For some couples, weddings are a magical day that begins the rest of their lives. For others, weddings are just an expensive way to find out it's time to break up.
Reddit user u/Olya_roo asked, "What wedding moment made you think: 'They are not going to last long'?" The thread quickly filled with thousands of gut-wrenching stories of weddings gone so very wrong. Here are the ones that really took my breath away:
1. "I was at a wedding as a plus one. The bride drunkenly sat down at our table and started talking to us. She then told me that she slept with her ex right before walking down the aisle. She had sex with her ex in her wedding dress in the bridal suite. She then downed the last of my drink and went off to the dance floor. I was left speechless. I didn't know anyone but my date. Less than a year later, the bride and groom were divorced."
2. "When my mom got to the altar, her husband-to-be said, 'Why did you have to plan the wedding while you were on your period? You look so fat!' She was a size 6 and did not look even slightly large (as if that should even matter), and the priest was so taken aback that he turned to her and asked, 'Should I continue?' I remember standing next to my auntie (we were the flower girl and maid of honor) and seeing her face go from SO proud to SO angry, and my mom just quietly said, 'Yep,' with this defeated sigh. They divorced less than a year later."
3. "I used to be Mormon, and getting married in a Mormon temple is a big deal because you have to be in line with everything they teach and refrain from drinking, pre-marital sex, smoking, etc. to get a temple recommendation. After we got changed into our temple clothes, the temple workers led us to a room right next to the sealing room where we could have a moment together before the ceremony started. After the worker left the room, I turned to my fiancé and said, 'We did it! We made it! We’re doing this!' He just looked me dead in the eye with no emotion and said, 'I could still say no.'"
"All of our family and friends were in the next room waiting for us to get married in a matter of minutes. People thought I was crying during the ceremony because I felt the spirit, but I was crying because I was marrying someone who (I realized) always made me question whether or not he loved me. The marriage was pretty much all like that, so after a year of shrinking into a shell of my former self, I left. I also left the Mormon church. I’m single and happy now. I'm simply living with my dog and have no plans to ever remarry."
4. "I was at a wedding when a phone went off during the ceremony. In the middle of exchanging vows. It was the groom's. He took the call. They are divorced now."
5. "I was a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding. After the ceremony, we took pictures and went to a bar for a few drinks before the reception. At the bar, the bride confided in me that she was nervous for the reception because her boyfriend (not the guy she just married) was going to be there. Her boyfriend knew she was getting married and wanted to 'check out the competition,' but her groom had no idea she was cheating on him."
6. "My wife got invited to a client's daughter's wedding. The couple were both drama students. Much of the bridal party was other drama students. The maid of honor's toast consisted of tearful declarations of unrequited love to the groom, along the lines of 'if it couldn't be me, I'm glad it's my best friend that's marrying you.' The best man's speech was a lusty declaration of 'if it doesn't work out, call me, babe...like the previous time you called me.' Other toasts were similarly weird. A guy at the table I was seated at was a friend of the bride and said to me that he was 'this close' to standing up during the 'speak now or forever hold your peace' bit. I'm still not sure if the whole thing was a bunch of emotionally damaged 20-year-olds or one big piece of performance art."
7. "Source: my wedding. We'll start three days before. The wedding was a renaissance fair–style wedding outside at a large gazebo and the maid of honor had promised to purchase a stylized dress for my bride that they had agreed on. THREE DAYS before the wedding, she called to tell us she had no money and was embarrassed to admit it, so we literally hand-sewed a dress together in 24 hours. In my opinion, it turned out pretty nice for what it was. The bride's mother was supposed to pick up the cake and drive an hour south for the wedding. She left her house 30 minutes before the wedding to pick it up. When she finally showed up (an hour late) the cake was DESTROYED. She put it in the back seat and drove like hell all the way down, just slamming it against the box with every turn."
"During the one-hour delay, there was almost a fist fight between two groomsmen because the maid of honor showed up in the dress she was 'unable to afford' in an obvious attempt to upstage the bride. During her speech after the ceremony, the maid of honor started it by saying, 'When we all met, I did not like [my name] at all, however I found that he grows on you like a fungus.' Needless to say, my entire side of the family was super cold about all of this. Since all of these issues were on the bride's side, I was told to suck it up and we'd discuss it later. I sort of assumed that a lot of these 'friends' had just shown themselves the door. Quite the opposite. In fact, two years later when I accepted my first well-paying job out of college, it became an issue that it was an hour and a half out of our town, so she decided to stay behind with her friends. I mailed her the divorce papers, and since she couldn't even be bothered to even show up to the hearing, I haven't seen her again."
