People who work in the wedding industry witness people at their best, as well as people at their worst. As the people who set up and put things together, they get to see all the little behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into the big day. This leads to seeing things that range from bizarre to illegal. The people in the following stories have definitely seen some things that they will never forget.
Forget About Bridezilla, Here’s Something Completely New
“I’m an occasional wedding DJ and at one wedding I worked at this summer, everyone was super cool except the maid of honor, who sucked. I arrived to set up and she was alone in the little DJ alcove, shoes off, reading a book, while everyone else was enjoying cocktails below. Okay, maybe she just needed a break? I tried making polite chit-chat and asked her about the ceremony. She kind of made a face and said it was weird that her best friend was married. Every other topic I tried had similar results – every glass was half empty for this girl.
Dance time rolls around and I’m playing the music the bride and groom requested, but the maid of honor doesn’t like it. She keeps coming up and yelling in my ear that no one is dancing, everyone hates the music (not true, they weren’t a super dance-y crowd, but there was never an empty floor and the bride and groom were having fun). I always have a pen and paper handy so people can write down their requests…the maid of honor writes down a list of 7 or 8 songs, to be played in THAT ORDER. Wildly different songs from what the clients requested, by the way – think hard rap and club bangers that would absolutely horrify the older guests, when the clients mostly wanted stuff like Grouplove. She comes back up to yell at me and demand I play her songs one or two more times, I tell her I’m getting there.
It finally comes to a head when I start playing a Donna Summer song that a very polite and sweet young groomsman requested. He and his friends are dancing away having a grand time. The maid of honor storms into my alcove, gets in my face, and goes, ‘WHAT is THIS? I thought I told you to do THIS,’ pointing to her playlist.
I wish I could tell you I headbutted her or something but I just told her I was going to stick with the bride and groom’s requests and she finally went off.
The bride was so sweet and chill. No idea how the two of them were best friends.”
That’s Not The Tearjerker Of A Speech We Were Expecting
“I used to be a banquet manager at a high-end hotel. An insanely wealthy, old money guy is marrying a second generation Asian-American woman. The groom’s parents are displeased in the extreme. However, there is probably a billion dollar inheritance at stake for the couple so they are willing to tolerate some things.
Friday night, the mother of the groom refuses to call it a rehearsal dinner – it is a ‘celebration of her son’s life’. We are warned well ahead of time to, under no circumstances, allow her to have anything to drink or go near the microphone. We make it through with nothing bad happening, but she does have the DJ play a song for a mother/son dance (last dance of the evening) for ‘Mommy and Biffy’ – ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’.
Saturday night, the wedding goes off without a hitch. Everyone is behaving, we have cocktails, dinner, speeches – all is well – we’ve dodged a bullet. Daddy (who has been drinking a specialty drink since 10 am) picks up the mic when dessert is served and starts into a nice if slurred speech wishing luck and love to the couple. Suddenly, the needle jerks, and he’s saying, ‘Our family has been in this country for the last thirteen generations and my jerk son has to mess it all up by marrying some no-name (insert Asian slur here).’ Collective gasp!
Daddy’s best friend yanks the mic out of his hands but he keeps yelling, ‘You can’t shut me up, I can buy and sell all of you, and I will!’ Then he storms upstairs and out into the pouring rain where he sits, facing the corner for the rest of the night.
The next morning he comes into the brunch and says to everyone, ‘That was quite a show last night!’ Then sits down with his son and new daughter-in-law and eats his omelet.
I hear the bride and groom are still very happy far away from his parents!”
There’s No Pleasing Some People
“I got called on by a friend to help with catering once when one of her usual workers called in sick. I was warned ahead of time about a lady with a very specific dietary restriction. A special plate of food was pre-made for her, fitting the specifications that my friend (the one in charge) had received. It was the same meal everyone else had (chicken, potatoes, steamed veggies) but it was cooked separately and contained absolutely no seasoning whatsoever.
Well, we were passing out the plates, and I was the one to give the special plate to this lady. She immediately turns her nose up at it and says, ‘I don’t eat chicken.’ So I offer to get someone to help her, as I am literally a warm body filling a spot and have no training in this kind of thing (I didn’t tell her that, but that is what I was thinking) and she said, ‘No, I want YOU to fix it. Personally.’
