People Are Sharing The Most Inappropriate, Cringe, And Straight-Up Horrific Things They've Seen At Weddings
by Hannah Loewentheil · BuzzFeedLet's talk about weddings. Sometimes, they are glorious and classy evenings where you can quite literally feel the love throughout the room. Other times, they can be absolute disasters.
Well, over on Quora, people have been discussing some of their most horrible wedding experiences as a guest, the tackiest thing they've seen at someone else's wedding, and the most unusual thing they've seen a guest do at a wedding. So here are some nuptial-day horror stories to celebrate the wedding season being in full swing.
1. "My dad's only brother got married when my siblings and I were about 7 through 14 years old. My uncle was convinced that my siblings and I would be horribly behaved at the service and the reception. We were separated from everyone because he feared what we might say or do..."
"...My mom sat with the kids at the furthest table while my dad and grandmother sat at the head table. My uncle's brand new wife had an uncle. This uncle took great advantage of the open bar. He was loud and unruly, and he chose to urinate in the hotel's fancy water fountain and then puke on OUR table. So much for knowing who was well-mannered and who wasn't."
2. "At my daughter's wedding, a 350-pound man took it into his head to try a pole dance. He did a very um…wavy hip thrust first, then launched onto the pole. It ended on the floor. Some people just shouldn't drink."
3. "I was a guest at my sorority sister's wedding (I will name her Amanda). We shared a room in the sorority house, so we were close. The day before the wedding, another sister (we'll call her Rachel) and I traveled an hour and a half to get to our friend's hometown, where the wedding was being held. Rachel and I were not bridesmaids, but we would spend the night at Amanda's house with the rest of the wedding party..."
"... She had invited us to prove we were special even if we weren't bridesmaids. From the minute Rachel and I stepped into the house, Amanda's mother had us doing little tasks: picking up the pizza, setting the table, etc. They were little things, but still things you don't ask of a guest. The next morning, Amanda's mom woke us up. We had to fetch breakfast, bobby pins, hairspray, and shoes. I had to fix my hair. I used to fix hair for all the girls living in the house then, but I had no prior knowledge I would be required to style the entire bridal party and bride. Rachel had to iron Amanda's dress. By this time, we realized we hadn't been invited as special guests but as servants. We were late for the reception after the wedding because we had to gather all the residue left after seven girls finished prepping for a formal event. Dinner had already been served, and Amanda's mother immediately herded us to the kitchen and instructed us to wash dishes. I was in shock, even more so when Rachel picked up a dish. But I started laughing when she tossed it to the floor. We left, went to McDonald's, and never spoke to Amanda again."
4. "My wife and I went to a relative's wedding many years ago. The church wedding was simple and fine. The reception was in a hall; I don't remember if a band or DJ existed. The drinks were fine. They asked everyone to sit at their tables, and the announcer called the table numbers. A row of staff served the buffet, so guests didn't just dig in. The main course was pre-sliced turkey. As we sat and waited for our number to be called, we watched as smiling people walked past with plates piled high with food. We were getting hungry!..."
"...Finally, they called our table, and the serving trays were empty! The servers were trying to scrape mashed potatoes in a failed effort to give the remaining guests in line a scoop full. And a spoonful of vegetables. The turkey was long gone. To add to the disappointment, the bus people were clearing tables of plates still laden with food! Lots of slices of turkey and two big scoops of potatoes are all floating in gravy! It was pretty clear that the servers had bad judgment, loaded up plates with double servings, and simply ran out of food before the final tables were served. We stayed until the end and ate the wedding cake. We stopped At McDonald's on our way back to the hotel. I later learned that the parents who paid for the reception were mortified and got a big chunk of cash back from the venue."
5. "Many, many years ago, a colleague from the Netherlands sent me an invitation to his wedding in Amsterdam. Since I live in Norway, going to a wedding in Amsterdam is quite costly between flights, hotel, and food (plus a wedding gift, of course), but I was touched that he wanted me there as the only one of our international crowd of colleagues, so I decided to take my savings and go..."
"...I called him up, and he was very pleased that I intended to come, and told me that he had gone to great lengths to get my address (this was before the time of emails and social media). We chatted about his new bride, who I was eager to meet, and I asked him for hotel recommendations and what he would like as a wedding gift. He ended the conversation by saying, 'Oh, just one last thing: The invitation is for the religious service only, not for the dinner party; I hope you don't mind. We wanted it to be a small wedding.' I was so surprised that I just said: 'Of course not, I understand.' But then I sat down to think. It's one thing to ask someone in town to pop by and see you get married. No costs are incurred (beyond a metro ticket), and no gift is expected. But to invite someone who would have to spend $2,000 to see you get married and then not invite them to the party? I made up an excuse and did not go. And I never spoke to him again."
6. "They ran out of food at a Jewish wedding. This is pretty much a mortal sin in Judaism. If you’re not sending your guests home with leftovers, you didn’t serve enough food..."
"...The couple were Orthodox Jews. They had their reception catered by the local kosher Chinese restaurant, which was ill-equipped to deal with the fact that, when faced with a buffet, most people will pile their plate with far more food than they can eat, and to hell with the people whose table numbers are called last (like me). I got to the buffet, and every single tray was empty. The people at the restaurant catering had to cook up an additional batch of food. This took over an hour. In the meantime, I was getting angry. I should have taken my gift and left. I didn't because I am a lady. And it took them over a year to send a thank-you card."
