People Share The Most Embarrassing Wedding Blunder They’ve Ever Witnessed
Weddings are meant to be a celebration of two people who are very much in love. For the most part, the ceremony ends up being a beautiful and memorable occasion where lots of laughter, smiles and even some happy tears are experienced by all. However, that is not always the case, and what is supposed to be a joyous day can easily turn into a nightmare.
Whether it’s because of the guests, the wedding staff, the couple’s family, or the bride and groom themselves, weddings can turn awkward and a little uncomfortable. There might be ways to avoid those dreaded results, though—people took to the internet to share their wedding no-no’s, and their advice is definitely valuable. Read on, especially if you have a wedding coming up in the near future:
Don’t forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#1 Third Time’s The Charm
#2 An Unfortunate Consecutive Series Of Events
Don’t get stupidly inebriated and lift up the bride’s skirt while the groom is going for the garter on her leg. Don’t puke all over the DJ’s soundboard and in his bag. Don’t almost start a fist fight with childhood friends. My friend Jorge did all this at my buddy’s wedding. It’s all on tape.
#3 Keep The Ex-Wife Out Of It
Do not bring up the subject of the groom’s ex-wife, especially in a speech. I witnessed a terrible best man’s speech where he basically bashed the groom’s prior marriage and said that he hoped his next one turned out better. It was a truly painful speech.
#4 When The Majority Of Guests Can’t Afford To Be A Guest At The Wedding…
Don’t have a ridiculously expensive wedding at a resort and expect all guests to front the cost. My wife and I were invited to a couple’s wedding in Jamaica. The cost per person was $1,000 for four days, not including food or airfare, during a busy tourist season. It was also a themed wedding, and not a fun theme like Renaissance garb, either, but some kind of Italian luxe theme where everyone had to match.
You had to show up to someplace, get fitted for the style, and buy the suit or dress. For a guy, it was about $350, but depending on the women’s size, it could go up to $1,200 for a dress. This was just to be a guest. We declined, along with a majority of those invited. The bride gave everyone a hard time, especially because the $1,000 per person was ONLY if some minimum purchase was reached.
I just didn’t have the estimated $5,000 or the vacation days to go. They had the wedding anyway, but out of the several hundred they planned for, only 30 came. The groom had to change his best man twice because his first two couldn’t pay the steep fees required. The couple took it as, “Well, now we know who our REAL friends are…” The marriage lasted seven months. I forgot why they split up.
#5 Don’t Mess With The Bride
#6 Leave Those Flowers Alone
#7 Relatives With Baby Fever Have Got To Go
#8 Include The Bride And Groom With The Wedding Bets
Don’t organize a wager amongst the guests. Don’t bet on how many weeks the marriage will last. Don’t make a side bet about who’s going to cheat first. But if you are going to do it, make sure everyone has a chance to bet, including the bride and groom.
#9 Leave The Bickering For Another Day
#1o An Absolute Wedding No-No For Guests
#11 The Drama Is Always The Most Memorable
If you are a bride or groom, don’t make a scene. It will be what nearly everyone will remember about your wedding. My wife and I had a small ceremony with just our parents, my sister and her husband. We were in a small dining room for the reception and the AC had broken earlier in the day. They had repaired it in time for dinner, but it was taking a while to cool down.
The parents started getting ornery but some strong drinks later, we were all laughing, dancing, and sweating up a storm. Talking with the family later, they were all surprised that my wife and I didn’t pitch a huge fit about the temperature. They were pleased too, as it would have been the only hitch in an otherwise awesome day.
On the other hand, my sister and her husband were married and had a cousin announce her pregnancy over the microphone after dinner. My sister tried to ask her quietly to just leave, but she made a scene before doing so. Then, the groom’s best man got into a fight with his fiancee and she tried to drive off crying but backed into a tree, despite being sober. The fiance was inebriated and threatened to fight people who tried to get him outside to cool off.
#12 Be Careful What You Say About The Bride
#13 Silence During The Ceremony Is Best
Don’t leave your phone notifications on. The couple spends hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars on a videographer. The sound of your “Baby Got Back” ringtone will ruin the videographer’s footage and the couple will hate you forever. Take it from my experience. I was the culprit.
