Planners, florists, decorators - they all see their fair share of weddings, and part of the job is the drama that comes with these events. Because let's face it, for a fair share of people, the "happiest day of their lives" is far from it.
Here are all the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) stories from people who work weddings that we found on Reddit. These people deserve a raise for the stuff they put up with at these weddings! Check out their stories below. (Content has been edited for clarity).
This Nosy Bride Started Her Wedding Off With A Bang
“I work for a restaurant that caters at least one wedding a month. At one wedding the bride was 6 hours late, which delayed the reception itself. The father of the bride had no problem with the delay or the cost that came with it. Some people were begging to eat the food we had brought but the parents of the bride said that everything had to be in place for their daughter. She finally arrived, gets married and the reception began. People are understandably angry at the reception and after a few trips to the open bar, they start telling the staff what happened.
The groom got a text message from his best man’s wife the morning of the wedding just saying she hoped the boys had fun the night before and she wished him the best of luck on his big day. She couldn’t attend because of work but she had known the groom for about 5 years longer than he had known his then-fiancée. The bride saw the message because she had an app that apparently sent all of his messages to her phone. She accused him of having an affair. A big fight ensued. It was really the start of a wonderful marriage.”
She Couldn’t Make It Down The Aisle
“One of the biggest bride disasters I’ve seen was at a venue I worked for right out of college. She showed up with her bridesmaids to use the bridal suite, and we quickly learned she had decided to bring a drink for while she was getting ready. Assuming it wasn’t anything too extreme we let it go. Turns out she brought in some APPLE PIE MOONSHINE. Not the kind you buy in a grocery store. The one that your third cousin makes out of the garage.
By the time her ceremony was supposed to start she was too hammered to stand up properly, and there was no way she could walk down the aisle. She also decided to yell at everyone because we had refused to sprinkle pink glitter at a ceremony site, which happened the be the first tee box (we were a golf course).
After an hour delay, we get her down the aisle and she’s married, yay! Get to dinner, her maid of honor makes the most uncomfortable speech I have ever heard. It consisted of her detailing the fact that she and the bride were not on speaking terms for the last couple of years and that she wasn’t really sure why she’s the maid of honor.
After dinner, I was at the bar helping out and there was even more fun to be had. We had groups of girls that arrived with only their passport to show as identification for getting drinks, passports that were presented to us by one guy they were with. We honestly assumed they were ‘hired’ for the night.
A couple guys came up to the bar while the couple was having their first dance and casually said to each other, ‘yeah she looks good in her wedding dress, but I still prefer her when she’s working the pole in the club.’
The final interaction I had with the bride was when I made her a drink at the bar. I put it down in front of her. I know that she saw it before she turned around and had a minute long conversation with someone. But, she turned back to the bar and started shouting that no one was serving her drinks and she paid for this. She was switched to water for the rest of the night.”
An Unappreciated Favor
“My wife got roped into doing the photos for her stepsister’s wedding. Normally my wife would charge between $4000 and $6000 for this, and we were flying across the country to attend this wedding mostly out of family obligation. So the bride was getting an amazing deal. Over the course of six months, the bride became incredibly hateful on social media, constantly starting drama. She was rude in her save the dates, it was very passive aggressive about dress code, and at the end it said ‘this is a dry wedding, so don’t you even think about bringing any flasks or keeping coolers in your cars. She also changed venue and locations several times. We knew it was going to be a disaster but we had committed so we bought our plane tickets and planned to come.
The week before the wedding, the bride went totally psycho and posted nasty, awful things about half of her wedding party, including my wife. So we decided to cancel the photography and not attend the wedding. It wasn’t worth it anymore. The bride’s own mother was so ashamed of her behavior that she didn’t attend either. All together, they had 8 people at their wedding and they only got cellphone pictures. We had a nice little vacation and visited a lot of friends in the area instead.
Much to our surprise, they are still married, but it’s only been 3 months so we’ll see what happens. We don’t talk to them anymore as there’s been a lot more drama after the wedding as well.”
