What is it about weddings that make some brides go completely insane? They become irrational and obnoxious. The stress of putting together a wedding can be intense, but what keeps some of these brides from taking a deep breath and calming down? There is no way there are this many narcissistic people in the world. Or are there? Even people that don't show any narcissistic tendencies end up going bananas when it comes to their weddings.
Reading these stories will leave you wondering if the people in them looked in a mirror at the end of it all and realize how crazy they got in the planning and execution of their weddings.
Scamming Her Parents
“I still live in the hometown I grew up in. My great friend’s younger sister was living out of state, but getting married back here. She was such a bridezilla, having her mother and younger sister do all the planning and the work arranging things. She demanded to be on speakerphone for any and all conversations with florists, the baker for the cake, the live band who would be playing, and when she didn’t like something, she would ask her mother to step out of the room so she could complain about anything and everything her mother and sister did, or whatever the service provider suggested.
On the day of the wedding, she and the groom are in from out of state, the wedding goes well, but I notice that nobody signed the marriage license. At the reception, the groom’s brother, who was his best man, changed into a Day-Glo orange suit complete with cane, a fur coat, and a fur hat. The groom and his brothers got completely wasted. I asked my friend about why neither his sister or her new husband signed the marriage license, and he said he wondered that too. Turns out that the sister and her husband were legally married three months prior and didn’t want to tell her parents who had shelled out $50k for the wedding, food, orchestra, live band at the reception, open bar, wedding on the 18th green of the new golf course, and a three week honeymoon to Mexico.”
Applying To Be A Bridesmaid Never Sounded So Unappealing
“Last year, a friend’s sister recently received (get this) an INVITATION TO APPLY for a position for a bridesmaid at her upcoming wedding.
The wedding date was more than 3 years off.
Included in this ‘application’ were the location and dates of the various wedding ‘events’ at which all the candidates would have to be present to be considered. These included:
1: Her engagement party at the Vanderbilt mansion in upstate New York.
2: Her bridal shower, at some resort in Vail, CO.
3: Her send-off party at some equally hoity-toity location in Miami (for the people who couldn’t afford to go to her wedding, but still wanted to give her stuff, and spend a weekend showering her with adoration).
4: The wedding itself, at the Fabulous Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.
Each of these was a multi-day affair, whereas the ‘Wedding Fortnight’ would start the day before the send-off party in Miami, and conclude two days after the wedding, at which time the happy couple would leave for their honeymoon, and all successful applicants would be allowed to leave.
The bridesmaids would be selected at the send-off party and would have to purchase their dresses (yes, dresses) at the resort upon arrival to allow time for alterations to all FOUR dresses they would need for the weekend.
In addition, all of these functions were ‘adults-only,’ so any of the women who were applying had to find someplace else to stash their kids. Not just for the wedding, but for the entire 12-day odyssey of the wedding. Applicants were to be in ‘committed relationships’ and were to ensure that they brought the same date to ALL four events.
That’s right. They had to bring a date. To all the parties.
So the married ones had to bring their husbands too, and find someplace else for their kids, or be ‘dismissed from consideration.’
While my friend’s sister did not apply, she told me that the bride had received completed applications from 32 of the 50 women who had received them.”
It Was HER YEAR
“A bride once called having a meltdown because her friend got engaged as well and was planning to get married in the same year as she was.
Apparently, it was her special YEAR and not just a day.
She threw a huge fit that this girl was only getting married to ‘steal her thunder.’
Yes, because no one else can have a life at the same time as you. Her friends date wasn’t even in the same month or season. Hers was in October and her friend’s was in June. Brides sometimes don’t think rationally.”
A Distant Sister Demands Everything
“My sister made me her maid of honor, which was weird because we never talk. We grew up together but barely know each other, she never spoke to me in high school or while she was in university. Anyways, she calls me one day while I’m away for a debate tournament in university (so I’m a poor student at this point), and lets me know that ‘since her fiancé’s brother is getting him his wedding band, wouldn’t it be so cute if I brought her HER wedding band?!’ It wasn’t a question – she demanded it.
All of a sudden I’m ‘her sister,’ meaning, I guess, that I have to do all these things that she’s seen in movies and in magazines. Plan this party, plan another party, help countless hours doing this, buy the dress she wants you to buy, etc.
The best is that she let me know that ‘at least she was letting us choose how we were going to have our hair for the wedding – a lot of people don’t actually let their bridesmaids choose!’ So generous!
