to be her divorce day.

Friend and her DH are still together, the BIL and SIL actually stayed together, and had a child, for another ten years.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to a wedding where something went badly wrong. A friend of a friend got married (I wasn’t there) and the best man mentioned that the groom had been in prison in his speech (upsetting the bride’s family, who didn’t know).

Another friend was chief bridesmaid at someone’s wedding. It was quite elaborate and she put loads of effort in (including making a book of memories from all the women, sorting a fancy hen do in another country). The couple split up a few months later (they’d been together years) and my friend was still paying off the hen do on her credit card for some time after.

From this thread, I guess I’d say:

• food. Feed them early and feed them well;
• make sure that people have somewhere to sit down; and
• let the bridesmaids wear their own shoes. No one notices the shoes.

Too much fizz for an extended amount of time and no canapés. Everyone ended up really drunk. Bride and groom taking too long to take photos - again everyone ends up drunk.
We had a short photo session with drinks, canapés and live music for the guests. It was really relaxed and the canapés didn’t cost much in the grand scheme of things but always go down really well.

Yes awkward speeches stay with me. As well as the boring long FOB speech I have had:

• best man so drunk he couldn’t really do the speech , so cringey!
• a father of the bride who was obviously very sad about his American daughter marrying an Englishman and moving to the UK. He laid it on thick about how sad they were to loose her.
• a very religious father of the bride who basically just preached a sermon and said nothing about his daughter.

If you invite people to your wedding, you have to sufficiently feed and water them.
It's a long day with a lot of standing around, and people get fractious.

Yes definitely need canapes for that inbetween bit.