I’m getting married in a few weeks, and all I can seem to think about is ways my friends might ruin the wedding. Certainly, all I have to do is show up to not ruin my future wife’s day. But, my best man, the guy I’ve known since birth… giving a speech after a few drinks? He is a liability. So, I’m thinking about hiring some “muscle” in case he starts to tell a story to all my close friends and family about the time I ate some dog treats on a dare or whatever. People on Reddit have much juicier stories, and I’m glad they were brave enough to share them.
A person on Reddit asked a simple question: “Those who have been to a ruined wedding, what happened?” Boy, did the internet give us some good stories.
Here are the funny and tragic tales of times a wedding was ruined:
1. The Capulets and Montagues.
“I played a wedding where as we started playing the set, everyone ran outside and nobody was to be seen for the rest of the night.
I originally assumed it was because nobody liked us but the bride came in afterwards and said there was a huge fight involving multiple members of both families and everyone basically went home upset, injured or in a police van.
We couldn’t stop playing since we were payed and it was our job, and the only person watching was the drunk uncle dancing on his own asking for requests we didn’t know.” –TornApartByLisa
2. It takes a village.
“After the toasts, some people didn’t drink the champagne that had been set out. The one thing she had asked of her mom was that she not drink — she was even given sparkling juice rather than champagne. So while stepmom is changing into her reception dress, her mom goes table to table pounding down all of the alcohol she can get her hands on. A cousin of mine who doesn’t know what’s happening starts chanting “Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!” and stepmom walks back to her mom downing the last one and denying everything.
Cousin slips out the tent once he realizes what’s going on and leaves the two alone to argue. Stepmom comes out crying a few minutes later, goes back to her car, and doesn’t come back for a good 20 minutes.
While all of that is happening, grandma pulls up and starts cursing out my dad for a ton of shit, including marrying a kid (stepmom was 25 at this point) who she hates, not letting her invite a friend to the wedding, and him owing her a bunch of money. Dad tells her to fuck off and she leaves.
Then my dad got mad at my stepmom for being gone so long, accused her of either “being a baby” for crying or of lying and cheating on him. So she sat down on the fringes and tried to not cry and also remain visible to my dad for the next several hours.
They may have been dating for 10 years, but the marriage only lasted 6 months.” –GayHotAndDisabled
3. She tried.
“The mother of the groom was an alcoholic for many years. She decided to quit drinking cold turkey a few days before his wedding. During the reception, she had a seizure and was taken to the hospital via ambulance.” –Outof_ITM
4. A bird in the hand.
“For a whole year of planning all the bride (SIL) wanted was a dove release while they said handwritten vows to each other. Very small, non denominational (most of the family are atheist anyway) wedding.
Day arrives (early summer) and something is off with the bird handlers. They show up a bit late and are sourcing help from the wedding party to get everything in line. When the time comes to say their vows I help the handler carry the chest with the doves in it over to what is to be the altar where the bride and groom are standing.
Vows are just about wrapping up and the handler gives ME the signal to open the chest. I open it and see 20-30 DEAD DOVES IN THE CRATE!!!! I immediately close it to try and limit who knows what happened. Too late. The look of horror on her face was all that was needed. We spent the next few hours trying to cheer everyone up but by the end of the reception the entire wedding party had organized and filed animal cruelty complaints on the handler. It was all anyone could focus on.” –for_nefarious_use
5. Never listen to a drunk wedding party.
“The wedding was at a state park that’s famous for its giant gorge/waterfall. I don’t know whose idea this was, but someone suggested a photo overlooking this gorge and everybody was game. The wedding party went around a stone security barrier and the maid of honor literally fell off the cliff to her death. It was like 500+ feet.” –SingzJazz
6. When no one shows.
“No one turned up to the reception except myself and partner. There was about 8 people in total and the couple had went all out for the reception. Awkward.” –kittycatnala
7. The toast of toasts.
“Was a guest of friend of the bride, did not know anyone attending. Very expensive over the top place, several hundred guests of this very Italian wedding. Maid of honor grabs mic at the cocktail hour begins her speech, rambling, drunk. Quickly devolves to stating the recently deceased mother of the bride was against this wedding and that’s basically what killed her. Plus Vinny will never give up prostitutes. She is tackled by several people and dragged away.
The happy couple is separated and divorced within a year.” –Rocky1268
8. Ruined a wedding, made a video for the ages.
“Attended a wedding reception and was seated near the cameraman. An aunt of mine was sitting closer to the camera and spent the evening commenting and gossiping about everyone, and much of it came out on the video. The cameraman was great, he did two copies, one edited and the other no holds barred…The unedited version is the stuff of legend.” –liamt50
9. The ultimate day-ruiner.
“When I was 6 or 7 I went to a cousin’s wedding. Everything was fabulous for little me, so much sugar everywhere, basically heaven. The reception was in a big community center that was reserved for the occasion. Went to the girls’ bathroom, passing by the men’s room to see my uncle on the floor. Went back to the main room to tell my dad my uncle was looking weird. Well, uncle had a stroke and had died.
The bride spent the rest of the afternoon crying, and everyone except close family left.” –DecadentOrange
10. Tried to make it.
“Groom got so drunk the night before he couldn’t make it to the alter at the ceremony. They still had the ceremony with only the bride and her party, plus one of the groomsmen, who apparently didn’t get wasted. Everyone there was shaking their heads the entire time. The groom did make one singular appearance for a few seconds at the reception. He looked like a zombie and was wearing street clothes.
And this was no trashy wedding. The bride was a professional dancer for a major label pop star, so that gives you an idea of the type of people that were in attendance. 200 plus people at the ceremony alone, probably double that at the reception.
They divorced within 6 months.” –davewtameloncamp
11. Don’t be late.
“The brides father was 45 min late to walk his daughter down the aisle.
While we were waiting the air conditioning broke in the venue. It was over 100degrees outside and humid AF. The place was overcrowded. You could barely move without bumping into someone else and in the heat that was extra miserable.
I guess the air conditioning problem had also affected the refrigeration or something because most of the food was spoiled. The only food on the buffet was salad, spaghetti and rolls. Not enough to feed even half the guests.
Most people left after the first dance. Two of the brides aunts fainted.
The bride and the wedding planner were crying.” –PleasantSalad
12. Spilling the tea.
“It was a big wedding, over 300 people. Turns out the bride had been having an affair with her cousin’s husband. The cousin had known for a little bit, but waited until the wedding to go table to table letting everyone know the bride was sleeping with her husband. Poor groom was blindsided. Worst part was his father in law was well off and opened up a restaurant for him. Well, he lost his wife and his restaurant.” –admx14
13. Do your best.
“Best friend’s mom got remarried and had an expensive, beautiful wedding, but for some reason didn’t hire a DJ. Last minute her mom asked me to manage the CD and gave me a list along with verbal instructions of when to play each. I tried to warn her that I simply did not follow, but she told me she had confidence in me.
Apparently all her life she wanted to walk down the aisle to some specific song, but I just couldn’t figure it out. They had to get walking to match the sunset, so she went ahead down the aisle while I flipped through a series of incorrect songs too the horror/amusement of the crowd.
For years after when I called my friend’s house and her stepdad answered, he’d say, “Is this the guy who fucked up my wedding? How are ya?” –yeetnpotatoes
14. This just sounds like a bad wedding.
“I went to a wedding where the bride and groom bought the wedding package on Groupon. Which is fine, why spend a fortune for one day? But I guess the venue thought they could cut some corners. So they stuck us in a room that smelled so strongly of cat urine some people immediately left. The only drinks were those from a vending machine. It was next to an airport so every time a plane took off the ceremony had to be paused because you couldn’t hear anything. And the day after the event, every single one of us had food poisoning.” –Independent-Nobody43
15. The long con.
“Not me, but my elder cousin’s story. He attended a wedding where the bride and groom got scammed by the wedding organizer. One hour before the wedding event, nothing there in the room. No food, no decorations, just few tables and basically it feels like unused ballroom. The bride and groom realized the wedding organizer scammed them and the wedding organizer took the money to bought themselves a big ol’ house.
When the bride and groom decide to see the wedding organizer, they caught him sleeping in his house. It became a national TV news here and the wedding organizer got sued by few brides and grooms that got scammed by them, too.” –gausah