So I took the plate back to the kitchen and asked the staff there what to do. We ended up moving the chicken to a separate plate (in case she changed her mind) and I brought her back out the potatoes and veggies. She turned that down and said it wasn’t much of a meal, she wanted a REAL meal.
So I took the plate back again and asked my friend what to do. My friend went out to talk to her, and she would not speak to my friend. At all. I had to go out there and essentially be a filter between this lady and my friend, even though my friend was the one in charge. The lady did not like the fact that we couldn’t just whip up another not-chicken dish for her and kept berating us for it (this was the menu the bride had picked, by the way. We had no control over it).
At that point, the mother of the bride came over and was like, ‘Aunt Bertha, sit down and eat your food.’ And the woman begrudgingly ate her food.”
That’s One Way To Kill Some Time
“I work at a wedding venue in the UK. I started as just working in the office doing accounts, and one weekend I offered to help on the bar when someone called in sick. Two years later, and I now run the bar and/or host for basically every wedding we have.
Two incidents come to mind. Elderly guests quite often struggle with everything going on at a wedding, and we had one have a heart attack and collapse as she was walking her daughter down the aisle. It made for a very difficult rest of the day for everyone as one can imagine.
My favorite incident, however, wasn’t actually a wedding. A guy rented out the venue to celebrate his mom’s 80th birthday. A casual Sunday afternoon in the countryside, with the majority of the guests being 60 and over. The guy’s children were there and were struggling for entertainment with the immense level of elderly people in attendance. The guy’s son (who was 13) was clearly so bored that in an attempt to liven things up he thought he’d do some illegal substances in the men’s bathroom, in full view of myself as I was walking in. I promptly made his dad aware of the situation, and I will never forget hearing the words, ‘I’ve told you to take it easy on that stuff around your dad’s family,’ as his mother arrived to take him home. Rather worrying that it sounded as though a 13-year-old doing this stuff was a regular occurrence.”
Denial
“I wasn’t working that weekend, thank the Lord, but, a bride had asked for money instead of wedding gifts. During the dancing, she sneaks over to the basket full of the envelopes and opens them up, counting her take. It’s less than she hopes for, so she calls the police, asks the DJ to stop the music, and accuses the waitstaff of stealing her gifts. She lines up the guests, asks each one publicly how much they gave her. Screams at the police when they arrive to do something. She also sues the restaurant, or at least was threatening to when I stopped working there.”
Like Working With Chimps
“I work in the Events Production industry and sometimes the events we do are weddings. The craziest wedding I have ever worked was between a very redneck family (I think this was the groom’s half) and a very very Russian mafia-esque family (pretty sure the bride was the Russian one, but this was a few years ago, and my memory is getting spotty).
Either way – two families that seem like they should have nothing in common, were drinking and being generally volatile and rowdy together. The pinnacle of ridiculousness, though, was that as per the contract we struck, I was to stick around and show them how to take apart the staging pieces. But 8 very large, inebriated, rambunctious Russians do not like a skinny, mid-20-year-old, 5’5″ female telling them what to do. Or they were too far gone to listen. Either way, this was a laugh riot with all these big, burly men, unable to take apart the stage, not listening to the fact that they just needed to unlock the panels from each other.
Needless to say, some of those steel-framed panels had to be thrown out because they were unusable. Not particularly violent, but definitely the most ridiculous wedding I have ever worked.”
Read Your Contract Lady!
“I once was threatened by the father of the bride and had the cops haul him off all because his daughter didn’t pay for a cake, so I didn’t make it.
We do everything online, through a payment plan. You do your down payment after we agree on design/flavors from the tasting and then sign a contract. In that contract, it states that if the cake isn’t paid for in advance, I don’t make it. We send you reminder emails and such, so it’s not like we just straight up ignore you until it’s go-time, but still, it’s your responsibility to pay. His daughter never made payments on her cake so my payment system canceled it and refunded her money minus the downpayment, as is standard.
I get a call morning of, asking where I am. I tell the venue I have no idea since I have no cake on record. They thank me and hang up.
Her dad shows up an hour later, fuming. He thought it was unfair that I screwed up her big day because ‘she didn’t know any better’ even though I told her how it works and it was in her contract… and she was 35. He then insisted I make her a cake in 6 hours, for free. I told him there was no way I could do that even if I needed to, which I didn’t because it was his daughters screw up that caused her to not have a cake. He started screaming and threatened to kill me, unaware that one of my regulars in the shop that morning was an off-duty cop with his kid.