I was angry about it openly to my parents and to her. No one heard me, or more importantly, everyone had decided I was being a brat. After a while, I was angry and was honestly feeling like I was going a bit insane, but not caring enough to deal with her, or it. I didn’t want to talk to her more than I had to, and the argument wasn’t worth it. She’d call my parents, they’d call me, everyone’s upset, I look like some selfish monster.
She got the ring, and now she can be happy knowing the one thing that was 100% meant to be from her spouse is from me. She later wrote me a thank you card, the same wording as every other guest to her crazy huge sized wedding thanking me for the ‘thoughtful gift.’ Honestly, it makes my eye twitch if I think too hard about it.
After the wedding, it was over. She went back to not talking to me, which was fine with me. I was 18, and this was a turning point in my relationship with both her and my mom – I’ve distanced myself a lot. It makes me sad, but it’s what I had to do.
My mum ran around in circles for her wedding. Just insane stuff, and then my sister had a baby, and my mum took off 3 weeks of work to literally just live in her house. She has a husband, and she has a full maternity leave, she was fine.
My partner and I got engaged recently, we haven’t had our engagement party yet because my mum was too busy either getting ready for that baby or literally living with my sister. Oh, and when my sister found out she let me know that she never ‘asked anything of me’ at her wedding. It’s still a pretty big mystery to me why she said this. She hasn’t offered to help with anything meaningful, and ironically, when she has offered to help, it’s things that I just don’t want or need. I doubt she’ll offer more help now, but also, we don’t really want her to.”
They Didn’t Even Make It To Their Own Wedding
” I own my own planning company, and I have been in the industry for about 8 years.
I have so many horror stories that I don’t know which to choose.
1) I had a bride that openly spoke utter and complete smack talk about the groom’s family (in front of his face). She would say that they were ‘crazy, unclassy and annoying.’ Come time for the wedding and her family was actually the hardest family I ever had to deal with. Meanwhile, the groom’s family was absolutely lovely. On top of all this, the bride yelled at all of the vendors all day, resulting in the videographers leaving after just 1 hour of shooting, the photographer cried in the bathroom, and the groom and the bride’s cousins apologized to me for her behavior all night.
2) I had one horrible bride who I planned an amazing wedding for. She raved about how much she loved the food all evening, but the day after the wedding, she wrote a bad review about the caterer on Yelp and told me she wouldn’t remove it unless they gave her a discount. The catering company is one that I have a good relationship with, and they didn’t want this to get out of hand, so they ended up giving her a $300 discount to diffuse it all. They also invited her for a complimentary dinner to their restaurant. She ended up making a reservation for herself and 6 guests for the complimentary dinner. I really feel for the caterers. They went above and beyond for someone who didn’t deserve it. She removed the negative review, thankfully, and I have sent them a lot of good business since. This woman now lives in New York City with her husband in a 2 story apartment in Manhattan. The groom collects motorcycles and makes 7 figures… but they were apparently desperate for a free meal and a $300 discount on their wedding dinner. Seriously, forget that client, she’s a horrible person.
3) I had one horrific couple that didn’t care about anyone. The groom was 30 minutes late for the ceremony, but it was no big deal because the bride was 2 hours late. After the ceremony, we had to shorten the slot for photos to make up for lost time. The couple got wasted in their limo, and both ended up falling asleep. They were both so late for their own reception that I had the venue serve dinner without them. Their parents were furious with them. The bride’s parents left early, and the couple didn’t arrive until 11 at night! Half of their guests left before they arrived, and the couple yelled at me for allowing dinner to start before their arrival. This was a 400 guest wedding! Their parents kept apologizing to me and the guests all night, I felt bad for them, but also, I couldn’t help but think, ‘you raised these two pricks.’
4) I had a really high strung groom who yelled at one of his young guests (the kid was 12) for sitting out of his assigned seat, and told the kid and his parents to leave.”
Demanding Skin Care
“I know a bride who wanted all the bridesmaids to look as similar as possible including their skin tone and insisted on them having identical fake tans.
One bridesmaid had really sensitive skin and told the bride that it would likely be harmful to her. The bride thought this was nonsense and insisted anyway. They got the fake tan and the bridesmaid’s skin went completely red and blotchy. Apparently, there were many other bridezilla acts but this is the one I remember.”
It’s Not Always The Bride
“I ended up with a Maid of Honour-Zilla. I should have known from the start when she TOLD me she was my Maid-Of-Honor instead of me asking.
Literally the only time I cried during wedding planning was because of her. She hated every dress she tried, claiming that the one I liked ‘made her look pregnant’ as if a size 6 Maid-Of-Honor standing next to a size 24 bride would look pregnant. I finally found dresses up to her standard at a Ross of all places (purple Calvin Klein dresses). I had to go to five different locations to try and find an option that would fit my other bridesmaid.