#14 One Wedding At A Time
#15 Babies And Brides Don’t Mix
#16 Worst Maid-Of-Honor Ever
#17 The Sacred Cake
#18 Father-Of-The-Bride Making It Really Awkward
#19 Sister, What Did You Do?
#20 Not The Right Time To Share That Ugly Secret
#21 Psych!
#22 The Bride Had Quite The Run
#23 Throwing Things At The Bride And Groom Is Never The Right Move
#24 The Groom Already Chose His Girl
If you’re a bridesmaid, stop hitting on the intoxicated groom in front of the bride. I was at my boyfriend’s cousin’s wedding a few years back. His cousin was the groom and he danced with everyone—men, women, servers, bottles of beer, etc. The bride didn’t mind; she knew her new husband loved being the life of the party and she was just relieved to be able to take some breaks.
The problem arose with one of her bridesmaids, who kept wanting to dance with the intoxicated groom. He didn’t mind at first until she kept asking for every single dance. At that point, it was actually starting to creep him out and he kept trying to get people in between them. She refused to dance with her actual date, her boyfriend, for the entire reception in preference of the groom.
Eventually, everyone started to get uncomfortable with her behavior because she was starting to grab on to the groom and dance very close to him. Finally, her boyfriend had enough. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her outside. Everyone stopped the party for a few minutes to watch them fighting outside.
No one could actually hear what they were saying, but it was obvious that the boyfriend was hurt and the bridesmaid was trying to defend herself. It ended quickly with the boyfriend storming out of the venue and her chasing after him. The other bridesmaids followed but came back a couple of minutes later without the couple. Everyone had a good laugh and then the party continued. We found out later they broke up that night.
#25 Well-Behaved Dogs Only
When my best friends got married, they brought their dog. The dog kept whining during the ceremony as a relative held her on a leash. When they decided to let her go, she walked onto the grass behind the bride and groom and took a huge #2. It was pretty hilarious, but the bride was not impressed. So don’t bring a dog, I guess.
#26 Photographers Are At Weddings For A Reason
#27 Watch What You Wear
#28 Don’t Speak Too Long
#29 No Kids Allowed
#30 In Case You Get Cold Feet…
#31 The Wayward Ways Of A Five-Year-Old
#32 Don’t Be a Party Pooper
#33 Military Attire Not Recommended
#34 Not All Weddings Are Open Bar
#35 Guests Should Never Try To Control The Wedding
#37 That’s The Last Speech He’ll Ever Give
My twin brother got married almost two years ago. I was, naturally, the best man. I’ve always been the more charismatic and outspoken twin so everyone was expecting a wild and funny best man speech. This put a lot of pressure on me to think of what I was going to say. I had a few ideas but they weren’t very good.
I tried some material out on some friends and there was one joke that I told that always seemed to get laughs. On the night of the wedding, my cousin came to my table, where I had been pounding adult beverages with a few of my closest friends, and informed me that they were ready for me to give my speech.
I took the stage and started my speech with, “Let me ask you all a question.” Everyone was looking at me. “How many of you have an inseparable bond with someone? Someone you can’t imagine life without?” Some people in the audience that have been married for 50+ years raised their hands. “Let me stop you right there. You don’t know anything about inseparable bonds. We were together in the womb. That’s forever. You can’t break that.”
You could almost taste the awkward silence that followed. I quickly wrapped up my speech with a bunch of lovely stuff and took my seat. No one (myself included) knew what to say or do to react to that. In my defense, it sounded a lot more playful and funny in my head but the execution was terrible. I’d like to be able to say I was not sober when it happened, but I had only just gotten started. My mother refuses to believe that I wasn’t inebriated just so she can cope with spawning such a terrible human being. There is a running joke among my family that I’m never allowed to give a speech again.
#38 Wedding Planning Is Hard
#39 Cake Does Not Belong On Anyone’s Face
#40 Those Flowers Are Not Yours To Keep
Don’t take home flower arrangements (unless the bride and groom allow you to or encourage it). My mom has owned a flower shop for 17 years and often times, most of the centerpieces are used at the wedding brunch the next day or given to specific family members. My mom makes brides sign a contract detailing payment and if they will get a discount for returning the vases. The family is put in a sticky situation if a boutique flower shop is expecting to get 10 to 20 vases back the next day. My mom has gotten several calls asking for discounts or cheaper versions of the flowers to be sent out the next day if the guests take them.