Daddy got hauled off to jail before the cocktail hour was even over.”
Don’t Get The Bride Angry. You Won’t Like Her When She’s Angry
“My college girlfriend worked at a botanical garden and heard this story at a wedding industry networking event.
Some non-members of a country club rented the party room for their wedding. You apparently could walk through the party room to get to the pool, or you could walk an extra 10 steps to get there by going outside. It was summer, so the pool was open.
The wedding posted some people at the door of the party room so when someone would try to cut through, they would be redirected outside. Most people took this with grace and offered congratulations, except for one very intoxicated man.
He was angry he couldn’t cut through, but also that those people weren’t members and were using ‘his’ country club. He started to raise a big stink, to the point where the bride’s brothers went over to talk to him. ‘We’re so excited for our sister, and are sorry we’re making this inconvenient, but would you mind just taking the outdoor path?’ Eventually, the mother of the bride goes over and talks to the guy as well. He’s unrelenting. He pays his dues and as such should be allowed to walk through this party room to the pool.
While he’s talking to the mother, a bottle comes flying through the air and drills him in the side of the head. Everyone turns to see the bride, having thrown the bottle, screaming, ‘You’re ruining my wedding!’ over and over again.”
Sweet Revenge
“I DJ’ed weddings for a few years as a side job, and one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen happen before was when a groom hired a private investigator to investigate the bride and discovered she was cheating with the best man. He had pictures and everything. He taped a picture of them together to the bottom of each seat long before the ceremony began so nobody had a clue.
Last minute, he came up to us and asked if he could grab the mic because he wanted to make an announcement before the ceremony. Kind of weird, not something you see often but whatever, it’s your wedding, man. So all the guests are seated and the bride walks up. He grabs a mic and thanks all of the guests for coming. He then instructs everyone to look under their seats. Gasps, tears and lots of cussing and disbelief ensued. He drops the mic, walks past us and gives us a high five on the way out. Total chaos ensues, bride and groom’s families are arguing, some are physically fighting. The bride is a total wreck. The best man somehow snuck out during all of this and escaped I guess. The bride’s dad comes over after things settled out a bit and told us to leave, gave us each $150 tip and told us to grab as much food and drink as we could carry.”
Everyone Act Like You Like Each Other
“I used to be a receptionist at a private club that often hosted weddings. My desk sat in the lobby, where the bridal party would line up to make their entrance into the fancy wedding hall. Once, the bride and groom were having an argument in front of all the groomsmen and bridesmaids. Maybe 16 people. Not sure what started it, but they were both inebriated, and she was screaming obscenities at him and he was saying he wouldn’t be so awful if she didn’t act like such a horrible person. She was bringing up past arguments, he was talking trash about her in front of her to the groomsmen, it was a mess. The music was starting and they were supposed to make their grand entrance any second now. I thought for sure they were about to call off the wedding, this fight was so intense. Finally, the maid of honor pipes in and says maybe they should all start getting in position. The bride screams, “EVERYONE SHUT UP! THIS IS MY DAY DON’T RUIN IT!” I kid you not, on cue, they all straighten up, put on beautiful smiles, and walk arm in arm through the door as if nothing had happened and everything was perfect. It was like something out of a robot flick. This was 2013, and I still think about them and wonder if they’re still married.”
Getting Some Sloppy Revenge
“I’m a professional singer and I was asked to sing at the wedding of an old friend about ten years ago. The ceremony rehearsal and subsequent dinner were great fun and I had a good time meeting all the fun people in this huge, elaborate wedding party. A cute groomsman caught my eye and, after getting super inebriated at the rehearsal dinner, we stumbled back to my apartment that was a few blocks from the restaurant and hooked up.
He was totally hot and very fun, and we had great chemistry, considering we had never met before. He didn’t stay the night (which was fine by me) and we didn’t exchange numbers or anything. That morning, as we were all getting ready for the ceremony to start, he took me aside and said, ‘So, you’re gonna be cool, right? Because my fiance is here.’ I was HORRIFIED. Not wanting to ruin my friend’s wedding ceremony with a spectacular dramafest, I kept quiet until the reception, where I got super-inebriated and, thereby, lost all my decorum (I’m six years sober last month!) I hand-wrote a note on the back of a program and gave it to the fiance before I wobbled back home. I later heard there was crying, screaming, and punching.”
