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Tell us about your worst wedding experiences?

498 replies

ENormaSnob · 08/05/2012 13:49

Inspired by diamondsonthesoleofhershoes thread in aibu.

The worst wedding I have ever attended was an attempt at a big traditional wedding done on a tiny budget. Freezing cold room, luke warm daytime buffet with 2 choices served on paper plates that bent when the food hit them, no drinks at all, not even a toast after the speeches. There was a pay bar which is fine with me but not even one glass of wine with the meal seems mean. The night buffet was worse than the daytime one, a few plates of dry sarnies and 2 plates of mummified chicken. No pudding of any description throughout the whole day Sad I was cold and hungry all day. The bride had told me before hand that most of their budget had gone on outfits for the wedding party and the cars. Cars which no one saw anyway Confused On a positive note, the drinks weren't extortionate like they are in some places.

I am not a fussy cow btw, my ideal wedding as a guest would be a village hall type of affair with everyone bringing a plate and a bottle.

OP posts:
BustersOfDoom · 08/05/2012 23:48

No Imperial you're not and I don't think previous poster was mocking, just using it as an example of a bad experience at a wedding. It's not the sort of thing anyone expects to have to deal with at a wedding, we all trot along pretty much hoping it will all be jolly and happy but of course it doesn't always work out like that.

However, the poor woman must have been heartbroken and it must have taken a great deal of strength to muster up the courage and go and watch her DS's friend get married. I'm sure that the previous poster did her absolute best to comfort her, as any of us would do.

schroedingersdodo · 08/05/2012 23:50

Imperial, I thought the same thing about the woman crying in the toilets. I can't begin to imagine how bad she was feeling, and of course she didn't plan or want to make a scene.

Linnet · 08/05/2012 23:58

I apologise in advance for the length of this. Dh and I went to a wedding in France. Everyone at the wedding was staying in the hotel where the reception was to be held.

The wedding was at 3pm with champagne and nibbles at 5pm. We left the hotel in a friends car at 2pm still not quite sure where the wedding was going to be as it was a big surprise for the guests? luckily the driver knew where it was to be. We arrived at the wedding venue and it was freezing cold and starting to rain, we all had to wait outside for ages before we were let inside for the wedding.

After the wedding we came outside for the photos and the heavens opened, I felt so sorry for the bride and groom it was pouring with rain and blowing a gale and it was so cold and everyone was in little summer frocks for a wedding in France. After hanging about for ages getting colder and hungrier by the minute the person we were in the car with decided they weren't waiting any longer and we all went back to the hotel.

We then waited ages for everyone else to come back to the hotel. Once they did we got to have our nibbles,most of which were fish which I don't eat but I managed to snaffle a few vegetarian options. We were then left to our own devices for the next 3 hours. We had been put into a lovely room but there were no chairs so everyone was standing around then the room got really hot with everyone in it so everyone spilled out into the hallway where there were still no seats and it was pouring with rain outside so you couldn't go out there. Nobody knew when dinner was going to be served and everytime we asked all we were told was it would be soon.

At 8.30pm we were taken to the room where the meal was to be then had to sit through the speeches, then the food started to arrive. There were 5 courses, the first 3 courses were fish. I spent the whole meal with a french lady next to me saying "just try the fish you may like it, go on you'd make your children eat it" The wedding cake was eventually served at 11.30pm after that all the French people went off to bed and all the British people got drunk.

It was the oddest wedding I've been to. Everyone was cold, which the bride and groom couldn't control of course and everyone was hungry and there was this huge secrecy about where the wedding was going to be and when the meal would be served,all a bit odd.

BustersOfDoom · 09/05/2012 00:03

And almost all of the weddings I've been to have been fab. We were fed, watered, wined, entertained and warm!

However, I did go to one wedding where mine and several other friends invitations said 'Church and Evening Reception Only'. It didn't even occur to us that we had been relegated to the night do even though they expected us to fill up the pews at the church! We had no idea there was a daytime reception until we got to the night do and heard her DH's friends talking about it. Which pretty much set the scene for their marriage and is why none of us are in contact with her any more.