I had one request at the wedding. We had 50 guests so I wanted it to just be close friends and no randoms that I wouldn’t even recognize in pictures years later. Her entire family had been invited to the wedding and we had been friends since high school so she knew 85% of the guests. Her sister’s boyfriend had been invited as at that point they’d been dating over a year. At the last minute he had to work, so my Maid-Of-Honor decided since I now had a slot open, she would bring her boyfriend of 3 weeks, again telling me, not asking.
On the day of the wedding, I had a friend’s sister is doing our makeup. It’s a daytime wedding, so I wanted the look to be pretty and subtle. My Maid-Of-Honor hates it and has the girl redo her makeup 3 times, making my mom and I have to rush through our makeup and almost making us late for the wedding. Then she has the gall to just go and do her own makeup in my bathroom giving herself super thick black cat eyeliner and so much mascara she practically had to tip her head back to get her eyes open.
She bailed on most of the pre-wedding stuff at the venue to spend time with her new boyfriend. The ceremony is done and the time for speeches is at hand. She comes up to me and asks me if she really HAS to give a speech, despite having been aware of it as a part of planning for over 6 months. Her lovely speech consists of basically insulting my husband’s dress sense and appearance from when we first started dating. After the wedding we had everyone come to our house for an after party, she refuses to ride in the limo with the rest of my wedding party, riding instead with her boyfriend who picks the car ride to tell her they are breaking up and he’s moving to California.
So she shows up for the after party crying hysterically to anyone who will listen. I’m the least confrontational person ever, so I take a week or two to process but finally confront her with everything and am like, what happened?? I get an ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’ apology, which as we know is no apology at all.
My husband and I have been married for 6 years and our first kid is arriving any day now, haven’t spoken to her or the best man in over 3 years now (which is a whole other kettle of crazy fish). I’ve gotta say weddings will let you know who is toxic in your life better than anything else.”
Sometimes, It’s Another Family Member That Loses It
“So this is more of a sister-zilla (and an exzilla as well).
My mother was getting married for the third time and was relatively decent the whole time. There were some minor stress things you expect, like, she got really frantic when she thought her earrings didn’t match but was calmed down when I offered mine to her. Nothing super notable.
She was being super nice about the bridesmaids’ dresses. There were only supposed to be two of us (me and her sister), so not only did she offer to pay, but she let us pick out the dress, the only caveat being that they had to be the same for both of us, and she had veto power. Okay. No problems yet.
Her sister was in a different city but in David’s Bridal at the same time as us in that other city. We were texting back and forth and she sends this picture of a dress. We find it at our store, try it on, I love it too, my mother approves of it, at this point my mom’s sister isn’t responding, but she’s the same complexion as me, so mom tells me to pick out the color. We text her the color so she can place her size order under mom’s bridal code as well and she full on flips out. She refuses to come because she doesn’t like the color. She decides that she’s not coming at all (mom was also paying for her plane ticket which I believe had already been bought, so that had to be cancelled. I’ve never seen someone decide to not be a bridesmaid over something so stupid. Usually, you don’t even get to pick the style. She’s so mean to mom all the way up to the wedding and did not at any point change her mind about attending, even though mom offered to still pay.
She was horrible.”
She Got Trashed And Checked Out
“My sister fired her wedding planner and cancelled the rehearsal dinner. The photographer ended up stepping in and being the one to tell us when it was our turn to walk down the aisle, time to cut the cake, who should toast, etc because my sister was wasted and the rest of us were just clueless.
He was also a top-notch photographer despite all of the extra responsibility he took on at the wedding and my husband and I were considering buying some of the photos he took of our family, but he ended up taking all of my sister’s pictures off of his site because she was screen capping and sharing them with the watermark cropped out instead of buying them.
So classless.”
She Was The Captain On Her Own Titanic
“The worst disaster I’ve seen was directly caused by a bride being a Bridezilla.
If you’ve ever been to a wedding, you know that weddings run behind schedule. This bride was adamant that everything is exactly on time. Of course, it being a wedding, everything was running behind about 30 minutes. At 7:55, she could no longer handle that the wedding was running late and decided to skip ahead to the Hora (aka the traditional Jewish wedding dance). The Hora was scheduled for 8:00 pm. We (the band) and the wedding planner suggested that we should not skip ahead, but she was having none of it. With her face red with effort, she screamed at us that the Hava Nagila would start at 8:00 pm and not a minute later. Well, she was paying us, so we did what we were told.