Her Thriftiness Really Cost Her
“The short story is that the bride lied. She lied to the venue about the number of guests that were attending. Effectively packing the guests like sardines. She lied about having a ‘day of’ staff. That meant that all the ‘plus ones’ of the bridesmaids spent the day hanging flowers, running to get kegs and waters, pouring the drinks for guests, and setting up the entire venue the day before. She lied to the hair and makeup personnel about the number of people who were obtaining services in order to get them to come to the site. This forced guests to get hair and makeup done in order for ‘the bride not to have to be charged extra.’ She lied to the caterer about the number of guests, this caused them to run out of food and drinks.
All in all, I think her lies saved her $1500, but cost her close friendships as her attitude toward the whole situation was indignant instead of being apologetic. I would not have been upset if they said they needed help throwing an ‘I do BBQ’ or something along those lines…but they tried to toss together a large expensive ‘looking’ wedding that absolutely did not come together because they tried to cut corners. Sucked, and beyond being incredibly angry I felt bad that ultimately the day sucked because of their awful choices in what they spent on and what they cut.”
A Magical (Expensive) Moment
“I used to work at an inn that specialized in hosting weddings. A family connection got me the job and she even warned me about the kinds of people you’d run into in this business. She used to be a wedding planner but stepped down because she just couldn’t handle the people she had to deal with, especially when they were planning their weddings with their parents’ money.
So one day, we were setting up for a wedding and I saw a woman having one of the ugliest meltdowns I’ve ever seen talking to our resident wedding planner. After they leave I asked what was going on. My boss explained that she had to tell the bride that they couldn’t have their horse-drawn carriage in the reception area because where they were holding the reception was downhill from the ceremony. The carriage would get ahead of the horse and pose a serious risk to the bride and groom.
Well, the bride didn’t take this well at all. She threatened that our she would take away her business. That is until she realized that the wedding was 3 days away. She ultimately caved to a compromise.
What was the compromise? To take a horse-drawn carriage ride in a 70-foot circle following the reception so that the wedding photographer could get a picture of it. How much did this photo op cost? $3000 DOLLARS!!!! Don’t ask me how it cost that much. It always reminds me of what people are willing to do when they’re playing with other people’s money.”
The Most Controlling Bride Ever
“My best friend is an exotic dancer. She was hired to do a joint bachelor and bachelorette party, set up by the bride. It became clear quickly that the bride had set it up like this so she could watch her groom to make sure he doesn’t have too much fun. The whole time, she was sitting on his lap, making him watch their mutual friends have all the fun. My friend was instructed that if she needed to speak to the groom, address the bride instead. She showed up to the venue to see the bride yelling at their friends to pose for pictures with the dancers, or they’re going to ‘ruin everything.’
She was the most controlling bride my friend had ever seen. Her man couldn’t even have a drink without asking. She kept ordering him to smile. The best man joked with my friend that she’s so good, they’ll invite her to the divorce party to perform, because there was no way a man could live like this for long.”
The Speech To End All Speeches
“I used to be a banquet manager at a high-end hotel. An insanely wealthy, old money guy was marrying a 2nd generation Asian-American woman. The groom’s parents were displeased in the extreme. However, there is probably a billion dollar inheritance at stake for the couple so they are willing to tolerate some major bull from them.
Friday night: the mother of 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 any drinks from the bar 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). She dedicated it for ‘Mommy and Biffy’ and the song was ‘Never Can Say Goodbye.’ All the ick.
Saturday Night: the wedding goes off without a hitch. Everyone is behaving, we have drinks, dinner, speeches – all is well – we’ve dodged a bullet. Daddy (who has been drinking Tito’s on the rocks with a twist since 10 AM) picks up the mic when dessert is served and starts a nice, although 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 13 generations and my idiot son has to ruin it all 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, smoking for the rest of the night.
The next morning he comes into brunch and says to everyone, ‘that was quite a show last night!’ And 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!”
Minor Inconvenience, Major Issue
“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 re-directed outside. Most people took this with grace and offered congratulations, except for one very hammered man.
He was mad 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 had to go 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?’ and the like. 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.”
She Got Revenge On This Bridezilla
“I’m a wedding planner and I’ve seen some crazy stuff. Once, a bride invited her ex-boyfriend to the wedding because ‘he’s just a really good friend.’ During the reception, her husband of 2 hours went to the bathroom. While he was gone, the bride planted a kiss on the ex-boyfriend. It was on the lips. Passionately. She noticed that I saw and promptly reminded me to mind my business. At the end of the night, catering informed me they hadn’t settled their bill. If they didn’t get the payment that night there would be an additional fee charged. I ran outside and let them know before they drive off.
