In the realm of weddings, where emotions run high and expectations are set, there are occasional moments that shatter the atmosphere of love and joy. From cringe-worthy to downright offensive, we delve into the memories of wedding-goers who were unfortunate witnesses to the rudest remarks ever uttered at a reception. All content has been edited for clarity.
Table of contents
1. “I Felt Used And Humiliated”
“My husband-to-be was very close to his mother. When we met, I was already well-established with a good job, a house, and three kids. Before the wedding, my mother-in-law was very sweet toward me and appeared to adore my children.
Well at the reception, my MIL showed her true colors. She immediately wanted me to sign half of my house over to my new husband, and she created a real scene at my reception. It embarrassed not only me but my mother and my father, too.
My MIL came off as greedy. She created a camp of her family members in the coatroom who shared her opinions of my entitlement now that we were married.
I walked up to her and her little group of followers and explained, ‘I worked hard to buy MY house. It is the roof over my children’s heads. I don’t think the middle of our wedding is the right time to be making this type of change. If I want my husband to have half of the house, we can worry about paperwork later.’
My husband flew into a rage with me. However, he wasn’t on my side.
He explained, ‘My mother is right. I deserve half of the house.’
The argument became intense between the three of us, and it forced my friends and parents to leave the wedding. I wound up being the last person to leave my reception. Alone. I paid a very awkward band who took pity on me and gave me a ride home.
When I went home, my parents were waiting inside for me. They were furious, and they didn’t understand why I chose to marry someone who only seemed interested in what I owned and how much money I made.
I felt brokenhearted, used, and humiliated. It took me 11 months to end the joke I called ‘marriage.’ Once we were divorced, I never spoke to him again as he became threatening to the extent I had to get a restraining order to keep him from hurting myself and my children.
It took me years to trust another man. I never saw a nightmare relationship coming, but at least I had the strength to get out of it as gracefully as possible.
As part of my ex’s divorce demands, he sued me for support and for half the house, which was a joke. He didn’t get a penny.
Good riddance.”
2. “I Nearly Decked The Woman”
“My mom died suddenly just shy of my parents’ 38th wedding anniversary.
I read the statistics. 90% of widowers remarried. 75% married the first woman they dated after their spouse died. And typically, the happier their marriage was, the more quickly they remarried. Men often couldn’t bear to be alone once they’ve been in a long-term relationship.
So a year after my mom died, I wasn’t thrilled when my dad said he planned to start dating again. However, I wasn’t surprised. I warned my sister he would marry the first woman he went out with, and she just laughed. She wasn’t laughing a couple of months later when my prediction proved correct.
He signed into a dating app in late August, met the woman he’d chatted with a couple of times at the beginning of September, and he asked her to marry him in October. Their wedding was in May.
Shortly after their wedding, the daughter of some family friends got married. We all traveled down for the event.
At the reception, someone who had been a long-time friend of my parents walked up to me and said, ‘Your dad got married so soon after your mom died! He was probably having an affair with her the whole time.’
I nearly decked the woman right there in front of the punch bowl. My parents had an amazing marriage, and this woman who had been their friend was casting gross judgments on my Dad’s character.
While I didn’t hit her, I did rip her up one side and down the other verbally. It was such a disgusting thing to say about anyone. But to say it to their child? Unforgivable.”
3. “I Felt Bad For The Poor Bride”
“My cousin was getting married. The wedding was large and formal with a major reception planned to follow.
I knew the mother of the groom was possessive. Heck, she referred to a grown man as her ‘baby boy.’ I didn’t realize she had drafted his older sisters, both in their late thirties, to join the campaign against the bride, either.
It began at the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was at a very nice, upscale restaurant. The entire restaurant had been reserved. There were four bridesmaids. I was the maid of honor.
At a certain point, my cousin came up to me and asked, ‘Can I speak to you in private?’
We moved away from the crowd, and then I get a good look at my cousin. She was shaking and distraught.
Then, she hit me with the question, ‘Have you talked to the groom’s sisters?’
‘No, I haven’t spoken to them,’ I replied, ‘What’s going on?’
Well, it turned out the groom’s sisters approached every bridesmaid and asked, ‘How long do you think this marriage will last?’
And, as you could imagine, the bridesmaids told the bride.
The bride asked me, ‘Have they asked you or said anything to you?’
Of course not. Which left her confused.
‘Why would they ask the bridesmaids and not you?’ the bride asked.
‘Sweetheart, they know I’m family,’ I said, ‘And they know I’d come down on them like a ton of bricks.’
Fast forward to the day of the wedding. The bride locked the groom’s mom out of the bridal party’s dressing room. She kept peering in the window, so it was covered up. At a certain point, I fled the room to stand in the vestibule. Then, the groom’s mother approached me.
The mother asked, ‘Oh, I’m so nervous about this. Aren’t you nervous?’
‘Nope,’ I replied, ‘Not at all.’
The mother was stunned. Straight up shocked.
‘How can you not be nervous?’ she asked.
I looked her square in the eye and replied, ‘Because I’m not the one getting married!’
The groom’s family was ridiculous and made the wedding day more stressful than it needed to be. I felt so bad for the poor bride.”
4. The Surprise Guest
“I frequently sang at weddings. I often filled in for other scheduled singers who would cancel last minute. One such wedding I went to involved people I didn’t know whatsoever. I was a ‘friend of a friend.’
The groom and I were talking together when a woman approached and began to quite literally ‘inspect’ me.
It was apparent I didn’t quite measure up when she said, ‘Well, at least she’s a good singer. Wherever did you find her?’
The groom did not hesitate to lay into the woman.
‘Under a rock,’ he replied, ‘We left yours undisturbed, but I see you made it. Thanks so much for coming.’
His voice was gentle, but he did not smile. The woman rolled her eyes and stalked off.
‘I’m sorry,’ the groom told me.
‘I’m not!’ I smiled and replied.
We both began to laugh ourselves silly when his bride joined us and said, ‘Oh, I love that laugh! I know he has been up to something whenever I hear it.’
The bride and grooms’ names slipped my mind. I doubt they ever knew my name. However, I never forgot their kindness or the three of us laughing together like old friends. I couldn’t believe the woman dared to speak to me so poorly. However, the bride and groom standing up for me made all of the difference.”
