When you're invited to a wedding, you expect to attend a beautiful celebration of true love.
But even the greatest wedding you've ever been to was incredibly stressful to plan. Couples and their family's struggle to remain calm in the face of the insurmountable pressure to make sure the big day as flawless as possible.
Sometimes that stress explodes at the most inopportune time - right before or even during the wedding ceremony. For the unfortunate guests, the memory of seeing a wedding ruined before their eyes is unforgettable.
Redditor HarryIsPro asked:
"People who left someone at the alter, what made you do it and what was the fallout?"
At Least The Wedding Party Got A Refund
"My wife was set to be a bridesmaid in this wedding of her college friend. It was an out of state wedding, and they had people coming in from all over the USA and Europe for this. Expensive sorta deal, just my wife's dress was over $1,000 easy."
"Five days before the wedding, the groom called the whole entire thing off. The reason? He was Church of Christ and she was a Baptist and according to him, she was in the wrong church and since she wouldn't join his church then he had to break it off."
"To the weeping bride's credit, her parents did pay back everyone, including my wife the money for her bridesmaid dress."
– Americasycho
The Bride Knew It Wouldn't Be A Fair Way To Live
"I was a guest on the bride's side. An acquaintance from a previous job that was kind enough to invite me. Everything was going well. She started walking down the aisle then stopped halfway. Her father and mother came over. She whispered to them then they all turned around and walked away. The groom immediately followed. Music kept playing then slowly drifted away. We all just sat there in dead silence. A couple of minutes later the father of the bride came back down the aisle and apologized but there was going to be no wedding today."
"We all just got up and slowly left. There were a couple of angry family members on the grooms side but once they talked to the father of the bride they immediately just left. At the door the mother of the bride shook my hand and thanked us for coming, told us that they would explain everything later but for now we should just head home."
"The story is that the groom the night before ceremony confessed to the bride that he was gay. He loved her. He still wanted to marry her, provide and raise children. But he needed her to know. She couldn't let him live like that and it wasn't fair to either of them."
– RoboticEnterprise
The Cows Were The Last Straw
"My mom called off a wedding to a man she was engaged to before she met my dad. It was only one week before. She said they got into an argument over something very trivial (something having to do with cows?) but it was enough of a wakeup call for her that they were not right for each other. I know this man and she was right not to marry him. There were people that did not get word the wedding was cancelled and showed up at the church."
– rumchhataa
This Plot Twist During The Vows
"You could really tell the groom was trying his best not to explode, especially during the vows. Then when it was his turn to say 'I Do' he quickly capped it off with a loud 'NOT!' and just exploded on her. Like you could see his veins popping out of forehead and was shaking with rage."
"Everybody was confused, the bride's family started screaming at the groom's family. The groom announced to everyone that he was calling off the wedding because, and I quote, 'Because she's unfaithful and not even fit enough to work at Hooters'. The bride stormed off, fights broke out, and I was sitting in the back giggling in the background watching this all unfold while my friend was dying from embarrassment because the whole time she was talking about how rock solid the relationship was."
– LuLuCheng
She Could've Given Them A Warning
"One of my friend's sisters
It was a few years back...it was an arranged Indian wedding and the lady was initially very accepting and happy with the groom. They talked and fell in love with each other leading to the marriage...she was really looking forward to the wedding because she was very much involved in her wedding planning and preparation"
"So about one months before her wedding the lady met her high school crush and started to bond with him. Then she fell in love with the highschool guy."
"Well, she eloped with the guy just hours before the wedding. Her parents disowned her.....she hurt a lot of people doing that."
– yakshan
This Two-Timing Ex Caused A Scene
"Not my story but my ex. This wasnt completely at the altar."
"My ex was once engaged to this really beautiful and independent woman."
"During a wedding expo where his GF won some wedding package and was asked to come on stage, like any excited bride to be, she happy jumped on stage to accept the prize. This irritated my ex who said, her actions were selfish because she didnt take him with her to the stage and used this to Justify his next actions. He cheated on her 2 months before the wedding when all the venues and invitations were booked and sent out. Caused a huge deal of embarrassment to his poor over-religious mom. And it gets better."