7. "My MOH left my wedding reception early (right after dinner), and to add insult to injury, she had the nerve to go to the bar and ask the bartender for two bottles of wine to take with her from our open bar. She and her boyfriend wanted to party in their hotel room for the night. She didn't agree with my choice of husband, which I knew, but as my MOH expected, she should have been there for at least until after the first dance, cutting of the cake, and bouquet toss. She never should have agreed to be in the wedding party! I was shocked as I had always thought she had more class than that!"
8. "I knelt at the altar to pray with the pastor at the most somber part of my wedding ceremony. There were giggles from the first few rows of guests. I found out later that, as I knelt down, big red clearance stickers showed on the bottom of my shoes. Yes, I am that girl. You can’t take me anywhere."
9. "The groom’s 'friends' refused to leave. This was a family who was fairly wealthy, and the wedding was a big deal: The venue was upscale, with a fully stocked bar, a live band, and the works. Well, the reception went well, except the groom's friends wouldn’t leave at the end. The meal had been served and cleared, and the bride and groom had left, as had most of the guests. But the caterers, the waitstaff, and the bride and groom’s family couldn’t leave until the guests had..."
"... They waited and waited and waited while these rude idiots drained the bar, harassed the band to keep playing, and danced. Of course, they had all gotten drunk and were singing and swinging their glasses and telling bawdy jokes and 'flirting' with the female workers, holding everyone up until the wee hours. The family was too polite to tell them to leave."
10. "My nephew’s wedding was a black tie affair, and the woman he married came from a conservative Jewish family, so as was appropriate, I wore a tea-length dress and a hat, as did most of the women. Except for one..."
"She wore white. Not a dress, but an actual gown with a floofy skirt and a train, and a little tiara-type headpiece with a veil over her face. Not wearing white at a wedding, assuming it’s traditional and the bride is wearing white, is just good manners. Dressing up like a bride is on the far side of tacky."
11. "Many years ago now, I attended a smaller wedding. The bride wore a veil over her face in a more traditional way. After the couple exchanged vows and were pronounced man and wife, the groom lifted the bride’s veil for their first kiss as husband and wife. During this tender moment, an older gentleman in the church loudly said, 'Open fer biznuss!' It was very cringy."
12. "The reception where I had to pay for my own food. Now, I’m fine with having a cash bar. We walked in and grabbed some beers, tossed some cash, and a nice tip. All was well. But when we went through the buffet line, and the guy at the end was asking for credit cards or cash…WTF?!..."
"...I went back to our seats and went through every invite or email about the wedding, and the cash reception was never mentioned anywhere. I’d call it being white trash, but I don’t even think white trash would do something like this. I’ve been to some hillbilly weddings in my time. You might see a BYOB reception, but at least the food is always fantastic."
13. "The most disrespectful thing I’ve seen someone do at a wedding was to get so drunk that they threw up on the bride’s dress. True story. It was one of the bridesmaids. She was dancing late in the evening, and she had been drinking for most of the night. I guess there had been some twirling going on, and the next thing you know, she’s hurling all over the bride and her dress..."
"...The only redeeming factor is that the puke was on the back of the dress toward the bottom, and we managed to hustle the bride into the washroom to clean it off. The dress was damaged, but the bride was able to keep partying until she and the groom left. As for the bridesmaid, well…someone got her cleaned up and took her up to her room, someone else cleaned up the dance floor, and the night went on, but I thought it was a horrible thing to do, to get that drunk."
14. "When the groom fully pushed the bride’s face into the cake, not only getting cake and frosting around her mouth but also on her entire face, hair, and even her wedding dress. The guests were stunned, and the bride broke into tears. I knew from what I’d seen and how he treated her (on her wedding day, no less) that they’d end up divorced. And yep, they later divorced as expected."
15. "We got married at a location two hours from home. My husband and I went a couple of days before the wedding to prepare and relax. His grown daughter was bringing his mother the day before the wedding. But his mother was furious that we didn't take her with us..."
"...I booked several rooms for family and had them in specific locations in the hotel and grouped for various purposes. When I met the first group at the hotel the day before the wedding, I learned that my mother-in-law had called and rearranged all of the rooms. During the wedding, my mother-in-law (in the front row) turned to the person next to her and said, 'Wonder how long this will last.' During the reception, she complained so much about a lack of attention that my husband had to threaten to have someone take her back to the hotel. The first morning of our honeymoon, my husband slept in, and my mother-in-law called his phone 20 times by noon."
16. "About 30 years ago, I was the plus-one on a wedding invitation. The guests were all seated in church, the couple was at the altar, and the minister was working his way through the ceremony. At the point where he said, 'If any person present knows of any legal impediment why this couple should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace.' The bride spoke up..."
"She asked the minister if she could address the congregation, and he replied that it was unusual, but she had every right. So she turned to the guests and started what I can only describe as a best man's speech or father-of-the-bride speech at the reception. She thanked various aunts and cousins for the flowers, dresses, etc. She thanked relatives that had flown in from Australia, and so on. It was all a bit awkward and uncomfortable, not to mention odd. Finally, she turned to her chief bridesmaid and groom and said, 'Lastly, I would like to thank my chief bridesmaid and groom…' both of whom smiled, '...for sleeping together last weekend after his stag night and my hen night. And for those that don't believe it, here's the videotape.' She marched out of the church, handing the tape to the groom's mother."