Two days later, I got a call from the groom who informed me the bride was extremely upset with my ‘unprofessionalism’ and wanted a refund. She wasn’t happy that I ‘made a scene’ by running outside to tell them about the bill, in an effort to save them from additional charges. I asked him if he was aware of the scene she made when she kissed her ex-boyfriend on the dance floor while he went to the bathroom. He hung up.”
She Was Very Committed To Her New Diet
“I do event planning and catering. Two months ago, I was working the serving end of a marriage reception. Apparently, the maid of honor had decided to become vegan TWO HOURS before the reception. And what was being served to everyone? Steak, potatoes, and an assortment of veggies. This woman flipped out that we wouldn’t cook the outrageously difficult meal that she looked up online. We told her that we had plenty of veggies and salad, but NO! This woman HAD to have that meal.
The bride eventually told her (literally) to shut up or get out. You know the funniest part? That idiot ended up eating the steak! After making us take it away, ten minutes after her freak out she wanted it back. My boss and I agreed that she was jealous of all the attention her friend was getting and just HAD to have some for herself.
Flower Frenzy
“I’m a florist. Once, a bride came in for a consultation. The other florist noticed that she was wearing the wedding ring instead of the engagement ring and asked her why she was already wearing her wedding ring. Her response? The engagement ring her fiancè bought her was too ugly. We then get a call from the venue management warning us that this bride will be a difficult client and apologizing for sending her our way. The bride ended up hating the bouquet we delivered. That hasn’t happened in the 12 years we have been in business. The reason? She ordered her dress a few sizes too small because she had planned to lose weight before the big day. Obviously, she failed since that is a ton of pressure to put on yourself. So naturally, her dress didn’t fit and she hated the way it looked. So she said she hated her bouquet because it didn’t cover her entire waist. She was a big client (size and money wise) and had ties to an important family. We were all so stressed out and frantically trying to please her. The florists delivering the bouquet returned to our shop, and the owner added approx $200 worth of free flowers to make this gigantic looking bouquet for this bride. She accused us of sloppily adding a few flowers when we brought her the new bouquet. We explained to her that we took it apart completely and added in tons of free flowers so that shut her up.
A few days later I’m cleaning out the returned vases that we used for her arrangements when I feel a sharp plastic thing poke my hand. It was the corner of a wrapper with a used rubber shoved inside. This also has never happened in the 12 years we’ve been in business. She emailed us the next day and said she loved her bouquet and was soo happy with her flowers. Of course she was.”
Drama With A Side Of Racism
“I have officiated many weddings and have witnessed some crazy drama. The worst was when we are all set and ready, the friends and family are all sitting down for the event and just as I took my place. The groom walked out and said, ‘Sorry, there will be no wedding today.’ He walked straight out, down the aisle, out the door, hopped into his buddy’s car and they drove off. He never said anything to the bride. Someone ran in the back to tell her and she was devastated. She came out bravely to thank everyone for coming, but she was crying uncontrollably. I thought her dad was going to hunt down the guy to kill him. It didn’t help that the bride side were quite the country rednecks and the groom and his family were African American. With the comments coming from the bride side, I was surprised that there was not a fight.
They actually ended up eloping 6 months later, but it didn’t even last a year. She is now happily married to someone else. But that was the one wedding I was to officiate that made me cringe the hardest.”
Hotel Humiliation
“As a wedding photographer, I had a bride lie to me once in the most bizarre fashion. We were doing her engagement shoot in NYC. She wanted to do some pictures in this high-end hotel downtown. She told me that she arranged it with a manager to let us take some pictures in the building. I figured we’re cool to go in, take some nice photos, and get out. We met with the manager in her office at the hotel and get approved locations to shoot. As we are finishing up with the first location, the manager came up to the bride and asked her ‘when exactly is your ceremony with us?’
The bride began backpedaling and the manager just pointed to the door and told us to ‘get out of my hotel! It turns out she lied and said she was getting married there the following summer just to have her engagement pics in this hotel. Ever since that, I check with any venue a bride special picks for photos. Oh and her wedding sucked (shocker).”