"Him and the new fling bumped into the now exfiancee at the mall a few weeks before the supposed wedding. The incident snapped his ex-fiancee and she beat up the new girl in public- who btw was unaware she was girl #2."
– Sweetragnarok
They Were Just At The Finish Line
"I was dating this girl for 5 years. I popped the question and she happily agreed, 10 months in and the day had come, everything was fine until that question from the padre... i didnt noticed at first but someone walked as a guest to watch, and she literally changed her tone, her demeanor instantly changed, so when the padre asked the question she said a loud NO. And she walked away with someone. As it turns out, she was cheating on me with some dude for 1 year, apparently that dude knew about out wedding and walked in to scoop her out."
– miloca1983
Don't Go Where You're Not Invited
"My husband and I eloped. But we almost called it off because his cousin, who wasn't invited, decided he wanted to see us get married. My mil called to tell us this and we were pissed. We told her he is not invited, and we didn't want him there or his creepy gf. They ended up goin to the beach instead and came to hang out with us later. Still pissed us off that he just thought, he could just show up for our wedding with out an invite."
– Deleted User
This Bride Wanted To Be A Princess
"Didn't make it to the alter, but something similar in my life, few days before was given a multi-page list of demands and ultimatums along with a very clear explanation that she expected to be treated like a princess and I was a serf (one of the demands was that the $10k engagement ring needed to be replaced with something more appropriate)...yeah got real lucky on that one, hot only goes so far."
– Drifter74
More Twists Than A Roller Coaster
"The worst one I've ever seen was this guy who was crazy about the woman he was marrying, Linda."
"Anyway, it's the day of the wedding and she hasn't shown up. We're talking the music is replaying, guests are whispering and everyone just looked really confused."
"So the groom has someone call the bride. Come to find out, she wasn't going to marry him because he was a wedding singer. He got mad enough to the point of breaking a bunch of stuff and was living in his friend's basement. But it gets worse. Just when he was starting to get over Linda and found a new girl, Linda shows up to take care of him when he's hungover."
"The new girl sees his crazy ex and runs off to elope with someone else."
"It all worked out in the end though, because eventually Linda was out of the picture and Julia (the new girl) was on a plane about to elope with Glen (her awful boyfriend). She was second guessing things and the wedding singer brought out an acoustic guitar and started singing how he wanted to grow old with her."
"They eventually got married."
– Deleted User
He Didn't Hold Back
"Before he met my mom, my dad was engaged to a woman who left him 4 months before the wedding because she wanted to get back together with her ex."
"My dad said "Fine, but once you go, you're gone for good." She said she understood and she left."
"My dad sold her ring and used the money to buy a brand new Firebird. His buddy told him to drive by his now ex's house, honk the horn and say "Hey, your ring has wheels!" Unfortunately he decided against that."
"As anyone could have predicted, my dad's ex calls him a few months later begging him to meet up with her and talk. My dad flat out said no, but she kept begging and finally he said "Fine, but keep in mind, I've had a few months to think about all the things I want to say to you, and I will say every one of them." She said that was fine, she just wanted to see him."
"They meet for lunch, and she immediately tells him how sorry she is and that she wants him back. He said "I told you. Once you left, that was it." She apologized profusely and begged him to reconsider and he basically unloaded months of feelings and anger on her and said he wanted nothing to do with her."
"I've asked him what he said to her, but he refuses to repeat it because he doesn't want to say such awful things in front of his son."
"A few months later, my dad met my mom. He picked her up for their first date in the Firebird."
– VisionInPlaid
Talk About Dodging A Bullet!
