'My husband picked up a shift at work on our wedding night': 20+ Unforgettably bad weddings

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 16, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

Maybe you can't recall the best wedding you've ever been to, but the worst one probably comes to mind instantly. 

Every couple wants their wedding to be memorable in the right way. They want guests to gush over the decorations, talk about how delicious the food is, and dance late in the night until their feet are sore. It's supposed to be fun… but a lot of weddings end up being so much work that the guests hardly get to enjoy themselves. 

A common factor seems to be the brides and grooms who plan the ceremony themselves, versus the couples who rely heavily on their family and friends to plan the event. For example, some couples have one person who is way more interested in the event than the other. That bride will be left pulling all the weight of planning the wedding when her partner claims they "don't care what she does." So the bride will enlist her bridesmaids to start making the decorations or making calls to the venue or caterers. 

Others wait until the last minute to enlist their friends and family. Things are bound to fall through the cracks! More than 600 people shared the stories of the worst weddings they've ever been to. Our hearts go out to the people who admitted their own wedding was the worst… Maybe it's time to plan a vow renewal and try again! 

Next up, check out what happened to one old-fashioned teacher who refused to pronounce a student's name correctly. 

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  • 01
    'Her cake was decorated like mountains because they love the outdoors. THERE WERE REAL ROCKS ON THE CAKE FOR DECORATION! I almost cracked a tooth'
    via David Holifield on Unsplash
  • 02
    what's the worst wedding experience you ever had?
    via u/HilltOU55d7
  • 03
    The-eye-in-the-wall. The time my husband picked up a shift at work on our wedding night. Don't worry though he didn't actually end up working on our wedding night, he was just cheating. I found that out way later...
    via u/The-eye-in-the-wall
  • 04
    fortuitous_squeegie This happened a very long time ago. I was dating this guy and his sister sent out wedding invites to Hawaii. His mother offered to pay for us to attend. So, the two of us and his parents flew out. At the airport the happy couple greeted us and we all went to dinner. Lots of toasts,
    via u/fortuitous_squeegie
  • 05
    happy memories, and quite a few of her family attended this dinner. The next day all of us were left to wander the island while the couple were busy with last minute things. The day of the wedding... my then- boyfriend and I were woken up to frantic banging on our hotel room door. It was his Mom, crying. Long
    via u/fortuitous_squeegie
  • 06
    story short, the groom- to-be let the bride know that he would not be attending the wedding. Turns out, dude never sent his family invites because he knew LONG before the wedding that he was gonna bail. He just finally did it on the wedding day itself. What a wild trip that was!
    via u/fortuitous_squeegie
  • 07
    thismorningscoffee. The music for the wedding was recorded by the bride and groom, neither of whom were singers. Basically prerecorded karaoke
    via u/thismorningscoffee
  • 08
    shockingRn They ran out of food for the last 2 tables, who just happened to be the coworkers of the bride. We had to order pizza delivery and pay for it ourselves. The brides family refused to pay for it. You never remember the good weddings, but you never forget the bad ones.
    via u/shockingRn
  • 09
    WatchTheBoom One of my military buddies was getting married to a girl who was also in the military - pretty big wedding, to include maybe some 100+ people who were either still active duty or veterans. In the middle of the reception, after playing a handful of the upbeat hits, the band had everyone on the dance
    via u/WatchTheBoom
  • 10
    floor. They'd just run through Mr. Brightside, Valerie, Shout, etc. and as they rolled out of All The Small Things, the singer said something to the effect of "hey, we know this is a big military wedding so this next song is for you!" And so began a slow and downbeat rock rendition of the national anthem. Like.. Aretha Franklin slow.
    via u/WatchTheBoom
  • 11
    For those who aren't familiar, common protocol for military members and veterans is to stand at attention (straight and still) and salute or place their hand over their heart as the national anthem played. We were all pretty drink and had spent the past fifteen minutes jumping and shouting and singing and dancing before, on cue, standing stiff as a
    via u/WatchTheBoom
  • 12
