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.

Years ago I humiliated myself as a very poor best man.The father of the groom -or was it the bride - after my pathetic speech said "since the best man hasn't made a proper speech, I will.

This humiliation lived with me for years, until I had to make a speech in business. I determined to do it right, and did.make many more all over the world. Apparently only meeting a poisonous snake is more terrifying than having to make a speech. My advice if you have to is study the room where you must speak, make friends with whoever will introduce you, rehearse, rehearse and rehearse.

We weee invited to a family friend’s wedding where the groom had discovered religion at college and was devoutly Christian. He was the only one in his family to be religious and he and his bride had a two hour wedding ceremony (not catholic so it was literally all bible passages fire and brimstone). They chose to have read the sections of the Bible that talked of not having premarital relations and that your grapes would wither on the vine etc. it was very much the theme of the whole ceremony that people born out of wedlock were bastards.

was quite uncomfortable sitting there with my 18 month old bastard daughter :)

They already got married during Covid but just a few of them there so still wanted the ceremony.

the best man did a bit of a fumbled speech and the bride threw her arms up and went ‘that’s that then’ and off they went up the aisle.

it was great otherwise

Not a singing Vicar…

No. He was in active alcoholism. He went into recovery very soon after.

My highlighting cap split at the hairdresser, my husband's brother used a bowl to cut his hair.

Married thirty plus years so no worries.

Open bar, not enough food, guests mostly professional under 30 ...

MOB walked in on two people at it in the (unlocked) disabled loo. They were not a couple. The male shagger's partner was in the next room. Female shagger brazenly walked out with a cheery "hello, thanks for a lovely day!" to MOB (what else could she say, I guess!?)

MOB again. Bending over talking to her grand child on the dance floor, inebriated male thought it hilarious to do pelvic thrusts behind her whilst mugging to his mates. Spotted by brides brother who deftly scruffed the thruster and ejected him from the venue with a slap. MOB thankfully unaware.

Slimy venue owner (known to groom) propositioning good looking couples for a threesome at the end of the night.

All in very stark contrast to the beautiful and moving church ceremony earlier that day!!!

Moral of the story OP; serve lots of food and manage the bar.

I think it’s the word mandatory that’s the issue with a mandatory ceilidh, @MorrisZapp. Nothing wrong with a ceilidh, or any dance, but making it mandatory would be a bit of a worry for me.

OMFG!!

Glad to hear it, but what a chance the bride was taking!

Family wedding at country hotel, where croquet equipment was provided for the guests' entertainment. The groom's young niece and nephew set about each other with the mallets and ended up being shipped off to hospital to have their bruised heads checked ...

I was 8 when I went to my cousin’s wedding. We were the only family (on his side there)

I think my parents disapproved - not of cousin or his bride but that it was in a registry office not a church. I also sensed some friction between brides parents and my Dad + the groom. Possibly because they were jetting off to South Africa and a new life the next day?

The registry office was extremely hot and stuffy. The bride kept fainting, coming round, bit more of the ceremony, another faint etc.

As an 8 year old, under pain of death to behave, it was all quite interesting - I suspect I was shooshed quite a lot.

Have a friend who is involved in wedding planning and she has had some stories over the years. One vintage car, collecting bride and her father, was late and rear window was stuck - open. It was very cold so they stopped again and father and driver tried to close it. The window broke and showered the bride in glass. Arrived at the venue and she had to pick glass out of her feathered skirt!
Another wedding the groom had forgotten to collect the wedding licence. Fortunately, the celebrant realised at the rehearsal the evening before and the registrar's office delivered the licence to the venue on the wedding morning. (Neither the bride nor groom seemed to appreciate what a huge favour had been done.)

The quiche at our wedding buffet was still frozen, I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, so I laughed 🤣

Weddings and DHs family aren't a great mix 😂

Our wedding, grandmother in law stormed over to us during the church photos to let it be known that her daughter (MiL) wasn't go to stand in the same photo as FiL because of the way he treated her (they'd divorced 12 years prior to our wedding). All ties were cut for about 15 years following that one.

BiL got married, he was in the Navy so most of the preparations were down to his fiance. It had been agreed early on our DD, who was 3 was to be a bridesmaid but time ticked on and nothing more had been heard from their side until the night before the wedding when BiL turns up at door. He stood there, bridesmaid dress in hand, expecting to have a quick try on then take DD to theirs for the night!! Hubby let it be known in fairly blunt language his daughter wasn't going to spend the night a strangers house. Things esculated so quickly FiL was phoned to come seperate his sons from a near fist fight.

FiL second wedding, everyone got invites which stated 'no children' DH said to FiL that I presume that doesn't include DD (who was 5yo) and his only grandchild? Well it turned out it did so he got kicked into touch for about the same time as MiL, DH only re-connected when he found out FiL was terminally ill.