8. "The soon-to-be bride told me two days beforehand that she found her fiancé annoying, she didn’t like him, and he was AWFUL in bed. She was visibly, endlessly uncomfortable at the rehearsal wedding/dinner. Then, she sobbed the ENTIRE morning, day-of. She ended up not getting any makeup done because she wouldn’t stop scream-sobbing and refused to get dressed, which stalled the wedding about 35 minutes. She then said 45 minutes of 'vows' that she had prepared (nine pages of vows to friends and family, his parents and sisters, and none of them to her actual husband). Then, she ALMOST didn’t even say 'I do.' She managed to get an, 'Uh, yeah, okay. Yeah, I do,' out almost a full minute after she was supposed to say anything."
"I could go on for HOURS, but it was the most painful and awkward wedding I’ve ever been to. I’ve got my money on 10 months. We’re one month in."
9. "They were doing their vows and the priest got to the 'for richer or poorer' part. She said, 'For richer or richer, and maybe for poorer.' The officiant was not pleased. I think they made it a year."
10. "When my sister married her first husband, she mouthed to my father walking her down the aisle, 'I can make this work, right?' They were divorced six months later."
11. "I was the maid of honor. Me, the best man, and the couple went into a separate room to do the signing stuff. The bride excused herself to go to the bathroom and the groom started making pretty mean remarks about her cooking (something she's passionate about) to the officiant. She came back, heard they were talking about cooking family meals together, and gave him the warmest smile, thinking he had praised her. He scoffed awkwardly and changed the topic. That always stuck with me. He wasn't laughing WITH her, but AT her — behind her back. They lasted seven months."
12. "The bride tried to playfully feed the groom some cake and kept pulling it back once it got close to his mouth. The third time she did this, he slapped it out of her hand and stormed off. In the ensuing awkward silence and wide-eyed staring, we all knew it wouldn't last. Surprisingly, they were together for nearly two years before the bride eloped with her step-brother. No one saw that coming."
13. "Prior to my wedding, I’d asked my husband to practice dancing with me because I’m uncoordinated due to a disability. He blew me off and said we’d be fine. As we were dancing, he spoke in my ear, not even quietly, 'What are you doing? What’s wrong with you? You’re embarrassing me!!' We lasted two years. Leaving was the best decision I ever made."
14. "Wedding videographer here! I think my favorite moment was when I was sitting at the miscellaneous table with all the randoms and the girl next to me, the groom's ex, drunkenly admitted to sleeping with the groom a few months prior."
15. "The groom left for two hours in the middle of the reception to run a live fantasy football draft. They’re divorced now."
16. "I worked at a museum that also doubled as a wedding venue in the summers. As part of the wedding package, the museum would stay open after hours for the guests, so I’d just sit there and greet people basically. One wedding got particularly rowdy. Almost everyone was drunk, people were jumping into the fountain, and someone vomited in said fountain. At one point, the bride was crying. Turns out the groom and one of his groomsmen were screwing upstairs in one of the bathrooms. A fight ensued between the groom and the father of the bride and cops were called because it got really ugly. It was entertaining for me, but I felt so bad for the bride."
17. "The bachelor party and the bachelorette party were in Vegas at the same time — across the hall from each other. The bride and groom got in a huge fight on the last night of the trip, and when I was leaving I said, 'I'll see you guys at the wedding,' to the groom and he replied, 'I'm not sure there's gonna be one.' There was a wedding, but they were divorced within 18 months I believe."
18. "Two friends of mine got married, and when they gave their vows, the guy started laughing at the part about being faithful. Oops."
19. "The bride and groom did the first dance then spent the rest of their reception completely apart from each other getting shit-faced with their own separate friend groups. The only other dancing all night was the bride dancing with her high school friends, the father-daughter dance, and the mother-son dance, during which the groom was crying. The best man's speech didn't mention the bride at all and basically boiled down to, 'Groom, you're married now, but our bond is older and stronger. All of our hunting and fishing trips together are the best things in our lives, and I can't wait for more.' Such a sad, desperate atmosphere. They made it a little over one year."