"Not me but I was able to witness the entire debacle. My ex wife’s uncle was getting married in San Diego to a very superficial goldigger, plastic, California blonde. Her uncle had some incredibly wealthy friends and they flew us down on a private jet and put us up in one of their beachfront homes in La Jolla. It was interesting to get a glimpse into the life of the 1%. Well, nobody approved of the marriage and the night before the wedding the entire family (minus the goldigger) went out to dinner at a nice restaurant. Her uncle’s closest male friends took him out into the balcony and had a very frank discussion about the marriage with him. Somehow he had butt dialed her and she heard the entire conversation which was not at all flattering to her. Long story short, she heard it and the entire wedding was called off. Her uncle had all of his family in town so he took us all to dinner instead. The goldigger showed up drunk on the street with a bottle in her hand and railed at everyone like a manic street preacher. It was glorious to revel in the entire scene knowing the drama had nothing to do with me."
– turdferguson2000
This Poor Bridge!
"A family friend (much much older) had a similar situation. The groom told her a few days before the wedding that he was gay. She wanted to call it off. But her parents wouldn’t let her. Imagine the embarrassment! The Bishop is going to marry you, what would he think? We have all these people coming to this very expensive event! Etc. The wedding went on. Not surprisingly, the marriage wasn’t consummated, and didn’t last long. But at least her parents were spared the embarrassment"
– usually_just_lurking
How Awkward
"I was a plus one in a super fancy wedding, high profile family on the bride's side (e.g. she arrived by helicopter with her dad)."
"As the bride was preparing to enter the venue, we heard screaming outside. A sex worker was at the door demanding to see the groom. Apparently, he had sex with her at his bachelor party the week before and failed to pay the agreed amount. She had been threatening to show up at his wedding if he didn't pay and he didn't took her seriously. Oh, well..."
"He denied at first, then argued that she was paid but demanded more money after they were done. The bride was not moved by his defense and a screaming match ensued. The bride left cryng with her parents, we all stood there for a while and slowly started to go home. They broke up (of course)."
"From what I know, the whole wedding had been paid by the bride's family, but they were not short on money at all, so I think it was the last of their concerns."
– krncrds
This Gave Me A Laugh
"She was beautiful"
"the first day I met her by one of the towns bridges I knew I had to speak up. I bluntly put it, "looking for gf". She responded with a heartfelt "what can you offer?" I gave her a list of extravagant things I have accomplished and what we can venture off to do together. She liked that, so much so that we stayed close, and got closer over the next few weeks."
"Our month anniversary was coming up and I knew that I had to do something great for this girl. I asked her to marry me; gold ring in hand and ready to walk the isle."
"Fast forward to the day and were standing at the alter with a few of our closest friends in the stands, in the same town we met, by the same bridge we met. The moment comes up," do you, take zzRuNeLordzz to the your husband. And just as that's asked of the priest one of my friends types LFGF in chat. She immediately walks over and asked "what can you offer?" I was so crushed I didnt even replenish my prayer points at the alter and just left... last time I played runescape."
– AHxCode
This Is Brutal!
"My buddy was engaged to be married, everything was going great up until about 2 months before the wedding when the bride freaked out about something very minor during a family vacation and stopped speaking to him. They would text once a day so the other knew they were okay, they would say I love you and she would assure him she still wanted to get married."
"One month before the wedding she called it off. They still hadn't talked except for the texts. So he called all his people and told them the wedding was off. Only he forgot about one of his friends who had been on his fiance's list as he was a mutual friend. Mutual friend still went to the wedding where he found....a wedding. The woman had been seeing someone on the side, still went through with the wedding but to a different guy, all on my friends dime. He had left her in charge on cancelling everything."
– Ask_A_Sadist
Children Won't Hesitate To Ruin The Big Day
"Well, I wasn't the one getting married, it was my cousin's friend. I was 10 and was there only because he told me there was going to be food but it was taking too long so I just asked my cousin if we could go home and he told me 'no' so I started crying and eventually he called my grandpa to come pick me up and I got my butt whooped."
– Yoshimai123
We understand why some couples elope to save on costs... but also to save on family dramatics.
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments.