No one gets married assuming their relationship is going to end in divorce. Most couples join together with the highest hopes that their love will endure the test of time and that they will live happily ever after. However, sometimes the chemistry just isn't there, no matter how much they want to believe that it's there or how hard they try to force it. Red flags indicating that the union will likely not last may even be seen as early as the wedding day.
Any bride or groom will understand that the happiest day of a couple's life can be overshadowed by stress and worry. Therefore, it's natural that there might be a few hiccups to overcome on the day of the wedding.
However, there is a difference between a few hiccups and full-out red flags that the entire marriage is doomed. The bride and groom may want to live in denial, push back any doubts, and insist they are making the right choice; but their friends, family, and guests may have a different perspective. Just take it from these internet users who recently shared stories about things that happened at weddings that indicated divorce was inevitable.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#48 Worst Speech Ever?
The maid of honor started off her speech very well. She said heartwarming things about the bride and groom, and even her jokes were a hit with the crowd.
Then, out of nowhere, she burst into tears and confessed her love for the groom. Literally, everyone's jaw dropped. The maid of honor dropped the mic and ran away, and the groom followed after her. Then the bride started crying and the entire party went into hysterics.
#47 A Thunderous Sign
During the vows, a loud rumble of thunder echoed through the chapel.
I don't know if that was some sort of sign or foreshadowing, but the couple did end up divorcing a few months later, so...
#46 His Body Language Said It All
While the bride excused herself to the washroom, the groom made his way to the bar and chatted with one of the bridesmaids. He moved in suspiciously close to her, and they would laugh every couple of minutes as if they were flirting with each other.
As soon as the bride returned, he immediately jerked away from the bridesmaid. His body language said it all.
I wasn't the only one who noticed this.
#45 Mom's Always Right
The groom was tipsy and the bride seemed incredibly angry. A woman was walking around during the reception placing bets on when they would divorce. I later found out she was the mother of the groom.
#44 Committed To Chores
The groom said in his speech, "When I joined a dating agency I never thought I'd be so lucky as to find my own personal cook, dishwasher, and washing machine." Not only is that a horrible way to describe ANYONE, but he's also in for a nasty surprise when he realizes his wife is actually a complete diva and will expect him to do all those things for her! Bad relationship all around.
#43 Angry At The Alter
The groom's mistress found out he was getting married and showed up at the wedding, in the middle of the "I do's." She walked right up on stage and smacked him on the face.
#42 Cutting The Cake And Brother
The groom fatally hurt his new brother-in-law with the knife used to cut the wedding cake. Technically, it happened at the reception, not the wedding.
About four years before the wedding, the wife's brother had shot her in the leg during an argument. Yes, alcohol was involved. At the reception, he started loudly telling the guests that he wished he'd shot her in the head instead, at which point the groom got stabby. Alcohol was again involved.
#41 Tears And Terrible People
At the rehearsal dinner, the groom's mom was in tears because she claimed he looked miserable... And he was, we all knew it. During the vows they had written for each other, the bride started with, "I know I can be a pretty terrible person, and I don't know why you've stuck around, but that's all going to change starting today!"
They were divorced a year later.
#40 Uncomfortable Kiss
She flinched when he turned to kiss her. They were divorced within six months.
#39 Divorce Predetermined
The bride had the minister say, "Til death, or divorce, do us part" during the ceremony.
#38 Far From The Best Man
My sister's husband got tipsy and they got into an argument. He passed out and she ended up throwing a bucket of ice water in his face to snap him out of it. She was devastated about the whole ordeal.
It wasn't his fault, though—his own brother had roofied him in hopes that he wouldn't marry my sister because he wanted their friendship to remain the same.
#37 Beyond Bridesmaid Duties
The groom got caught getting frisky with a bridesmaid. That marriage lasted for about two hours.
#36 Dad's Doubt
The father of the bride told the groom: "How could you marry somebody like her? You are too nice and you deserve better."
Sure enough, the marriage lasted less than three years.
#35 Paradise Lost
We knew the couple was in trouble when they frowned during most of the ceremony. They also didn't go on a honeymoon after the wedding because they couldn't agree on a destination. They had plenty of money, just no desire to compromise.
#34 The Naked Truth
At the end of the reception, the guys sat at a table away from everyone else. We asked the groom why he proposed to her. His answer? "Because she was naked."
The marriage lasted about a year and a half.