    board for five minutes while trying not to fall over. The band IMMEDIATELY recognized the issue but like...once you start playing the national anthem you can't just stop because it's awkward, right? Think of the troops! Anyway.
    via u/WatchTheBoom
  • 13
    The only thing that's worse than being really hammered and trying to not fall over while some bloke in his late forties takes some artistic liberties with the national anthem is when that bloke doesn't commit to the bit and tries to half- the performance.
    via u/WatchTheBoom
  • 14
    , that was weird. Would never think to put the national anthem on the "do not play" list, but I think it's not a bad idea..
    via u/WatchTheBoom
  • 15
    patofu82 A long time ago was invited to a wedding of a college friend. Invitation was very fancy so we dressed up in suits to attend. Had a difficult time finding the place, arrive and find out that it's in a literal horse pasture. Smelled of manure and was an extremely hot summer day so that made it worse. Looking
    via u/patofu82
  • 16
    for the groom to offer congratulations and find him dressed in shorts and a T-shirt playing football with some buddies. The Bride? nowhere to be found, they had already gotten married earlier in the day and she was inside taking a nap. We had arrived a good 45 minutes before the time listed on the invite? anyways for the reception they
    via u/patofu82
  • 17
    set up a potato bar in the pasture and there were millions of flies covering the food. We excused ourselves and never saw or heard from him again.
    via u/patofu82
  • 18
    fredzout I was all set to be best man for my friend's wedding. It was going to be a small wedding at their church with a lunch afterward. At 7:30 the morning of the wedding, the groom called me and told me the wedding was cancelled, and he said that he "would call me and explain later".
    via u/fredzout
  • 19
    He didn't call me the next day, or the next, or the next... After that, he just dropped off the face of the earth and I never saw him again. The bride "didn't want to discuss it". I called his dad, and he said that groom had left town for boot camp. It was a really weird situation.
    via u/fredzout
  • 20
    fqw102 SIL got married in Wyoming. She's a tad crunchy. Her bro and I lived in NYC. Hotel Block: she gets married the weekend of graduation at U of Wyoming and doesn't have a hotel room block. Same town for the wedding and the college. We are forced to stay 45-60 mins away.
    via u/fqw102
  • 21
    Rehearsal Dinner: it's in a cabin at the state forest. Groom's mom is cooking green chili for dinner (he's from Arizona/NM). I'm not the pickiest eater but I do not care for that and there is nothing else to eat. Not even chips and salsa. We had to drive an hour back and find a drive thru.
    via u/fqw102
  • 22
    Wedding Day: we were told it was outdoors in May. I thought 50s for weather. Nope! Up in the mountains and it was about 35 degrees. I basically froze. There is almost a 2 hour gap between the ceremony and the reception (not Catholic) so we had to drive an hour to the reception town and since it was lunch time we stopped at Denny's for food. I
    via u/fqw102
  • 23
    think my MIL got a grand slam. We get to the reception. at a church undergoing renovations. THERE ARE NO STALLS OR SINKS IN THE BATHROOMS. Their mom was very overweight and I had to hold her arm for balance/be the lookout while she peed. We then had to go to the kitchen (where
    via u/fqw102
  • 24
    Groom's mom was cooking dinner) and use the prep sink to wash our hands. Her cake was decorated like mountains bc they love the outdoors. THERE WERE REAL ROCKS ON THE CAKE FOR DECORATION! I almost cracked a tooth.
    via u/fqw102
  • 25
    It was also a BYOB wedding but no one told us to bring anything so I was forced to drink lavender lemonade (it was gross). That was the worst wedding I've ever experienced.
    via u/fqw102
  • 26
    cfgy78mk i was a kid at a wedding in San Clemente, CA. It was on the coast and there was a retaining wall or whatever you call it behind the 'stage' area.
    via u/cfgy78mk
  • 27
    i fell over the wall and the entire audience GASPED thinking I had fell down the cliffs. there was really like 3-4 feet of flat ground there on the other side and I was fine lol. i haven't had any bad weddings.
    via u/cfgy78mk
  • 28
    redmooncat15 It was in the yard of a post office. The groom wore a red sweatpants material, shorts suit. It was the brides 5th wedding and the grooms 3rd. They are divorced now.
    via u/redmooncat15
  • 29
    Dwesal It was the 4th of July and fireworks were going off. 3 scared local dogs came running in the church down the aisle and the brides family was fr king out. No one thought it was funny. I did though.
