Weddings are a beautiful celebration of love.
Giving one the chance to witness two people begin their new life together.
Be they family, close friends, or merely a friend of your date, it's unlikely you will ever see the newlyweds ever looking happier in their life as they exchange vows, profess their love, and share their first dance.
Indeed, if they don't seem to be enjoying themselves at their own wedding, it doesn't bode particularly well for their future.
Nor does it bode well if one catches the newlyweds engaging in behavior which doesn't suggest they've taken their vows of commitment seriously.
Redditor Olya_roo was curious to hear stories from people who correctly predicted failed marriages based on what they saw at the wedding, leading them to ask:
"What wedding moment made you think: 'They are not going to last long'?"
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
"As a wedding photographer I have been to more than my share of weddings."
"It was a REAL shotgun wedding."
"Dad didn't realize it would not stand up in court."
"Only time the groom was more excited to have photos than the bride."
"She wanted a limo, he thought a hearse would be better and kept doing Lurch impressions."
"From 'The Adams Family'."
"Her friends took turns motorboating her, females, and he said, get it out of your system as after tonight you never get to do that again."
"Was a good sign also when she dove into the pool with her bridesmaids at the reception, in her wedding dress."
"Don't know what happened."
"Sat down with bride and groom, filling out the contract."
"Got the deposit."
"He stood up, said forget it, and walked out."
"2 months later I get told the wedding is off, 3 months later she calls to rebook, different groom."
"Day of the wedding I am at the church."
"Got the final payment the week before."
"No one shows."
"No one, just me and the DJ."- TexasTiger70
Some People Just Aren't Meant To Be Married...
"Not the couple getting married but the Best Man and Maid of Honor who were married to each other."
"Best Man's speech was all about how hard it was to be married. "
"'I've been married for a year and it feels like 100 years'."
"Maid of Honor stands up to give a speech and just says 'Ditto'."
"It was so awkward and really brought the whole room down."
"Brother of the bride stood up and gave a nice impromptu speech about teamwork and having a partner to go through life with."
"How happy the family was to have the groom join their family."
"Best Man and Maid of Honor were divorced within a year."
"Couple who got married are still married 30+ years later."
"I sometimes wonder if the speeches actually were helpful in how not to act as a couple."
"For me the complex backstory."
"Bride's brother is gay and has been in a longterm relationship for 40+ years."
"At the time he gave his speech about marriage he couldn't marry the man he loved and I think his passioned defense of marriage was born from that."
"When people would say they were against gay marriage because it makes a mockery of marriage I'd think of that night."
"The married couple who had no respect for marriage could easily marry, and did over and over again, and the man who stood up and defended marriage could not."
"He's married now and lovingly takes care of his husband as he battles health issues."- designgoddess
Money Isn't Everything... Or Is It?
"When they were doing the vows and the priest got to the 'for richer or poorer' part and she said 'for richer or richer and maybe for poorer'."
"The officiant was not pleased."
"I think they made it a year."- crm115
With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
"My Wedding."
"We'll start three days before."
"The wedding was a ren-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 calls to tell us she had no money and was embarrassed to admit it."
"So we literally hand-sewed one together in 24 hours."
"IMO it turned out pretty nice for what we had."
"Brides mother was supposed to pick up the cake in ATX 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, 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 box with every turn."
"During the one hour delay, there was almost a fist fight between two groomsmen because, well the MoH showed up, IN THE DRESS THAT SHE WAS 'UNABLE TO AFFORD'."
"Obvious attempt to upstage the bride."
"The same MoH during her speech after the ceremony started it off by saying 'When we all met, I did not like Drakkarim411 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 to all of this."
"Since all of these issues were on her side of friendships or families, I was told to suck it up and we'll discuss 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 Austin, so she decided to just stay in ATX to be with her friends."
"I mailed her the divorce papers and since she couldn't be bothered to even show up to the hearing, I've never seen her again."- Drakkarim411
Seriously, Does She Even Like Him?
"She told me two days before that she found her fiancé annoying and that she didn’t like him and that he was AWFUL in bed."
"She was visibly, endlessly uncomfortable at the rehearsal wedding/dinner combo."
"Then she sobbed the ENTIRE morning, day-of."
"She ended up not getting any makeup done cause she wouldn’t stop scream-sobbing and refused to get dressed, stalling the wedding 35 minutes."
"She then said 45 minutes of 'vows' that she had prepared ."
"9 pages of things like inappropriate vows to friends and family, his parents and sisters, none of them her husband, and then ALMOST didn’t say 'I do'."
"Managed to get a, 'uh, yeah, okay, yeah I do' out of her almost a full 60 seconds 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 distanced myself from them completely."
"She is really clingy and liked to gossip about how awful her husband is and I really don’t have the time."
"She’s also told me they were in couples therapy after I expressed negativity towards some extremely concerning things she said regarding their relationship and lack of communication."
"She believes it’s all his fault and truly believes his parents and sisters are exactly the same."
"News flash, they’re all lovely people."
"Last I heard they keep moving all over the country and fight non-stop."
"No more lovey-dovey images on social media."
"Seems to be right on track for a 10 month breakup."- brbdead
In This Day And Age, This Is Just Sad...
"A fun light-hearted dance with the groom followed by a close and slow dance with her male best friend."- codyish
There is an old superstition that "the worse the wedding, the better the marriage."
But when literally no one, including the supposedly "happy couple", is enjoying themselves, or committing to one person appears to be a burden, it's hard to imagine a happy marriage is in the cards.
