Wedding Disasters?

Parent Cafe
1

Having read and enjoyed the thread on vacation catastrophes, It occurred to me that we should share any funny or horrifying wedding tales–from our own weddings or those we’ve attended.

My own wedding has quite a list of horribles, but I’ll start with the main one. H started getting sick two days prior to the big day, with symptoms hitting as we were driving from our grad school city to my hometown–he was feverish, achy, weak. He saw the doctor the next day, was diagnosed with “a virus or something” (the “something” may well have been pre-wedding jitters) and was pumped with every antibiotic known to man in an attempt to fend off whatever it was so he could get through the ceremony. The wedding location was hot—the AC couldn’t cope with the high heat and humidity (don’t get married in August!). Combine that with H’s fever and the layers of tux, vest, tie, etc., and he was sweating bullets. I have zero recollection of our vows, since I was both fascinated and horrified as I watched huge droplets of sweat running from his forehead down his nose and then dripping off the end onto his chin–drip, drip, drip. Meanwhile, my mother, who had noticed his pallor (in our photos his face is the color of wallpaper paste), stealthily positioned herself behind him so she could catch him if he started to pass out. Since he was 6’1" to her 5’4", that would have been quite the sight, but fortunately he remained upright and produced enough adrenaline to get through the reception, even the dancing.

Since the reception ended in the evening, we stayed at my parents’ house that night as planned, with the intention of leaving in the morning for a very brief honeymoon at a beach resort a few hours away. H sat down at the breakfast table and suddenly pitched forward into his plate of scrambled eggs. We never knew if it was the mystery virus, exhaustion, or a reaction to all the meds, but the doc had him admitted immediately to the hospital for evaluation (it was lots easier to be admitted in those days). He was there for a couple of days, and of course the nurses teased us endlessly about closing the curtains so we could enjoy our honeymoon. And I spent the second and third nights of my marriage in my parents’ home. We never got to go on that mini-honeymoon because we had to be back at school.

More to come…

2

At my BIL’s wedding reception, his friends enticed the bride & groom to do tequila shots. The exuberant newlyweds became so drunk that they had to be piled prone onto a hotel luggage cart and wheeled to their hotel room. After a while, worried friends thought they had better check on the newlyweds. They found the groom in his tux curled up asleep on the floor and the bride in the bathroom “speaking to the dinosaurs on the big white phone”.

The friends got the couple out of their wedding clothes and into bed. Then for the next hour, they had to hold the newlyweds heads over trashcans to barf up the rest.

Finally the friends propped the exhausted couple against the headboard, and everyone got up on the bed and posed for a group photo.
:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :-& :-& :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

3

Nothing major… Mr R got very bad poison ivy all over his legs the week before the wedding. He finally went to urgent care Thursday before the wedding. He was pretty miserable the whole time including through the honeymoon.
On Wednesday before the wedding, I got a call from one of the groomsmen’s girlfriend saying they were in the ER. He had to get emergency gallbladder surgery. Not a big deal except they had turned my wedding week into a vacation and were vacationing in northern Michigan (they don’t live in Michigan). My in-laws went and got them and they stayed with us while he recovered.

4

Mine is more of an after the wedding story.
I was about 16 weeks pregnant, but had been having quite a bit of cramping for the last week or so, although the Dr said the cervix was intact. The morning of the wedding, I felt awful, nauseous, cramping and faint.

I didn’t want to go through with it, just wanted to rest, but H didnt want to be the one who called everyone!
Too bad we couldnt have sent a group text!
So we drove to the venue, ( which was in the Washington Park arboreteum) and got married, although it was a very sober affair. I think my mom even wore black!

Then we drove back across the bridge to the church for the reception. Still feeling like crap. I realized that since the cramping was becoming more regular, that I was going to lose the baby.
I changed out of my wedding dress, sat down with my friends from work, and proceeded to try and have a few glasses of champagne to relax.