Her DH cast us out one by one and she went along with it. I'd be there for her in a hearbeat 15 years on though and have let her know it but I won't hold my breath.

Iamnotamindreader · 09/05/2012 00:37

Worst wedding I attended was my own.
Had the right idea and planned it all in 3 weeks for less than £500. Guests thought it was great.

I however got a migraine on the way to the reception and disappeared into the ladies once my prawns started to macarena across the table and was in there for the duration.

MrsLetch · 09/05/2012 02:07

I think the worst wedding for me was the one where it was a disaster from beginning to end. I don't think that it helped that the guests were crammed in, and it was the hottest day of the year.

The wedding was held in a very small village, with limited parking in the village. Needless to say, I couldn't get a parking space and then was running late and had to frogmarch my 3 year old and 6 month old to the church. Both my girls had recently been ill, and DD2 was recovering from the chicken pox, so she was particularly hot, tired, and grumpy. I should have known from that, it wasn't going to be a good day.

Firstly, they had a lot of people in a very small church, on a very hot day - so we were all cramped in. During the service, my DD1 decided she absolutely needed the loo, but it was an outside loo and was absolutely disgusting. The loo had excrement smeared over the seat and there was urine on the floor, so I wouldn't let my DD sit on the loo. Instead, I held her over the seat and she proceeded to piss all over my leg.

Then, after the church service, we then had to do the obligatory march up to somewhere pretty to have the photos taken. As my DH was involved in the wedding, I had to look after the girls by myself and so had to push the pram and ensure my eldest didn't go running off (narrow pavement, lots of people and a busy main A road with lots of lorries). Then when we got to the park, there was no way I could get the pram in, so I had to collapse the pram all by myself, whilst holding the baby, to get it through the gate and then put the pram back up the other side, simultaneously ensuring that my over excited 3 year old didn't go running off. Not one person offered any help during this process. We then had to hang around for ages in the blazing sun, little shade and no refreshments for the photos to be taken. At one point, my FIL took it upon himself to take my eldest DD off to feed the ducks (out of sight and away from where we were standing, and certainly beyond the area that I had said she was allowed to play in), but didn't have the decency to let either me or my DH know... so I was running around (carrying the baby) looking for my eldest DD, thinking she might have drowned in the lake. Neither I nor my DH knew where she was and I was panicking like mad - to which MIL just said, she had told FIL to take DD1 to the lakes, but neither thought to tell DH or myself. I was fuming at this point. How I bit my tongue I do not know. After that we moved on to the reception.

The reception was just a village hall, but it was a really hot day and it had no windows at all and there was no real outdoor space to speak of (well, a patch of unkept grass with broken glass in it at the back of the venue - so not at all suitable for the dozens of children that were there). Furthermore, the venue was blatantly too small for the number of people they had invited and so we were packed into the hall like sardines.

At the reception they didn't provide any drinks, just a voucher - but again I was sat on my own with my children (pretty much on the opposite side of the hall from my DH) and because there were too many people for the venue, I was pretty much 'locked' in to my seat, There was a drinks bar, but as there was only one bar for over 100 guests, it pretty much had a queue of at least 20 people the whole time, so I couldn't just leave my baby and child to go and get a drink... but as I had been sat a couple of tables in from the side, I couldn't take them with me without getting everyone else up. I didn't really know the people I was sat with and as no-one offered to get me a drink, I sat there sweltering on a really hot day, in a stuffy room without a drink for over 5 hours by the time I got one. (and I was still breastfeeding at this point in time).

The food was then a buffet, and tables were called up one at a time. By the time it came to our table, there was hardly any food left apart from two giant fish and very ornate rice all nice foods for adults, but nothing really child friendly, so all of which my very hot, tired and hungry 3 year old refused to eat. At this point, I did seriously consider running away to McDonalds to feed her, but it was a bit too far away to get away with it. Thankfully, I managed to go through my change bag and managed to round up enough snacks to keep her going. But because it was a buffet, it was a very long drawn out process and a lot of children there (but no room) and so the children got steadily more bored and grumpy as the day progressed. Eventually, the formal bit was over and I was rejoined by my DH so it got easier, except then the band started and it was really noisy. There was nowhere for the children to play, except for one small room with a few toys in. So I took my DD in there to breastfeed and put down her for a sleep, but there were some nightmarish little children (well hot, bored, over tired with nowhere for them to run around) and with no parents nearby, one of them threw a car at my baby daughter's head.

