Weddings are supposed to be an enjoyable and unforgettable time spent with family and friends. However, it only takes one tiny mistake for an entire wedding day to go downhill! These newlyweds recall the insane things they experienced at their weddings. I’ll be taking notes to make sure these mistakes don’t happen on my big day! Content has been edited for clarity.
“I Always Said I Wanted A Do-Over”
“Ah, my wedding. The wedding from hell.
My husband and I had a whirlwind courtship. Our first date was in May, he proposed in July, and our wedding was in September. I was an organizer and had this down, or so I thought.
My wedding dress was ordered in extra length and we paid extra to rush deliver it. All was fine until it got lost. The shop was panicked and so was I. Three hours before my rehearsal dinner, I got a call stating the dress was at the shop. I rushed in for a fitting, and the dress was too short.
The lady at the shop shrugged and said, ‘Well, it’s too late to add length.’
At least I had custom-made flats to match the dress waiting at home.
We booked our venue at a golf club, and we knew we would be the last reception there. After our wedding, the club was going to tear down and remodel the building. Well, someone at the golf club got the date of our wedding wrong, and they demolished the wedding hall a week before our ceremony. We scrambled to find another venue, but ended up having the ‘reception’ in our front yard! We lived on the golf course, but it was tacky.
The day before the rehearsal dinner, I met my husband’s mother for the first time.
My future mother-in-law looked me up and down and stated, ‘You will never be as good as his first wife!’
I was appalled. This started the rocky relationship between my MIL and me lasting for years.
The day before the wedding, a woman who I hired to make custom wedding cakes called me and said ‘something’ had come up, and she could no longer make the cake! I ran to our local grocery store and ordered their generic cake which was, well, inedible.
Luckily, the rehearsal dinner was nice, and everyone had a great time. When I arrived home, my husband called me with terrible news. His dog had eaten my wedding shoes! My custom-made flats! I began crying as I called my mother, and she promised me she would fix the issue.
The morning of the wedding, I woke up feeling very sick. I began to vomit, and my gut became swollen. I looked pregnant! My maid of honor drove me to the church since I didn’t feel well. When we arrived, I found my mother had stopped at Payless and bought me white shoes that didn’t match my dress. My dress was off-white, but I was too sick to care. My mother gave me some anti-nausea medicine, but not before sending my dad off running because he had forgotten to pick up the champagne glasses.
Finally, the wedding was ready to start. The anti-nausea medicine left me feeling entirely too drowsy. I didn’t remember the wedding other than watching the video afterward. You could see my dad holding me up and my face as green as could be. The pastor later said it was the fastest wedding he had ever done as he thought I was going down.
After the wedding, we headed to the house where we discovered the band was a no-show. They took off with our money and we never heard from them again. We had no first dance and no music.
My sister, who was quite intoxicated, got into a fight with my brother-in-law and threw him off the property. My MIL bad-mouthed me, and the reception guests thought it was a shotgun wedding because my belly was swollen and stuck out like a sore thumb.
We left on our honeymoon to Pebble Beach where we had planned days of golf, sun, and relaxation. When we got to the hotel, I spent the night in the bathroom lying on the floor and vomiting. It was clear my condition was only getting worse. My husband and I canceled everything and flew home the next day, going straight from the airport to the hospital. I had a ruptured appendix and went right into surgery. Our ‘honeymoon’ was me in the hospital fighting off sepsis.
I always said I wanted a do-over, but twenty-eight years later, I was finally able to laugh about the situation. It wasn’t about the wedding, but it was about the marriage.”
“I Drove As If I Were Hauling Nuclear Weapons”
“My mother, rest her soul, made my first wedding a three-ring circus. I didn’t enjoy it, not even a little bit. If I had it my way, I would have had a simple wedding. In my mother’s defense, she did so with great love, but I was sure she was making up for the big wedding she was denied on some level. I was tragically widowed not long after my first wedding.
About a decade later, I was getting married again. I wanted a private ceremony in city hall performed by a dear friend. Afterward, there would be an informal barbecue at my house. No fuss, just good friends. However, my husband-to-be’s grandmother was 93-years-old, and he wanted a ‘modest’ ceremony to include his family.
The next thing I knew, I was hunting for a venue, caterer, florist, and band. Big sigh. Another three-ring circus, none of which I wanted. The only thing I did want, besides the groom, was a three-tier wedding cake covered in fondant and candy dogwood flowers. It was a Martha Stewart cake and had been featured in several magazines. When I finally found a bakery that could recreate the cake, the darn thing cost more than the dress and live band combined! However, I was using my money, and it was the only thing I wanted for the wedding.
The only problem?
The wedding venue was miles outside of the baker’s delivery area.
On the way to the venue, I had the cake in the back of my Cherokee with me, driving as if I were hauling nuclear weapons. All of a sudden, some lowlife ran a red light and t-boned me. It totaled my Cherokee and ruined the ridiculously expensive wedding cake. I was a bit banged up, but I wasn’t seriously injured.
We ended up serving a sheet cake from Publix at the wedding. Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good. The final insult?
The 93-year-old grandmother who the whole wedding was meant to appease didn’t even show up.
It was a lovely day, and I eventually got over the totaled car and ruined cake.”
“My MIL Stood No Chance”
“One time, I stayed at my in-laws’ house before my wedding. I figured I would stay until it was time to check into the hotel I had chosen for my bridesmaids and me to get ready at. The in-law’s house was packed with family visiting from out of town.
At the time, my son was six months old and had a low fever. My future mother-in-law insisted my son see the doctor the same day. Being Saturday, meant waiting in the emergency room for hours. I gave my son a dose of baby Tylenol, and he was back to his fine little smiley self. In my family, this would have never called for a visit to the ER, but my MIL was insisting.
My MIL argued, ‘If the wedding has to be postponed, just do it. Not taking your child to the emergency room is neglect.’
I disagreed, and the situation spiraled into a loud argument. I picked up my son, buckled him in his car seat, and intended to drive to my own family’s house. My family was large, baby lovers and all, and they weren’t alarmist about routine ailments.
My MIL came storming toward my car and reached her hands in my open driver’s side window. She tried to push my head back onto the driver’s seat and take the keys out of my ignition.
I had enough, so I punched my MIL in the face. I spent my life brawling with my brothers for fun, so I had a mean, fighter streak. My MIL stood no chance, and she fell right down in the street. I drove away, and she had to see the makeup artist to cover her bruised face.
It wasn’t my proudest moment, but I didn’t regret it after dealing with my MIL’s ridiculousness for so long.”
“I Was Close To Backing Out Of The Wedding”
“When I got married, both my fiance and I had a bride and groom party of three each. My maid of honor, ‘Jessica,’ and another bridesmaid, ‘Brittany,’ were awesome. The third bridesmaid, ‘Danielle,’ was a bit more difficult to corral. The situation was similar on the groom’s side. My fiance’s best man and another groom were great. The third groom, ‘Jake,’ made things interesting, to say the least.
Jake had gone through a divorce and moved a couple of states away, so he didn’t have much money. We didn’t even know if he could attend the wedding until a few weeks prior. Jake was able to purchase a flight ticket and, luckily, some friends of his offered to let him stay at their place for free.
We planned that I would stay at a hotel the night before the wedding and get ready there the following morning since it was close to the venue. After the wedding, my now-husband and I would head home for the night before a very early flight the next morning to Mexico for our honeymoon.
At this point, it was the night before the wedding. I was sharing a hotel room with Brittany, the second supportive bridesmaid. She was in the shower when I got a call from my fiance.
I answered the phone, and my fiance asked, ‘What are our plans after we get home from the wedding? Jake is staying at a friend’s place, but he doesn’t have a ride to the airport the morning after the wedding. He’s leaving around when our flight leaves. All of the groomsmen think the best option is having Jake stay with us for the night.’
There weren’t very many times when I have been speechless, but this was one of them.
I explained to my fiance, ‘I don’t think having Jake stay on our wedding night is a good idea. We aren’t at a party for someone else’s wedding, this is our wedding! Don’t you understand what usually happens on a wedding night?’
My fiance ignored my concerns and continued trying to convince me. Finally, I said, ‘No, I’m sorry. Jake isn’t staying with us.’
He replied, ‘Why are you acting like such a witch?’
I couldn’t remember if he hung up on me or I hung up on him, but I was angry and baffled. I didn’t know what to think. Who asks their partner if their friend can stay over the night of their wedding, then insults them for not agreeing? I couldn’t believe this was the plan four grown men came up with together because one of them couldn’t spare $50 for a cab to the airport. I immediately began to question marrying my fiance and started crying.
Brittany heard me crying, rushed out of the bathroom, and asked, ‘What’s going on?’
I explained the best I could, and she immediately replied, ‘No, this is ridiculous. If Jake needs a place to crash and ride to the airport, he can stay with my boyfriend and me. One of us will take him to the airport.’
Brittany calmed me down then called my fiance and explained her plan. My fiance finally admitted his plan for Jake to stay over was terrible, and agreed to do something else.
I married my fiance, and thankfully, we had our wedding night to ourselves. We are coming up on our eleventh anniversary, but I was close to backing out of the wedding due to this issue.”