    via u/Dwesal
  • 30
    SharonWit The wedding was to take place on the east coast. It was huge, expensive, and had been planned for two years. The wedding party traveled from all over to participate. The bride announced her apologies at the rehearsal dinner the night before that there would be no wedding.
    via u/SharonWit
  • 31
    Six months later, friends are told that the couple is going to try again. To avoid any stress, they've decided on a courthouse wedding, and specific friends from the old wedding party were asked to visit. The day of, the bride announces she can't get married at a courthouse.
    via u/SharonWit
  • 32
    One year later. The couple announces that they have proudly gone through intensive therapy, and they are planning a destination wedding in Hawaii! They expected everyone to fly out to support them in their regenerated relationship. Family members and a subset of the wedding party (from #1) fly out. As everyone is assembling
    via u/SharonWit
  • 33
    on the beach, the bride announces that there will be no wedding and encourages everyone to, "enjoy your vacation in Hawaii!" The groom ended the relationship shortly afterwards.
    via u/SharonWit
  • 34
    Bodhi Satvva4711. My father's speech (which he was asked not to do) included saying "I (the bride) and my sisters had always been a disappointment. You could have heard a pin drop. It was devastating. I actually
    via u/Bodhi Satvva4711
  • 35
    left my own wedding, went home and watched tv trying to compose myself, then stuck on a smile and went back. It depr sed me for months.
    via u/Bodhi Satvva4711
  • 36
    bbdoublechin I was supposed to be in the bridal party and was told that things were casual, and to just show up the day of wearing something "dressy casual" I felt good in. I showed up, saw the wedding party in coordinated outfits with their corsages, bouquets, and the whole 9 yards, and realized they hadn't
    via u/bbdoublechin
  • 37
    had the guts to tell me they didn't want me in the bridal party after all. We took our gift, checked out of the hotel we'd paid for at their specific recommendation (and that they cancelled the shuttle for because "we forgot you were staying there"), and drove 800km back home with our wedding present.
    via u/bbdoublechin
  • 38
    fire_thorn My sister's wedding. It was outdoors in South Texas in the summer, and the heat was awful. My sister had picked the venue when it still had water in the ponds, but at the time of her wedding, everything had been drained for repair, so it looked like an old quarry with some mud puddles here and there.
    via u/fire_thorn
  • 39
    The night before, we met at the venue for a rehearsal. My sister decided all the bridesmaids had to wait in the bathroom, but the bathroom smelled like a large de d thing and a lot of . One of the girls pulled perfume out of her purse and started spraying it everywhere. I had an asthma attack and was trying to take my inhaler and step
    via u/fire_thorn
  • 40
    out of the awful bathroom for some fresh air. My sister was screaming, "Do you have to do that process down the now? Can you aisle and worry about your breathing when it's not my wedding eve!" Her new in-laws drove me to the ER because my mom refused, because I was
    via u/fire_thorn
  • 41
    being dramatic and trying to steal my sister's attention on the eve of her big day.
    via u/fire_thorn
  • 42
    USSanon I was called the wrong name at my wedding by the priest...twice. We're not married anymore.
    via u/USSanon
  • 43
    Huge_Lizard_Eyes. During my wedding vows, a fly landed on the minister's face... near his lip. Using his tongue like a lizard, he pulled it into his mouth and swallowed it. It was horrifying.
    via u/Huge_Lizard_Eyes
  • 44
    Robineggblue84. Several years ago now we went to a wedding that ended at, let's say 1pm. The reception, well cocktail hour, started at 5 with dinner listed on the invite at 6. Dinner was not served until nearly 8pm...with no explanation or reason. The newly weds took an extra long time with their
    via u/Robineggblue84
  • 45
    I am not friends with any of those people anymore, and thank god.
    via u/Robineggblue84
  • 46
    babygreenhorse. My own. Trapped in an elevator with the groom for hours the night prior. Was mistakenly sent a red hummer with no AC on the hottest day of the year instead of the limo I rented. Wedding commissioner was 2 Hours late and didn't have a phone. Almost
    via u/babygreenhorse
  • 47
    got fake married. Rented a boat to get married and cruise around on. It was an old ice breaker with lots of character and I planned all my decor around it. On the day the boat didn't work and we had to ask all the guest to grab whatever was on their table and re-set it up on the new boat. Which had maroon everything and my colours were