In the evening, the band was good, but it was just too hot and so no-one danced. And because of noise issues, they insisted the ceiling windows were shut, so everyone just sweltered in the heat. My DD1 who by now was very hot, tired and hungry really started playing up and I stripped DD2 down to her nappy, but she was really over heating and was really screaming. I took her out to calm her down, and when I returned, I found the evening buffet had opened and my SIL had taken it upon herself to give my DD1 a plate of food - but she gave my vegetarian daughter non vegetarian food. It was full of foods she was not allowed to have. Normally, I might have turned a blind eye (except for the gelatine, and rennet etc which I never let her have) but as the only food she had she had eaten since mid morning was crappy snacks, I took it away and tried to replace it with something a bit more substantial, at which point DD1 proceeded to throw a tantrum.

Eventually, we had stayed long enough to be able to escape - but at this point, my DH couldn't find a carrier bag that had his spare clothes, car keys / wallet / phone etc. MIL said she had put it in the kitchen somewhere (but couldn't remember where). So we pulled the kitchen apart, trying to find it. By this time the caterers had long since left and we couldn't contact them so we then had to go through all the bins and all the leftover food to see if the bag had been accidentally thrown away. Being a very hot day, all the fish from the food was now stinking to high heaven and we had to go through every single bin bag and through all the wet, left over food. I honestly thought I was going to throw up with the smell. It was horrendous. I don't think I have ever been so glad to leave a wedding before in my life. Surely I must win with this one?? Grin.

MrsLetch · 09/05/2012 02:07

Sorry, that was very long Blush.

TobyLerone · 09/05/2012 06:02

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MrsLetch · 09/05/2012 07:25

Oh yes, but it is cathartic Grin.

I'm sure you, on the other hand, have never moaned about an unpleasant or unenjoyable experience Wink?

Tee2072 · 09/05/2012 08:04

Toby, I actually think it's the brides and grooms who are nasty caaahs if they don't provide the basics of comfort to their guests.

I was on a very tight budget but managed to have a welcome drink and nibbles waiting for my guests while we had our pictures done. Then we had quick speeches and a lovely sit down meal. No evening do as I couldn't afford it.

Everyone said it was the loveliest wedding they'd ever been to because I put my guests needs first.

As any good, proper hostess would.

FedUpOfDuckEggBlue · 09/05/2012 08:11

Worst one cost us about £550 in hotel, travel and present, the bride was miserable all day and looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.

Turns out the bride had good reason to look miserable, she was already having an affair and didn't really want to be getting married at all. Christ knows why she even turned up. Three months later they split up when groom found bride shagging someone else in their living room Shock

Wish I could get a refund on my £550!

TobyLerone · 09/05/2012 09:37

I tend to think that the wedding is about the people getting married, not the guests. Nobody has to go to someone's wedding if they don't want to.

All this moaning about being hungry and cold is a bit lame, really.

LadyWithEDS · 09/05/2012 09:45

I haven't read the thread yet.

The worst wedding I went to that always sticks out in my mind, was in a beautiful 5 * hotel, lovely food etc.

The reason that wedding stuck out was the Father of the Bride speach. I can't quite explain how bonkers it was, I never heard anything like it.

It felt like it went on for an hour, it was probably not that long in reality. The man is paying for the do, so you smile and do all the right things normally, well by the end of his speech I never saw a room full of more relieved people. Every Father of the Bride is proud of his daughter, this was something else.

He went on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about how great his daughter was. FFS!

I saw her twitter account a few years ago, she married ex's mate and she was the same bleeting about how great her dc were going on and on and on and on...

These people think they and their children are the bee's knee's and make you feel a bit sick in the mouth with their world of their own love in!

They were also quite oddly behaved in other ways, that is another thread!