My dear mother, thought I should be getting to know my MIL, so she brought me over to her, where she was standing with her sister.
They both ( the MIL & aunt in law) made the comment that I shouldn’t have such a look on my face, because being pregnant doesn’t hurt.
I rolled my eyes, commented " everyone has a different experience", and sat down with my friends again.

Despite my pleading to leave after an appropriate time, H was intent on pounding them back with his father, and we were among the last ones to go.

I continued to have regular contractions, and had to breathe through them. We stayed at a nearby hotel, but I think slept in seperate beds because I was so uncomfortable. The next couple nights, we slept at our new house, but in sleeping bags on the floor because we hadn’t gotten the bed set up yet. Three nights from the wedding, I stood up in the middle of the night to pee, and the baby, shot out of me, still connected by the umbilicus.

I wouldn’t let H cut the cord, but he wrapped it in tissue and took me to the emergency room.
It got worse from there. They didn’t remove the placenta, I kept bleeding until I went back in to the Dr, on Monday, and he had to do a D&C, but was mad at me, because it hurt, and the people in the waiting room could hear me. ( its unbelievable to me now, that I just accepted how I was treated)

Then I had to stay with my grandparents while I recovered, because Hs brother in law had chartered a fishing boat, and he wanted to go.
" It was one of those, if you want me to stay, I will stay", but I had no idea he would actually leave me in that condition. His fishing trip, was longer (& farther away) than our honeymoon.
Then my grandparents neighbors, all wanted to come and congratulate me, but they of course hadn’t known that I had just had a gruesome experience, so I had to do the best acting job, I ever had.

After all that, (& another pretty bad incident with Ha) I just wanted to go back to being single, and since I was only 23, I tried to get advice from mom, but she liked H, & basically didn’t get it.

:-S
But we both " grew & changed" as they say, and are now pretty happy. ( we worked through a lot, while we dealt with our grief, and ultimately decided to try an have another baby, as soon as we were allowed)

My MIL still doesn’t care for me too much though, 34 yrs later.
Whatchagonnado?

5

Good Lord. I was going to post about catching my brand-new SIL stealing flowers from my bouquet at the reception, but that’s not even in the same ballpark as these stories! :open_mouth:

6

This one isn’t a wedding horror story per se, but a sad wedding day tidbit. Mr. R’s brother got married a week ago Saturday. On the Tuesday before, we learned that their grandma had taken a turn for the worse and was on life support. She passed away the morning of the wedding but the only aunt that knew kept silent until the next day (and we are all grateful for that). There was quite a bit of agony over whether or not to tell Mr. R’s brother and new wife as they left Monday to go on their multi-week long European honeymoon. They didn’t and the funeral was Thursday. I still don’t know if he knows…

7

Well LasMa, I won’t say that I can * laugh* about it now, but it helped me to write it out, and I posted it, because I hoped that others could see that sometimes" crap happens", and you live through it. People are pretty tough.

If I had continued the pregnancy, I wouldn’t have had the wonderful children I have now.

8

My sister received as a gift a Rolls Royce ride to the church and then back to her home for the reception. All was great, the car was parked in front of her house waiting for the bride, in the traffic lane because she lived on a one way street and the parking lane was on the other side of the street. The car stalled. Wouldn’t restart, so they drove a jeep the wrong way on the one way to jump start the car. Leeettle bit of a traffic issue as it was a pretty busy street and down to one lane.

A friend lost the wedding license on the day of the wedding, which was of course a Saturday. They just couldn’t find it, and the officiant said he wouldn’t/couldn’t do the wedding without it. Much frantic calling, and finally located a judge who said it would be fine to replace the license on Monday, and it went off without further delay. Friend said they must have throw it away when cleaning as they never found it.

But the winner of the ‘worst wedding stories’ was my friend whose grandfather died AT the reception! She was married at a church and the wedding party stayed behind to take pictures. By the time they got to her parents’ house where the reception was, her grandfather had died. Years later she realized how nice it was for her grandfather to be surrounded by relatives and go so peacefully, but I’m sure at the time it wasn’t fun.

