It wasn’t meant to be! These former love birds share why they called their marriage a quits months, weeks, and even days later. Are those wedding bells I hear? Nope, more like regret! All content has been edited for clarity.
Table of contents
1. “The Wedding Day Was An Absolute Mess”
“I had two good friends who were brothers. They were party animals. They went out drinking at bars all the time, slept with different women every weekend, and used recreational substances. They just loved the bachelor lifestyle, and to be honest, I was a bit jealous of the fun they were having. I was in a longer-term relationship for many years. Eventually, the younger brother settled down and got engaged to a nice girl. Something broke in the older brother’s mind, and he suddenly was in some sort of ‘race’ to get married before his younger brother.
He kept living the bachelor lifestyle, but then one day announced how he was engaged to be married and with his fiancee, they’d set a wedding date to be married six months before his younger brother. None of us ever met this girl before we found out he was engaged. When we did meet her, it was clear he’d not been open with her about his lifestyle. She was a very prim and proper lady who was very shy and quiet. They worked together, so she only knew his professional side of him.
Over the months leading to the wedding, his partying kept going. He was cheating on her with one-night stands, but she was oblivious. Our group of friends told him he needed to tell her what he was doing, but he refused.
I was nominated to be the one to tell her before it was too late.
When I met her for coffee, I explained, ‘There are some things you don’t know about your future husband,’ and told her how he was cheating on her and the substances he was using.
She was generally taken aback, but she told me to my face, she was still going to marry him and that she could change him. It was upsetting she didn’t care, but at the least, I left with a clear conscience afterward.
Fast forward to their wedding day, and it was an absolute mess. He was wasted before the reception even started, and he passed out in a corner sometime after dinner. As I was leaving, I said goodbye to his bride, and I could see it in her eyes. The definition of regret.
They ended up being together for exactly one year. Her final straw was when she wanted to go out for a special brunch for their first anniversary. She made plans at a fancy place. He told her he was going out to party the night before, but would be home in time to get some sleep before their anniversary started. He ended up hooking up with some chick he picked up at the bar, and when he finally made it home the next afternoon, his wife had packed her bags and left.
I felt bad for her at first, but then I remembered how I laid everything on the table with her and she still did it. I’ve never seen or spoken to her again. My friend ended up repeating his pattern. He is on his fourth marriage now but does seem to have finally settled down this time.”
2. “She Didn’t Want To Do Anything But Fight”
“My first marriage was terrible.
Before getting married, I had a really bad breakup with my girlfriend of four years. Only weeks after the breakup, I met my first wife. As our relationship progressed, we made plans for our future. This included marriage, children, and everything in between. The breakup messed me up, and I was insecure and afraid of being alone. So, looking back, I probably would have married anyone. I was young, dumb, and unaccustomed to heartbreak.
On our honeymoon, my wife didn’t want to do anything but fight. I left her alone two days early and flew back home to be with our dog. Then, she stopped wearing her ring and refused to tell people we were married. She referred to me as her boyfriend instead.
The final straw was when my grandfather was dying and my wife said, ‘I wish he would just hurry up and die already. I’m tired of this apartment being so depressing all of the time.’
I only made it four months before filing for divorce.
I was upset at first because the relationship seemed relatively normal until we got married. She had her share of issues, but of course, I thought I could fix them. At the end of the day, I kept our dog and moved away. It took a few years of being single and learning about myself to finally be happy.”
3. “My Sister Wasn’t Fooling Anyone”
“This didn’t happen to me, but my oldest sister. She got divorced and remarried five times. The first one was at 19 years old, and they divorced because they were young and weren’t ready to be married. In the second marriage, my sister wasn’t sure if she wanted to be married. Our mother advised her to walk away, but she married anyway. Her husband ended up cheating, so she left.
My sister’s third marriage lasted 10 years, but they fought all of the time. He was a doctor and she was a nurse, but they were two intelligent people who could never talk to each other about their problems. The fourth husband was my favorite. He was kind-hearted, and the most loving and supportive spouse my sister could have hoped for. However, I think my sister found him boring. She met someone on a work trip, and everything spiraled out of control from there. She sent us an email saying how she and the fourth husband were starting to feel like they were just ‘friends,’ so she was moving to New Zealand to start a new life. My sister wasn’t fooling anyone. We all knew there must have been a new man.
About six months later, she announced she had a new boyfriend. A year later, she was remarried.
The real kicker was, during my wedding, my very sweet old grandmother said to my sister, ‘Oh, I do hope your fourth marriage works out.’
My sister got upset by this, but I didn’t blame my grandmother for pointing out her revolving door of husbands. I wish I could have invited the fourth husband back into our family, as we all miss him and his family.”
4. “Their Marriage Didn’t Last Through The Reception”
“This wasn’t me, but a friend of mine. The groom was a truck driver, so the bride didn’t spend a lot of time with him during the beginning of their relationship. Still, they thought they loved each other enough, so they got married.
Their marriage didn’t last through the reception.
The groom got wasted, hit the bride’s child from a previous relationship, then hit the bride in the face. She filed for an annulment the next morning. The assault happened behind closed doors, and they kept it pretty hush-hush until the next morning to save face.
I later found out the groom racked up several thousands of dollars of debt in the bride’s name during the relationship. It wasn’t discovered until things started falling apart. Luckily, the bride moved on and is happy in a different relationship. I’m pretty sure the groom wound up in jail.”
5. “She Was Sleeping With Her Ex-Boyfriend”
“I was planning a wedding with my ex-fiancee. I did most of the planning. I worked as a nurse, and my father was dying of cancer on the other side of the United States. Between work and paid time off to care for him, I wasn’t in the house much for a few months. Right in the middle of wedding planning, my father’s health took a turn for the worse. I found out my ex-fiancee was sleeping with her ex-boyfriend both when I was working the night shift and when I was in California caring for my dying dad.
I broke it off two months before the wedding and lost a lot of money in the process. I couldn’t believe that evil witch cheated on me while my dad died.”
