'It was a weird night’: Bride's family wants to have ‘one last family dinner’ the night before the wedding, ditches groom and entire wedding party at Waffle House

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Feb 7, 2025 10:00 AM EST

When it comes to weddings, it's not just the night of the nuptials that is important. There are several events that happen prior to the big day that include the family and wedding party that are also important, maybe even more so. Why is that? Because it is a true test in seeing if both the family and friend groups can get along for the actual wedding. In the case of this Redditor who was part of her friend's wedding party, the night before the wedding definitely showed some red flags for this couple. 

 

It was a young wedding, both barely even 20 years old, so that's already red flag number one. But then the way the bride's family acted the night before was even more bizarre: Red flag number two. The entire wedding party and both families were gathered. It was close to dinner time, but instead of having the normal rehearsal dinner, the bride's family decided to take a different direction. Since many distant relatives were in town for the first time in a long while, they decided that the night before the wedding was a good time to have "one last family dinner" and that did not include the groom, the groom's family, or any of the wedding party… 

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  • WAFFLE HOUSE
    via Unsplash+ (and Simon Daoudi)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    So they ditched everyone at the church where they were rehearsing. They left a group of young kids, because due to the age of the couple, the wedding part was also very young, with one car and no idea what to do next. So they just decided to hit the Waffle House. They probably had a great time, because that place rules, especially late at night with a big group of friends. But still, what a bizarre turn of events. The couple apparently divorce on bad terms soon after being married. So, just goes to show you, if your fiancé's family ditches you the night before, that is probably a bad sign…

  • "The Waffle House Rehearsal Dinner (without the bride)"

    Years ago, I was in a wedding party for the first time, as the maid of honor for my high school best friend. Now this wedding was a disaster in many ways, from poor planning to weird religiosity (no first dance for the couple because it would encourage NON married couples to dance! the horror!). But this story is about the rehearsal.
    via thatrandomfiend
  • A brief bit of context: our Bride (20) and Groom (19, yes, I know) lived with their parents in the southwest, but were simultaneously moving to and having the wedding in the midwest, where the bride's extended family also lived. The stress of planning this move was overwhelming for the bride, so she'd asked her mom to do the vast majority of the wedding planning, which her mom said she was more than happy to do.
    via thatrandomfiend
  • The day of the rehearsal arrived. There was zero structure or planning for what or how we rehearse, so it took hours, during which the bride, already stressed out of her mind, got more and more irritated due to her mother peppering her with a constant stream of tiny details to decide on that she did not care about at all. Being in the room felt like tiptoeing around a live bomb.
    via thatrandomfiend
  • Cheezburger Image 10464339200
    via Unsplash+ (and Nathan Dumlao)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Finally, blessedly, we finished (at least enough to pretend we knew what we were doing the following day). Then the parents of the bride announced that, because their whole extended family was in town for the first time in ages, they were going to go get "one last family dinner" together, took the bride, left the groom and the wedding party, and disappeared.
    via thatrandomfiend
  • Yes, they had a family dinner WITHOUT the groom and the entire wedding party on the night before the wedding. We were left alone at the church with only one car (the bride's) between all of us.
    via thatrandomfiend
  • Picture, if you will, a group of teenagers (and one confused 20 year old) in a car late at night, driver recklessly careening down the road, screaming with the windows down, headed to Waffle House. Then imagine that the driver is getting married in less than 24 hours. It was a weird night.
    via thatrandomfiend
  • WAFFLE HOUSE
    via Unsplash+ (and Simon Ray)
  • The family didn't bring the bride back until after 11pm, when the wedding was at 11am and the bride (with all the bridesmaids) was spending the night at her grandparents' house... an hour's drive away. This whole thing is just a fraction of the weirdness that went into that wedding. And I think that the bride would probably join me in gleefully shaming the whole thing because now, 5 years later, they've been unamicably divorced for longer than they were married in the first place.
    via thatrandomfiend
  • Necessary-Corner3171 You can't just leave us hanging with hints of how truly weird the wedding was... KaetzenOrkester Seriously, we need deets like we need oxygen. It's why we're here. thatrandomfiend OP Ahahaha I was trying to not make a huge wall of text What's the procedure for adding more, should I edit the post or make a comment or what?
    via Necessary-Corner3171
  • acebojangles My parents lead our rehearsal dinner in a hymn, which I wasn't expecting and my wife is still mad about 15 years later. Wasn't at Waffle House, though
    via acebojangles
  • Cheezburger Image 10464339456
    via Unsplash+ (and Anna Kozakova)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • lighthouser41 You probably had more fun at Waffle. House than the other side of the family did.
    via lighthouser41
  • Anne Boleyns6thFinger My in-laws did this. Flew up for the wedding, took my husband and his sister out for dinner the night before our wedding, then his mum turned up in a white dress the following day. She's been married three times, I thought she knew a bit of wedding etiquette.
    via AnneBoleyns6thFinger

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family drama bride marriage church wedding groom wedding party married young funny wedding waffle house funny wedding story wedding father in law in laws mother in law weird family family religious wedding weird wedding
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