9

My relative had a nice, very festive wedding at a gorgeous resort hotel. We had to leave soon after dancing strated, as we had two young children to put to bed. The next day, she and her new H were at my mom’s to open presents and I teased her about having a wonderful wedding night and that everyone seemed a bit sleepy. She said it was because they were up until 4am or so with the police!

It seems that after we had left, some young hood had decided to sneak into the reception and steal all the purses and cell phones at the bridal table while everyone was dancing. One of the groomsmen saw the culprit, raised the alarm and gave chase. He chased the thief down the walkway and the guy jumped from the 3rd story where the reception was being held to the ground and broke some body parts and needed an ambulance, who came with the police cars. The cell phones were never recovered and I’m not sure whether any of the other valuables were either. The injured thief had the nerve to file a suit against the groomsman and I’m not sure if other parties were added as well. (Fortunately, it was dismissed, but I’m pretty sure he was convicted of some degree of theft.)

Anotehr relative took wedding pictures at a lovely estate and wanted the entire wedding party to tromp along the grounds to the waterfall, without knowing there was a lot of mud that had to be traversed to get there. One or two of the attendants fell in the mud but were able to brush things off before the ceremony.

Another relative had her flowergirls in gorgeous white satin gowns. Between the ceremony and the reception, one of the flowergirls had a bloody nose and the dress was covered in blood. Fortunately, the flowergirl had a change of clothes that she wore temporarily while her gown was rinsed out and blown dry in the bathroom. ALL the blood came out and few knew the tale.

At my wedding, we were taking photos before the ceremony when I suddenly wondered aloud where my veil was and my dear brother volunteered to go to the wedding shop and fetch it. They kept saying that they didin’t have it but he was insistent and they finally found it shortly before the ceremony began!

Other than these interesting hiccups, our weddings went pretty nicely.

10

Not my story but my mother’s. She was married at the beginning of July on what turned out to be a very hot and humid day. Unfortunately, the church had decided to have all the pews varnished the day before and on the wedding day, everyone stuck to the pews. My very pregnant aunt got varnished front and back.
I also have a friend who as they were saying their vows, a huge thunderstorm hit and the power went off- very dramatic.

11

My H fainted while standing up at his sister’s wedding (the other groomsmen were all doing shots and H is a lightweight). And I nearly fainted when a bridesmaid at my best friend’s wedding; I was sick, turned white as a ghost and another bridesmaid sort of dragged me off the altar to a chamber behind, where I promptly threw up and a nice little nun gave me smelling salts.

12

D is getting married this fall and I have already told her to expect to have at least one unplanned thing happen. Hopefully it’s nothing major.

13

I was not a witness to this, as it occurred before my birth, but the family wedding story I heard is of my paternal aunt’s wedding, which took place at a Catholic church. The bride and groom were standing by the altar when the flame from one of the adjacent candles caught on the bride’s veil, which then caught fire. Sorry, I don’t have the details of how it was put out, but I assume it was, and the ceremony continued.

14

The week before my wedding I had my formal pictures taken. My mom wrapped my very, very, very long veil in a bedsheet and pinned it so veil wouldn’t fall out. Unfortunately, she also pinned through the veil and when we unwrapped in there were holes in it all over. My mom’s cleaning lady was enlisted and hand sewed small lace pieces over the holes. It took her days but thankfully she got it done.

At the same photog session we realized that my dress was way too long. For some reason I never tried it on again after final fitting - probably because I bought dress in NYC and I guess we had it shipped up. It was too late to go back to NYC and since I had got my veil at a store in my hometown, they were gracious enough to agree to shorten it. So off we went, I get in my dress, they pin the hem and I go to get out of it and the zipper breaks. They had to rip open the seams on both sides to get me out. Also the zipper was a very, very long one - not something you could easily get in a few days time. So they had to put in a shorter zipper and hook and eyes the rest of the way up.