#41 A Tacky Money Grab
For future brides and grooms, don’t book a two-week long honeymoon in Japan, have a wedding reception for 100+ people at Maggiano’s with a cash bar, then have a dollar dance during your reception in a region where dollar dances aren’t traditionally done. It ends up looking like a tacky money grab. Weddings are expensive. I get that. I got married two years ago with a strict budget of $5,000 for EVERYTHING. And we still covered the cost of drinks for our guests and managed to find a venue that offered all the aesthetics we wanted.
It took a few months of research, but we made it work. If you’re so hard up for cash that you can’t afford your venue, drinks for your guests, and your honeymoon, then you should probably rethink your reception venue. And I know that dollar dances are traditional in some areas. They are not traditional where I’m from, and combined with the couple’s lavish honeymoon plans, equally lavish reception venue and a cash bar that charged $10 for a glass of wine, it looks like a desperate grab.
#42 Treat People With Kindness
As someone who is currently working during this pretty busy wedding season, I would give advice to anyone at a wedding. Don’t be a jerk to the waiters, waitresses, or anyone working at the wedding. I know it’s your friends’ and families’ special day but we are trying to provide our best service to make it as special as we can.
Working days can last around 12 to 15 hours on busy periods for us. Just because you may be having a three-course meal being paid for by the couple, doesn’t mean you have the right to treat us like slaves. Treat workers like you would anyone else and the service will most likely improve.
#43 Creamer Can Ruin The Day
Don’t pour creamer all over a bridesmaid’s ridiculously expensive dress. The photographer backed into the wedding party’s table and spilled an entire container of half-and-half all over the dress I paid $250 plus another $50 to alter. She turned, glanced at what she’d done, and just shrugged. I took it to the cleaners the next day and they told me to throw it out. Creamer doesn’t come out of cheap satin. I walked out the door and stuffed it in a garbage can. I confronted that photographer and she now owes me $300.
#44 Don’t Be A Bridezilla, Just Don’t
Don’t be a bridezilla. I run audio for weddings and wow, a bridezilla will ruin the whole wedding for everyone in attendance because if they don’t conform to her rules. I did one wedding where the band had to be there all day. They didn’t get anything to eat until just before they had to play, and they were dismissed for a complimentary lunch.
The bride in question requested that the drummer stay and announce the people coming up to give their thoughts on the marriage. Odd, but he accepted and did as such. Finally, it was time for the band to go on. The drummer then said he was going to grab a quick sandwich before they went on. She exploded, yelling about how “she paid them to go on at EXACTLY at 9 p.m.”
When the drummer countered that he had not been paid to announce her family members, she burst into tears about how her entire day had been ruined and if he was happy with himself. She ended up being a whiney brat to everyone around her and ended up pouting in the corner. It got to the point where the band had to play an extra hour outside of the agreed time to keep her from losing her mind again.
#45 The Preacher Didn’t Deserve That
One thing you should probably not do is yell at the preacher after the ceremony. At my uncle’s wedding, someone from my step-family did this. She was always kinda weird and different (in an attention-seeking, sobbing at Christmas, constantly complaining, gothic, no manners, “nobody understands me” sort of way).
So she was sitting next to the guy who performed the ceremony, who also happened to be a good friend of my uncle. He was trying to make uneasy conversation. First, they talked about the wedding, then about the food, then about her problems in high school. At some point, the poor guy just happened to make a slight comment about today’s youth that wasn’t even directed at her.
The girl, thinking she was the implied subject of his remark, BLEWS UP, yelling, “YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW ME, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH. HOW CAN YOU JUST JUDGE ME LIKE THAT?!” She even started cursing at him, saying he was a heartless jerk, etc. Meanwhile, the bride and groom were cutting the cake. To make matters worse, she didn’t even apologize, saying SHE didn’t deserve to be that humiliated.