We started our Hava Nagila’s at precisely 8:00 pm. The guests rose and began to form a circle as they have done countless times before. But something was amiss – the groom was nowhere to be found. The bride was alone in the center of the circle. As if on autopilot, the guests danced and sang on while the bride’s expression changed from confused, to horrified, to hysterical. It was a trainwreck. They finished the dance without the groom ever arriving. The bride was sobbing uncontrollably.
The groom was outside having a smoke because the wedding was running 30 minutes late. He knew the schedule and thought he had time for the smoke. In the end, it was the bride’s own stubborn insistence that led to the tragic ending. She was the captain on her own Titanic, and we were the band playing as it sank. I sometimes wonder how that marriage worked out.
My #1 advice to people getting married is to enjoy their wedding day. No matter how much you plan ahead, things will always go wrong. Instead of trying to control and manage everything, spend your wedding day celebrating with your guests. No wedding ever goes perfectly. Considering you ideally only do it once, do your best to enjoy the ride.”
A Monster-In-Law Tries To Ruin Everything
“My sister and her fiancé were getting married. She had just found out she was around 6 weeks pregnant and obviously didn’t want a lot of stress, so naturally, being the younger sister, and a bridesmaid, I took up the mantle to deal with all last minute disasters.
One day prior to this my sister and her fiancé decided to buy an expensive bouquet of flowers for my mom, his stepmom and his mother for donating money. My mother and his stepmom were really grateful for this gesture of thanks and insisted that they shouldn’t have. The groom’s mother, however, was not so grateful. She threw an absolute fit about how she wanted them presented to her at the reception with a speech so everyone knew how much she had contributed to the wedding. I sorted it out and she was still allowed to come and reluctantly accepted the bouquet without her speech and show.
So, on the day of the wedding, I made all the phone calls and dealt with one mess after another without my sister finding out. I didn’t even touch on the fact that one of the bridesmaids was 2 hours late. I made a hasty exit outside to call her and find out where the heck she was as the other bridesmaid was doing my sister’s makeup. I found her outside being chatted up by the best man who had come to drop off a wedding gift for my sister from her husband to be, he obviously got distracted on the way in. I gave her my best ‘get up the stairs’ look and gave the best man an expression that could only be rivaled by Hades himself. He left the present (which cheered my sister up) and I left him with strict instructions to call me if anything went wrong, NOT the bride.
The day went pretty smoothly until the drinks started to flow. The groom’s mother (I will now refer to her as monster-in-law) started screaming bloody murder at me because ‘horrendously’ I had to take 2 seconds out of the day to pee, and my sister needed her dress bustled for the first dance (I was the only one who knew how to do it). I did the bustling and then warned the monster-in-law that she was on thin ice and if she did anything to ruin my sister’s day then I would end her. I didn’t hear anything for a while and started to get merry, dealing with minor disasters from creepy granddads chatting up family friends the age of their granddaughters to hammered louts falling over the kids.
Unbeknownst to me, the monster-in-law had begun to seek out each and every member of my family and insult them one by one. I didn’t find this out until I bumped into one of the other bridesmaids (a very old family friend) who proceeded to tell me in an irate manner that she’d overheard the monster-in-law taking smack about my brother and then got into it with her. I was furious. I pulled her aside and told her to shut up and leave, her son was lucky to be married to my sister and if she wanted anything to do with them or their future children then she better watch herself.
She’s a horrible woman and I still can’t stand to be in the same room as her today. Its been almost 3 years.”
She Was A Real Treat!
“My cousin’s bride wouldn’t let him take a picture with me by himself because she was jealous.
I was eight years old, their flower girl, and also HIS COUSIN. Her family thought this was 100% justified. The PHOTOGRAPHER thought it was 100% justified. The only people who said anything about it were my mom and my grandmother. The rest of our family didn’t want to get involved. I wish my cousin would have said something, but he didn’t have the spine. He let her family treat ours terribly the entire wedding.
She also got into a screaming match with her sister-in-law because she had a bigger engagement ring.
The bridezilla was from New Orleans, wanted to have the wedding there. Insisted on having the wedding there even after it got destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Finding a hotel was a freaking delight according to my parents.
She went on a tirade where she insulted pretty much our entire family.
After they were married, she made her husband skip our grandmother’s funeral because she didn’t like her anyway (honestly, no one has forgiven him for going along with this).
Finally, she cheated on my cousin with her high school sweetheart after my cousin paid for her lap band surgery.
She was a freaking treat. I don’t miss her at all, she drove a really big wedge between him and our family.”