    via u/babygreenhorse
  • 48
    teal and coral. That boat was just coming back from a bar party cruise so they hosed it down. As soon as I got on it my entire dress soaked up the water to my waist. Had to change into my friends. sundress. There was not enough food and it was disgusting. The new boat had used all the fresh water on board on the last cruise so they hooked up the lines to some nasty slat
    via u/babygreenhorse
  • 49
    water and were making drinks with that until people realized. There was no water on board and no g in drinks. The only thing to drink was palm bays. Even kids. Again on the hottest day of the year. Then we danced to 2 songs and they shut the music off as it had to be off by 12 even though we're started hours late after the
    via u/babygreenhorse
  • 50
    first boat didn't work. I was so I stormed off the boat. In the boat move one of my bridesmaids lost her keys and ended up having to come to our hotel room at the end of the night. Didn't get refunded a dime. There was honestly so much more but I think I've blocked it all out.
    via u/babygreenhorse
  • 51
    Vader_Maybe_Later. Couple got married at a 5 star resort. After the reception everyone went down stairs to get pictures by the fountain and running through the sparklers. We all went back up to find the banquet staff eating the cake. If the bride had gotten any redder her dress would have changed colors.
    via u/Vader_Maybe_Later
  • 52
    post-ceremony photos is the theory we had. MANY people started to leave long before dinner was served.
    via u/Vader_Maybe_Later
  • 53
    rncookiemaker This question was asked a few months ago: Drove 150 miles to a family wedding that we were invited to, but not in the wedding party. Hot, humid, summer day. Sun at highest point. Held in a converted barn with no air conditioning next to a freshly plowed field.
    via u/rncookiemaker
  • 54
    No bathrooms-only one port a potty. The handwashing station next to it was broken. The groom was already dr_nk. Several groomsmen and the legal drinking age bridesmaids were drunk. The bride was tipsy. The only drinks were sugared soda (Pepsi, Mtn. Dew, etc.), Coors (original tall yellow cans), and liquor. No water. We
    via u/rncookiemaker
  • 55
    asked for cups (plastic only) of ice and waited for them to melt. They ran out of ice. The bride made the food. She's known not a great cook. They ran out of vegetable platters. There was no other fresh food. There were deviled eggs on the tables, unchilled.
    via u/rncookiemaker
  • 56
    The best man had recently married, and he and his wife really needed to leave and get a room. There were not more than 50 guests, but it was set up for at least 250. There was an emcee, but it was a family friend, and their microphone audio was not good. The music sounded fine, but they
    via u/rncookiemaker
  • 57
    kept cutting off songs right after they started to play. They decided to play "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus (odd choice for a wedding?), and the kids were screaming for one of the brides friends to replicate the video by taking a swing on the chandelier-type flower arrangement in the middle of the barn.
    via u/rncookiemaker
  • 58
    We could have done it by Zoom and had a much better time.
    via u/rncookiemaker
  • 59
    Sunflounder had to go to an indian auspicious wedding that started at 10pm and the actual marriage was at like 3am bc that's was when the moon aligned with saturn or smth. wasn't bad just felt like a fever dream.
    via u/Sunflounder
  • 60
    cybelesdaughter. One of my good friends from high school got married in December. The couple gave the DJ a list of accepted music. You want to know what was NOT on that list? Dogs barking Christmas carols.
    via u/cybelesdaughter
  • 61
    This guy played three songs of dogs barking Christmas carols in a row and the groom was . He asked after the 2nd one for the guy to stop. He didn't. By the third, I thought the groom was going to fight the guy. Who does that to someone's wedding? ? It's the most annoying thing...
    via u/cybelesdaughter
  • 62
    Pleasant Sun3175. The bride got chickenpox a week before the wedding and still had her scabby spots the day of. Minister didn't show up. The whole church waited a half hour before they found out he had forgotten and went out to play golf instead. They got someone else from a church directory who
    via u/Pleasant Sun3175
  • 63
    took another twenty minutes to show up. Meanwhile, the groom's mother was going around giving odds on how long the marriage would last. They're still happily married 42 years later.
    via u/Pleasant Sun3175

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