All this caused major freak outs just several days before my wedding.

Day of wedding the photographer showed up at my parents house to take pictures of the family and bridal part. He was three sheets to the wind. Fortunately, he was only one of several photographers, but several pictures taken at the house, in front of the piano had my sister look like a lamp shade was coming out of her head.

Then when the limo arrived it was filthy. Had to get another one sent so we were late getting to the rehearsal which we had planned for an hour or so before actual wedding.

15

Family compound wedding. One guest wandering around in a giant Stetson hat telling my side he was W’s family attorney and telling her side he was my family’s attorney. Earlier came into usher’s house and drank some of the champagne intended for the ushers. He really needed to be medicated. However, he charmed W’s grandmother and she defended him as a “wonderful young man.”

16

My cousin’s grandmother had a fatal stroke at one of my cousin’s weddings. She died a few days later never having recovered. She was always the life of the party and afterwards everyone felt that it had been a good way to go.

The only thing that happened at our wedding was that our photographer somehow managed to be changing rolls of film while we were headed down the aisle and our ceremony was so short he missed the entire thing. I would have been really cross, but the before and after photos were lovely and he made sure he got pictures of every table at the wedding just as I had asked.

My nephew recently got married and there was a single picture of any of us - which I have to say made me cross. And they missed out - because I would have ordered pictures if there had been, but instead I just made do with the ones we took.

17

I made two flower arrangements for my SIL’s bother wedding. For some reasons one was broken with a big crash at a wedding. It caused a bit of a commotion, but the couple is still married. I was a bit nervous that there might be a bad omen.

18

Here’s our story. H was remodeling a workshop on his parents’ property that was to be our apartment while we saved for a house. Two days before the wedding he was doing some final touches and shaving down something or other…without safety goggles. Some metal shavings landed in his eye. Several trips to the opthalmologist resulted in eye surgery the MORNING OF THE WEDDING! No one told me. Determined to go through the ceremony, H slept all day and managed to get himself upright at the altar at 6pm and even suffered the ceremony without his eye patch. He and the photographer and videographer worked out hand signals to cut the flash and lights when it became too much. One of the groomsmen had gone to the drug store and gotten eye patches for all the men in the bridal party and in some of our wedding photos the men look like a band of pirates! :ar! LOL

Honeymoon to Bermuda canceled as H needed to see his doc for followup care. A few days later, with the doc’s ok, we headed to VA Beach to salvage a few days honeymoon. H’s eye was healing and we decided to spend an extra 2 nights in DC on our way home. While there, my new contacts really started bothering me. Taking out the contacts did no good, so off to the ER we go. A combination of dry eyes and new contacts led to a diagnosis of corneal erosion. Two eye patches, drops and Percocet. I slept while H drove home with his 1-1/2 eyes. We were about 30 minutes from home, when I was awakened by a loud bang and shattered glass all over H. Some @#$%^ had thrown a beer bottle out his window and it hit our windshield. Another passerby went to call ambulance. I was fine but H had glass all over, and…in his good eye!!! You can’t make this up. Several hours spent in the hospital to vacuum H and his eye. We had to call my parents to pick us up from our honeymoon because we were basically blind. We came home with 3 eye patches and 1 partially healed eye!!! We stayed with my family for a week until we could see well enough to use a gas stove without the possibility of setting ourselves on fire. :smiley:

You may think the story ends here…hahahahaha! :))

Finally, mostly healed, new windshield installed and driving to our own place…100 yards from our driveway…the end in sight…a deer sprints out of the woods and slams right onto the hood of the car! The deer popped up and ran off. H and I were stunned but ok. The car on the other hand, did not fare so well.

The good news is we now laugh about our adventure and will celebrate our 32nd anniversary in September. :x We survived our wedding but just barely. #:-S

19

The best use of the pirate emoji!
Arrggh!
Your poor H, how are his eyes now?

20

^^^He was good as new shortly thereafter!