#33 No Laughing Matter
During the ceremony, when the priest started asking the bride, "Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband," she started laughing uncontrollably and couldn't stop. It was cute for about ten seconds and then things got really uncomfortable.
They lasted a year and some. We all kind of knew that the only reason they were getting married was that she got pregnant.
#32 Tipsy And Self-Detained
The groom got so tipsy at the reception he passed out in the honeymoon suite by himself, but not before he latched the door so it couldn't be unlocked from the outside. Seeing the bride kicking the door and hollering at the top of her lungs to be let in at 3 a.m. was not encouraging.
They divorced like, two years later.
#31 Dealing With Deposit Before Divorce
I used to work at a "wedding factory." On Monday, we got a call to cancel a wedding that we were supposed to do on Saturday. The couple was told that they would lose the deposit, which was around $7,000. Then, on Thursday they said it was back on.
When the guests arrived, everyone was ticked off. The ceremony took about three minutes. The bride then changed into sweatpants and everyone got even more ticked off.
On the following Monday, the bride walked into my wife's divorce attorney's office.
#30 Tying The Knot In Tears
My cousin's wedding. The groom invited his ex, who was also the mother of his one-year-old son. My cousin, who was then very pregnant herself, got into a loud screaming match with him over it in a bathroom.
They eventually came out and got married. My cousin had puffy red eyes from crying and they were was noticeable in every wedding photo that was taken.
#29 Not Done Dancing
I do the audio and visual effects for a lot of weddings. At one wedding, the groom tried to carry his bride out as they did in the movies.
She screamed at him to put her down and when he finally did, she slapped him right across the face, yelling, "I'M NOT DONE DANCING."
#28 A Close-Knit Group
Four people made speeches. The bride joked about the first time she dated the groom, explaining that she was 16 at the time and he was 26. The groom was tipsy and spoke about how it didn't matter how many times they broke up in the past because they "would do it right this time." The maid of honor talked about how they still got along even at the times when were broken up. The best man made bad jokes.
The groom's brother? He didn't attend because he had hooked up with the bride before...
#27 The Groom's Other Family
The groom invited his female friend who was in the early stages of pregnancy. Towards the end of the night, the bride asked her who the father was. The friend cheerfully said the groom's name.
#26 A Bad Bride
I reunited with a family member just before her wedding. We went for a night out and she proudly pointed out a guy at the bar that she'd just gone on a trip with and had a week-long, prenup intimacy romp. She seemed to think I'd think it was naughty and funny, but I just felt bad for her future husband.
On the day of the wedding, I went to see her in the bridal suite. She had the guy there with him. She'd slept with him the night before the wedding.
#25 True To Her Vows
Her vows.
They were friends of mine who dated for nearly two years before their wedding. He loved her more than she loved him, which was obvious to all our friends, and we suspected she begrudgingly said yes to his proposal.
He said his vows first and went on and on about loving her for the rest of his life. During her vows, she started with, "438 days... That's how long I've loved you." It seemed sweet until she ended her vows with, "And I promise to love you for at least 438 more." Most thought nothing of it, and some of my friends called me a horrible person for saying it was a subconscious sign that she wasn't in it for the long haul.
She left him exactly after that amount of days. She left a note that said, "I kept my vow to love you for 438 days more, but I can't for a single day more."
Called it.
#24 Generous Bride
The bride hired someone for her newly married husband to have one last hurrah with. Everyone at the post-wedding party was horrified.
#23 Parents' Push Down The Aisle
At the wedding, the bride-to-be turned up 30 minutes late. She was inconsolably sobbing. Her parents had to help her down the aisle.
Afterward, I spoke to the bride's father and asked how things were. "Well, that was like getting a cat in a paper bag," he said.
They divorced three months later. The groom was from a wealthy family, and the bride's family "persuaded" her to marry the guy for the money. She quickly realized her mistake and she ended up with nothing.
#22 Maid Of No Honor
The groom was caught in the closet getting intimate with the maid of honor at the reception.
Despite the incident, they still stayed married for a bit. She went nuts later and was picked up running naked down the street claiming to be Jesus. Her sister legally adopted their children.
#21 The Bossy Bride
The bride was on her phone the whole time during the wedding. All her family and friends were there, so who was she texting?
Turned out, it was her boss who was also at the wedding. If you think they were getting into some intimate talks, you're wrong. The groom, now increasingly paranoid, later found a text sent by his wife during the ceremony which read:
"I can't wait to start a family with you."
He found that text whilst on honeymoon. Bear in mind too that this girl had pestered him to propose for ten years, and would cry on nights out because he hadn't yet popped the question.
They broke up a month after the ceremony and divorced in three.
Happy ending though: three years after this happened, they both remarried new partners. I suppose even villains deserve a happy ending. I'd love to hear how they covered this whole mess in the speeches at her second wedding though.
#20 A Memorable Mic-Drop Moment
I work in hotels and see about a wedding a week. The craziest one had to be one where the groom dropped a massive bomb on the whole wedding.
When the best man was done giving his speech, the groom grabbed the microphone and said, "I just wanted to let everyone know that the bride is sleeping with the best man. I've known for a while, but I wanted the bride's family to spend a ton of money on a wedding before I let her secret out." Then, he got up and walked out. Absolutely nuts.
#19 Piece Of Cake
I went to a wedding where the wife-to-be told the groom-to-be about 10,000 times in my presence (before the wedding, obviously) that she did not want the cake smashed in her face and that if he smashed the cake in her face, they would have serious problems.
He smashed the cake in her face.
She had it annulled.
#18 Checklist Of Concerns
One of my childhood friends got married at 17 to her boyfriend of fewer than three months. At first, I thought, well, I know plenty of older couples that got married within a month. I was made a bridesmaid so I was behind the scenes for the whole mess.
The first thing that I noticed was wrong was that he called her by the wrong name throughout their engagement. She has an unusual name, so I guess she just let it pass.
The second thing was that the groom invited his ex-girlfriend to the wedding. She ended up crying the whole ceremony.
And last but not least, the groom's father would not shut up about how he thought the whole thing was a mistake and how his son deserved a real woman. He made some lovely racial comments as well to the bride's family. When the bride asked the groom to get his father to stop, the groom replied that she should just get used to it.
#17 A Musical Mishap
I'm a wedding DJ. I was given a request by the bride to start maybe an hour into what was scheduled to be a three-hour dance. Normally when I get a request from either the bride or groom, I will ask them "Do you want that now, or at some point later?" She told me that she wanted it now, so I queued it up on the deck that wasn't playing the current song.
She walked away happy, expecting that her song would be next. Immediately after she left my table, the groom walked up to me and asked me what she requested. I showed him and he half-laughed, telling me not to play it. Conflicted and surprised, I asked him, "Why not?" to which he replies, "She's an idiot and that song sucks."
If you respond like that to a single song in a three-hour dance, then there's no way that you are going to respond well to something more serious when it comes up in the future. Among DJs, we call people like this "repeat customers."
#16 Gym, Tan, Divorce
Cousin's wedding. The groom was the type of juiced up idiot with white sunglasses and random fist pumping. Lots of "BEER ME BRO" was heard at the wedding.
After the wedding, the DJ introduced the couple and he came in first, fist-pumping. He slammed the door behind him, right in the bride's face. He didn't even realize it, even with the crowd's reaction, and just went on fist-pumping through the crowd to the head table.
#15 Picture This
The bride and groom were so pretentious about everything. When we arrived for the reception, we were kept waiting outside in the hallway for two hours. The reason? They were having the photographer print 8 x 10 photos from the actual wedding to put on each table in the reception venue. Then, during the reception, they were asking everyone what they thought of the pictures.
14. More Than Friends
My friend, his fiance, my now ex-wife and I were a pretty tight foursome. My ex didn't have very many friends so when the girls hit it off I was ecstatic. Over time I got suspicious that the friend's fiance had a bit of a crush on my ex. No big deal, she is a stunner and I wouldn't blame anyone for being attracted to her.
Anyway, the ex and I talked about it and she got a similar vibe. She continued to hang out with her but made sure there were always other people around or they were out in public. My ex really was worried about being put in a position where she had to actually reject her.
The night of my friend's wedding, the bride got extremely tipsy and didn't want to leave the reception. When things finally shut down, the ex and I helped my buddy get his new wife across the street to their hotel. The entire time, the bride was begging my ex to spend the night with her. She kept trying to convince us of all the fun the four of us could have together.
Our night ended with the bride literally crying because we declined her request and left.
#13 Commissioned To Kiss
Looking back, I should have seen this as a sign. My ex-husband and I got married in a courthouse. Very casual. What should have tipped me off to things eventually going south was when he didn't want to kiss me after we said our vows. Even after the court commissioner told him to.
#12 The Ring Finger
A friend of mine lost his engagement ring while "exploring" a random lady he'd encountered two days before he was due to be married.