LadyWithEDS · 09/05/2012 09:48

I just want to add, I was more touched by a Father's genuine love for his DD the Bridge when he said a few words and started to fight back tears of his pride and love for his beautiful dd, than I was for the hour long lecture on how great she was!

nancerama · 09/05/2012 09:49

A beautiful wedding in a fabulous historic building. The ceremony was held in a room up several flights of stairs. The bride's elderly relatives were forced to wait outside in the rain because they couldn't manage the stairs Sad

NotVictoriaBeckham · 09/05/2012 09:59

This was a fantastic wedding in every other respect but...

It was civil partnership between two of my gay male friends. Naturally, they each gave a groom's speech as they were both grooms. Then, instead of father of bride speech, both fathers gave separate father of the groom speeches. Then, obviously both grooms had a best man, fair enough. Two more speeches. But it then transpired that both grooms had two 'best men' each (!) so another two speeches. Eight in total, I would say about 90 mins. I happen to love speeches so would say I have a pretty high tolerance level for them, but by the end I was seriously flagging. Although by the sounds of other tales on this thread I shouldn't complain as I was warm, well fed and was kept in drink throughout! However we did have to stand for the speeches as they were converting the dinner table area into the dance floor, so my feet were rather painful, although fair to say that was self inflicted.

However... the moral of the story is that you must exercise discipline when planning speeches. I didn't mind 2xgroom, 2x dads and 2x best men, but the extra two best men was pushing it. I know sometimes you have more than one 'best mate' but come on, just suck it up and choose ONE. Surely the other can be involved in a different way!

Badvoc · 09/05/2012 10:00

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TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii · 09/05/2012 10:05

The analogy with guests at your home is perfectly true.

On a normal day if you invited a friend round for dinner/afternoon tea/watch a movie the minimum standard for hospitality is that they should be warm and not hungry (particularly if invited over a meal time)/thirsty.

I have no idea why this basic idea of hosting goes out the window at some weddings.

TobyLerone · 09/05/2012 10:08

I am absolutely not a bridezilla. You know nothing about me, nor about what my wedding plans are. As it happens, my wedding reception will not even be on the same day as the wedding, so as not to have dull speeches, photos etc for everyone to sit through. It will basically be a big party with the guests' enjoyment being paramount for me.

But some people like the whole manor house/posh hotel thing, where there is a lot of standing around for the guests. Everyone knows weddings are dull. Most people go to them out of obligation, and not because they can't think of a nicer way to spend their Saturdays. They should suck it up, be as prepared as possible for inclement weather/a bit of a wait for dinner and try to remember that they are adults and are capable of amusing themselves for a while.

I don't recall saying anywhere that anyone should be 'grateful' for being invited to a wedding. In fact, I feel almost the opposite. For me, the majority of weddings are something to be endured. I do endure them, and don't moan behind the bride and groom's backs, because this is their wedding.

DamselInDisgrace · 09/05/2012 10:08

I think the idea that a wedding is all about the bride and groom is a huge problem. Why invite masses of people if it's all about you and you don't give a shit about anyone else?

Waiting around during the photographs is utterly tedious. It's completely intolerable if you are too cold/too hot, starving and you can't sit down anywhere. It's unacceptable to expect people to put up with that, and it's not at all unreasonable of them to moan about it.

GnocchiGnocchiWhosThere · 09/05/2012 10:17

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GnocchiGnocchiWhosThere · 09/05/2012 10:18

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ripsishere · 09/05/2012 10:39

I'd forgotten about the civil partnership one we went to.
J's mum was not at all accepting of her sons homosexuality. Ps mum was fine.
DD was the bridesmaid. J's mum cornered me and, rather menacingl,y told me that P would probably kidnap DD since he wasn't a proper man who could make babies with ladies. Rathe,r a deviant who had led her son astray.
I can't think of a more committed couple TBH.
Ps mum found out about this and a proper screaming fight started. A proper fist fight was in the offing, but DH managed to talk sense into them.

TobyLerone · 09/05/2012 10:40

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BupcakesandCunting · 09/05/2012 10:56

Tobes are you getting married?! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!