20. "My wife and I were both in the wedding party for a friend of mine. We found out the bride was talking to guys on a dating app WHILE she was getting ready the morning of the wedding. Also, during the ceremony, more than one family member could be heard saying it wouldn't last and what a mistake it was."
21. "The groom ended up at the emergency room between the ceremony and the reception. He went out the night before with his sister and friends and got plastered. They had to hold a cold pack to the back of his neck to keep him vertical during the wedding photos. The marriage lasted 30 days until they had a fight. She left the house and he filled the U-Haul truck with everything but her clothes."
22. "The groom looked deep into my daughter's eyes and said his vows to her. She was the maid of honor."
23. "I used to work at a wedding venue, and this is the first story that comes to mind. At this particular venue, there was a bridal suite and a groom suite where the wedding party could get ready onsite, have a couple drinks, hang out, watch movies, bring game consoles in to play, etc. (we had a huge flat screen in the groom’s suite with a pool table). Since the groomsmen always got ready fast and had their pictures done first, it wasn’t that uncommon for people to want to do other things while they waited for the ceremony and the wedding to start. ANYWAY, when it came time for the other coordinator and I to line the bridal party up for the ceremony, we went to the groom’s suite to make sure he was ready to go since the ceremony was starting very, very soon. We walked in to find him half-dressed, sitting on the couch playing whatever game. He didn’t even bother to look up at us."
"Myself and the other coordinator said, 'Hey [groom], we already started lining everyone up. It’s time to start your ceremony. We need you…since it’s your wedding.' No joke, he sat there silently and continued to play his game until he said, 'Yeah, give me a second. I really can’t pause this right now.' RIGHT BEFORE HIS OWN DAMN WEDDING CEREMONY. The ceremony ended up delayed because he didn’t want to separate himself from his game. On his wedding day. If I’m not mistaken, they divorced after four months."
24. "I had one person at my wedding telling me I was making a huge mistake. I didn't believe it until I overheard my now ex-husband and his best friend talking about how hot a female guest was. How she was the 'most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on.' Not me. Humbling."
25. "We met at the groom's house on our way to the bachelor party. We gathered around for a shot, and his toast, verbatim, was, 'To my future ex-wife.' We all looked at each other awkwardly for a moment but ultimately didn't think much of it and had a great night. Turned out he was already cheating on her. He ended up having a kid with the other woman and they got divorced when she found out. He is obviously no longer a friend."
26. "This was before the wedding. The groom’s grandmother and mother visited the bride’s house to make sure her kitchen and pantry were fully and properly stocked with their precious baby boy’s favorite snacks and that she knew how to 'keep a house in good order.' That was a big old 'fuck no.'"
27. "Prior to the wedding, the bride made the groom unfriend most of his female friends on Facebook. Not because he had ever (or would ever) cheat, just because she thought she should be the only woman in his life. This was just the beginning of the emotional abuse, and the poor guy didn’t even get the satisfaction of leaving her. She divorced him after cheating on him, obviously."
28. "This guy I know was getting married for the second time and his bride had written a whole page of vows for him. It was really sweet and you could tell she put a lot of time into it, but when it was his turn for his vows, all he said was, 'What she said!' The look of disappointment on her face was really heartbreaking."
29. "The groom decided to start a cake fight without any warning or discussion beforehand and shoved the bride’s face in cake. Not long after, I saw her in the bathroom, tears streaming down her face, her hair and makeup ruined, with a bridesmaid trying to get cake out of her ears."
30. "The bride awkwardly sang a duet at the ceremony. It was a duet with another man because the groom couldn't sing. It was really special."
31. Finally: "I knew it was over when the groom's speech was, 'Thanks everyone for coming. Thank you to my in-laws for paying for such an amazing day. And thanks to my new wife, who’s been fucking my best friend for the past two years.' Literal mic-drop moment, and he walked out. Apparently he found out about them not long before the wedding and decided his speech would be his revenge."
What's the most painfully awkward thing you've witnessed at a wedding? Tell us your story in the comments below!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.