Maybe Pick A New Career Path
“The caterer got inebriated at the reception. This was before food service and at least partly on the alcohol purchased by the wedding party. He may have had something in one of his coolers too. The food was at least an hour late and not good.
Supposedly the people he had coming to help serve bailed on him so his girlfriend came to help. She was wearing a dress that barely covered her cheeks and he was enjoying being able to get very handsy with her. Yes, those were the same hands prepping the food.
He got inebriated after the food was served and took the mic from the DJ and proceeded to propose to his girlfriend. At someone else’s wedding. When he was supposed to be working. Someone from the crowd shouted out, ‘But I saw you with another girl Thursday!’
He left the sink full of dirty dishes, an inch-deep puddle of chicken juice in the fridge, coolers of food outside, and had to leave his truck/trailer because he couldn’t drive home. He then denied leaving the mess despite the photos of it.
We don’t have a preferred vendor list, but we have a list of one vendor who isn’t welcome back.”
No One’s Happy
“I was working a photobooth at a wedding where an older woman accused another younger woman of being with another man other than that woman’s husband. Apparently, the older woman accused the young one of spending most of the night with ‘some man’, which was one of the venue employees. According to her they had been driving around in his golf cart and getting cozy down by the bonfire. The young woman blew up at her and was shouting at her, ‘How dare you accuse me of being with some man!’ So they got into a huge fight over it, and I think the younger woman ran off with the venue worker.
Also, at the same wedding, while getting her makeup done, the bride started choking on her drink. The makeup artist/bridesmaid started screaming at the bride about how her makeup is ruined and ridiculing her appearance. Causing the bride to ball her eyes out, angering the makeup artist even more. Fun times!”
The Moral Of The Story Is Always Have A Backup
“I worked as a bartender for 30 weddings the summer after college. One time, a cake was brought in from over an hour away right before people started arriving. It was one of those super fancy ones, probably 5 layers each with space in between them. Two guys carried it in and put it on a table and the whole thing slid off and was ruined. The bride had a meltdown, but apparently, they had a backup cake and the guys went back and got it. It wasn’t as nice.
Another time the bride cried in front of me. At the place I worked, they always did a custom special drink that the bride/groom picked out for like the first hour but usually the bride and groom are still taking pics. She asked me for one but we were all out and she got upset then started crying. I felt pretty bad but really couldn’t do anything about it.”
A Bride’s Worst Nightmare
“I’m a wedding photographer, and at one wedding, the bride went to put on her dress and it didn’t fit (it was a corset back with the flap that pulls across under it, but she had gained weight and the flap didn’t go all the way across her back anymore). Her mom started yelling hysterically at her daughter, saying she warned her she was getting fat and should have stopped eating so much. The bride is in tears and mortified. I had to kick the mom out of the room and take control of the situation. Luckily the hotel sheets were a close enough ivory, so we cut a piece from the sheets to use as the fabric under the corset threading and it was passable. I kept the mom away from the poor bride all day.”
One Wedding And A Funeral
“My coworker was having her wedding on a public beach in Southern California. They weren’t able to reserve anything, they just make do with it the best that they could. Well, right before she was due to walk down the aisle, a homeless man stumbles into the group of guests and passes out midway into the aisle. A couple of guys go over to get him to move, but the dude wasn’t waking up. Ended up giving him CPR for a solid 20 minutes while waiting for the ambulance. We didn’t hear anything else about him after they carried him off the beach.”
A Happy Ending
“I’m a wedding officiant. The worst thing I saw was the venue manager punch the DJ square in the face, splattering blood all over the bride’s dress. The venue manager was inebriated and didn’t like that particular song the DJ was playing. The bride thankfully laughed it off as the groomsmen’s carried the kicking and screaming venue manager to the door and literally threw him on his butt out the door of his own venue. The venue owner was then called and came to take the manager home. The venue owner gave them 50% off the rental cost on the spot. The bride and groom couldn’t have been happier.”
What A Way To Find Out
“I worked in event planning for about 10 years, and it was almost entirely weddings. The most dramatic would probably be the time the groom discovered he was allergic to horses as he was being pulled down to the gazebo by several horses. We had to call an ambulance (he was okay after they got him some antihistamines) and his face was so swollen they couldn’t take any pictures. Nice people, they were shockingly calm about the entire ordeal.”
(Points edited for clarity)