The woman called during the best man's speech, and my friend, being rather tipsy, put the call on speakerphone. All the guests heard about how she'd found the ring the next day and if he came round to get it she would hook up with him again.
Utter silence. The best man coughed and continued with his speech.
They got divorced six weeks later.
#11 Getting Off Track
The groom left the reception to go dirt track car racing. No fooling! He was points leader and needed to do one lap to remain so. I thought at the time, that's something you tell the judge at the divorce.
#10 Right To Rehab
The bride partied pretty hard at the wedding which really wasn't her style. She just didn't eat much and had a few too many drinks. Well, the groom flipped out and made her go to rehab instead of the honeymoon. They stayed married for a while, but everyone knew that she would leave him eventually. He was a butthole and she was a good person.
#9 Greener Pastures
The bride brought up the fact that the groom had previously cheated on her IN HER VOWS. I kid you not.
"I know we're meant to be because we've been through some great and terrible times together and made it through. We know that the grass is NOT greener on the other side."
#8 The Rip-Off Wedding
My cousin's wedding rang some alarm bells when their engagement party turned into a surprise wedding. That by itself was not so bad, but it was almost exactly like the wedding I was planning for three months down the track, which the bride had casually questioned me about a month or so prior. Ours was a fairly unusual wedding, with many non-traditional elements, so it wasn't like we both had a similar church wedding or anything like that. I know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I still didn't appreciate it. I'm still with my husband.
#7 Bad Omen
They released a bunch of white doves at an outdoor ceremony. The doves flew about ten feet onto a branch of the nearest tree and proceeded to immediately go #2 on the bride and groom.
#6 Keeping It Within The Family
My dad married a woman half his age and younger than both my two older sisters. At this Jeremy Kyle-esque wedding, during the speeches, my sister started uncontrollably crying. She was hysterical. The whole gazebo looked at her and then the bride stood up, drew attention to the crying and said it was proof how much we loved her. Tame compared to others, yes... but the real zinger came at the reception.
My sister started an affair with my other sister's husband. Six weeks later, my idiot brother-in-law left my sister declaring that he loved our other sister much more and that getting it on with her was so much better. The two idiots then ran off to a hotel after a failed child abduction, then...something happened.
The next day they, all returned to their respective partners. No-one speaks about it, everyone is back in their respective marriages and has had more children.
#5 Right To Business
Ten years ago, I worked at a Radisson Hotel in my home town. One weekend, we had a big wedding at the hotel. The party was in the restaurant and later at the bar, and the newly-weds were supposed to stay in the bridal suite of the hotel. The groom got thoroughly loose before dinner was over, but did not seem to be interested in slowing down. A few hours later, he was stripped from his puke-infested suit and put to bed with help from the best man and a couple of other guys.
The bride stayed at the party, having a really good time. She met this businessman, who was a random guest at the hotel and spent a few hours in the bar chatting with him. Turns out, she spent the night in his room.
I heard she was divorced from Mr. Talentless and remarried to Mr. Businessman within a few months...
#4 Wrong Kind Of Ring
The groom put his first beer on the marriage certificate and left a big water ring on the paper. The marriage lasted maybe eight months.
#3 Iceberg Ahead
The maid of honor said, during her speech, "May your love be as unsinkable as the Titanic."
#2 A Sick Situation
The entire guest list came down with food poisoning from the venue, which was the groom's parent's country club. The bride's father refused to pay, so the groom's parents sued him. The bride's parents countersued.
Five months later, the couple was divorced.
#1 Never Should've Been Nuptials
To begin with, I was about 15 minutes late to my wedding. I realized I just didn't want to do it. Nevertheless, I made it down the aisle. As I am faced the groom and listened to the preacher, I heard crying. I turned to my maid of honor and gave her the "Who is that?" look. She mouthed, "Your dad."
Despite the fact that I knew he was crying because he despised the groom and was concerned about me, I was thankful my back was to him as I couldn't control a chuckle. You have to understand, my dad is a motorcycle riding, ex-naval power plant mechanic, so crying isn't really his thing.
The honeymoon consisted of taking my brother to the airport to be sent to Iraq for the second time, followed by an argument-filled drive through a Christmas lights park. Three months later, the groom had blacked out my eye, followed by an incident where he pulled a knife on me. After I kicked him out, I found a voodoo doll among other items hidden in a floor vent in my hallway. He was trying to put spells on me.
Turns out daddy's fears were well-founded.