Hubby loved his family but can also hold grudges forever, I'm not really sure it was worth it but it was his call.

He also has a sideline as a photographer for events like weddings. He did a fancy one that ended up a a very nice hotel. All went until the reception speeches when the groom, who'd started his speech like normal suddenly veered off into announcing his new bride had been shagging the best man for the last 6 months. He went on to produce all sorts of printed reciepts for hotel rooms, told the new in-laws they'd wasted their 10 of thousands on the day and said to everyone else to get pissed on the brides parents account. Final line to 'new bride' was at least one of us is going on the honeymoon and I'm leaving now, and did just that. Luckily hubby had switched the camera into video so captured all of the grand exit 😳

The bride’s father had died a couple of years before the wedding. Bride was living at home with her mother as most 20 year olds did in the 70s. Bride got ready and told her mother she should start to get dressed as time was marching on. Mother burst into tears and replied that she wasn’t coming to the wedding as daughter was ‘leaving her all alone’ by getting married. Bride begged and pleaded for mum to come to her wedding but she wouldn’t change her mind. Poor bride walked down the aisle with very red, puffy eyes and cried throughout the service. What a bloody cruel thing to do to your daughter.

Best man regaled guests with tales of the groom's conquests during his speech, in of which involved an inflated surgical glove.

Yeah I went to one with this too. Issue was that the bride was from another European country and her parents didn't speak English. So they were asking their new son in law to explain the joke

You “didn’t realise wearing white as a guest was a no-no”? Oh, come off it!

They mightn’t have said anything to you but I’m sure they had plenty to say about you!

My son's in 2015. He was only 23, had recently lost his father and had latched onto an awful skank. Moved in with her and her family. Wasn't allowed to shower, wash clothes or generally keep himself clean. He stank. She walked down the aisle with her head bowed, flowers hiding her face, had a panic attack which held up the ceremony, then was taken to a+e and appeared at the reception at 11 pm. Marriage lasted 12 months.

My experience - I had a designer vintage style dress and booked a vintage rolls royce for the transport with driver in smart vintage suit from a small local outfit. The car arrived to pick me up and broke down outside my b&b - he asked us all to push it so we could jump start it. I refused but some passing folk helped. Got it running so we all had to go then in case it broke down again - the car was backfiring and seemed on its last legs. We arrived too early at the church due to this mismap with guests still arriving so had to do a round the block drive all the while worrying the car would conk out. When I arrived at the church and got out of the car it had oil on the doorsil and got an oil mark on my dress - gutted ! The company only provided a refund and money towards the dry cleaning cost. Lessons learnt - never book a vintage car for a wedding.

A friend told me of a friends wedding where the newly married bride and groom went to the wrong bridal suite at the large hotel unknowingly (tipsy) - thought the chocolates, champagne and rose petals were a lovely touch. Drank and ate the goodies getting more tipsy then tried out the bed. Then whilst in bed the actual bride and groom walked in. There was a row and they were kicked out !

@Bloom15

I think our best man must have looked that joke up too as we had it at ours

They only gave you a refund and cost of dry cleaning your dress? What else were you expecting? £6k compensation?!

I know right! This was a few years ago and I still can't believe what went on. I'm sure there was more too...

My DBs wedding, she was the vilest of women, he's got anger issues. I didn't go mad either clear I didn't support he weddings Nd told my DB the marriage wouldn't last before he married. She had 3 hen do's so her family and our family didn't mix, as well as her friend snot mix with either family. No ody got along because she did a lot of back stabbing. Such different up bringings, we were brought up expecting to pay our own weddings if we left home before marriage and that a simple gift would be given. She wanted my mum and dad to pay half of the costs that didn't happen. My DB tried to explain my parents were on basic pension and didn't have the kind of money she wanted. She wasn't happy. Despite the separate hen does who h one or two were invited to all three which had to be paid for, expensive trips at the guests cost. She then demanded even those who didn't want to attend because they were invited should pay their share of the hen do. It didn't work. Her mum and step dad couldn't pay the half she wanted them to pay so they went into major debt. She told certain family that she expected them to wear certain clothes but they'd have to foot the cost again it didn't work. Some turned up in what they wanted anyway because DB had told them too. So again Bridezilla wasn't happy. Then she did a speech herself ranting about how selfish she felt some people were because they wouldn't help with the financial burden. She had also told a couple of disabled relatives of ours that they weren't welcome if hey were going to use wheelchairs or walkers in case it spoilt her photographs. It was just a vile display of entitlement. She complained during the speech that she'd seen my dad give over loads of money to me and DH at our wedding. (This was money that we'd taken out of cards form other people that I'd handed to my dad for safe keeping because either was in my dress and she'd seen him hand it back). I didn't go to theirs because by then I knew how vile she was and my DB said he would never forgive me. 4 month later they were divorced and my DB said he had wished he'd listened.