19 Wild And Disturbing Stories About What It's Really Like In The Wedding Industry, Straight From The Workers Themselves
Weddings are easily one of the most exciting yet stressful times in a person's life. And since it requires a lot of money and preparation to ensure the day is flawless, people are bound to experience a few hiccups during the wedding planning process.
So when a Reddit user asked, "People who work in the wedding/marriage industry, what is the wildest drama you've experienced at a wedding?" there were some pretty juicy responses. Here's what they had to say in case you're in the midst of wedding planning yourself (or already survived it):
1."I'm a wedding officiant. The worst I saw was the venue manager punching the DJ square in the face, splattering blood all over the bride's dress. The venue manager was drunk and didn't like a particular song the DJ was playing. The bride thankfully laughed it off as the groomsmen carried the kicking and screaming venue manager to the door, and literally threw him on his a-- out the door of his own venue."
"The venue owner was then called and came to take the manager home. The venue owner gave them 50% off the rental cost on the spot. The bride and groom couldn't have been happier."
2."I sing in a wedding band and we always get requests for the first dances. The most unusual one was a mother/son dance. The song requested was 'The Lady Is a Tramp.'"
3."I used to help out with weddings at my church and I had the cutest drama ever. Two little boys were ring bearers and it was time for them to walk down the aisle and the littler one (probably 3-years-old) just stood there. His older brother (probably 5-years-old) nudged him to go and the little one turned around and pushed him back, so the older one pushed him and they fought, wrestled, and pushed each other the whole way down the aisle. I found that hilarious, I am not so sure the bride did though."
4."I worked in event planning for about 10 years, and it was almost entirely weddings. The most dramatic would probably be the time the groom discovered he was allergic to horses as he was being pulled down to the gazebo by several horses. We had to call an ambulance. He was OK after they got him some antihistamines, but his face was so swollen they couldn't take any pictures. They were nice people. They were shockingly calm about the entire ordeal."
5."Wedding DJ here. The bride was looking for the groom to do the first dance. It took them about 30-40 minutes to track him down. He was barfing in the bathroom. When he returned to the hall, he smelled strongly of weed and had clearly been drinking heavily. They finally got him out of the bathroom. We started the first dance and he was clearly in bad shape. The bride started lecturing him throughout their first dance. True love..."
6."I worked as a server at a place that did occasional wedding receptions. At one event, the staff was asked to see if anyone knew where the bride was, as no one knew where she had gone off to and hadn't been seen recently. She was quickly found in a bathroom stall, completely passed out and still holding a bottle of wine."
7."I once was threatened by the father of the bride and had the cops haul him off all because his daughter didn't pay for a cake, so I didn't make it. We do everything online, through a payment plan. You do your down payment after we agree on the design/flavors from the tasting and then sign a contract. In that contract, it states that if the cake isn't paid for in advance, I don't make it. We send you reminder emails and such, so it's not like we just straight up ignore you until it's go time, but still, it's your responsibility to pay. His daughter never made payments on her cake so my payment system canceled it and refunded her money minus the down payment, as is standard."
"I get a call morning of, asking where I am. I tell the venue I have no idea, since I have no cake on record. They thank me and hang up.
The dad shows up an hour later, fuming. He thought it was unfair that I screwed up her big day because 'she didn't know any better' even though I told her how it works, it was in her contract, and she was 35. He then insisted I make her a cake in around six hours, for free. I told him there was no way I could do that even if I needed to, which I didn't because it was his daughter's screw-up that caused her to not have a cake. He started screaming and threatened to kill me, unaware that one of my regulars in the shop that morning was an off-duty cop with his kid.
Daddy got hauled off to jail before the cocktail hour was even done."
8."I worked in a hotel in a smallish town, which was one of the only venues around to get married, and a popular venue in general. The bride came to the bar asking if we had seen the groom as he was needed for some photographs for cutting the cake, but can't quite remember. None of the staff had seen him so she went outside, only to return a few minutes later in tears. She had caught the groom getting with the maid of honor...her sister."
"All-out family war commenced with extra guests just sitting there enjoying the buffet. The worst part was hearing the bride cry 'I can't believe this happened again.' I really felt bad for her because she was lovely."
9."The bride and her mother did a cake tasting. We designed a wedding cake for the bride. All details were decided. The bride left happy. The mother of the bride came back alone to change the design of the wedding cake because she did not like the design the bride picked out. We told her sorry, your name is not on the order to make any changes. The mother of the bride walked out and slammed the door."
10."I worked as a bartender for 30 weddings the summer after college. One time, a cake was brought in from over an hour away, right before people started arriving. It was one of those super fancy ones, probably five layers each with space in between them. Two guys carried it in, put it on a table, and the whole thing slid off and was ruined. The bride had a meltdown but apparently, they had a backup cake and the guys went back and got it but it wasn't as nice."
11."I have officiated many weddings and have witnessed crazy drama. The worst was when we were all set and ready, the friends and family were 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 down the aisle, out the door, hopped into his buddy's car, and 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."
12."I'm a wedding photographer, and at one wedding, the bride went to put on her dress and it didn't fit. It was a corset back with a flap that pulls across under it, but she had gained weight and the flap didn't go all the way across her back anymore. Her mom started hysterically yelling at her daughter saying she warned her she was getting fat and should have stopped eating so much. The bride was in tears and mortified."
"I had to kick the mom out of the room and take control of the situation. Luckily, the hotel sheets were a close enough ivory, so we cut a piece from the sheets to use as the fabric under the corset threading and it was passable. I kept the mom away from the poor bride all day."
13."I was employed for the reception in a wedding band. It was an outdoor, private estate event. The family owned a boating club and so we were among rows of family-owned cottages. There was an open bar and food was being catered. We were to play after their dinner, but had to arrive between the ceremony and the reception. It was 'social,' until the catering was supposed to have arrived. They were an hour late, then they were almost two hours late."
"The 'social' atmosphere became more heated and closing in on almost three hours. I was concerned that tables would be flipped. There was some yelling, and a lady tripped on her high-heel and went face-first into a gravel walkway. They had to rush her to the parking lot on a quad to meet the ambulance since nobody was capable of driving her into town."
14."The DJ tried to help move the cake and it fell on him, leaving an imprint of his face on the side!"
15."I worked in a dress salon and one of the brides bought a dress in advance when she was a size 16. She lost weight and came back a week before. She started screaming at us that we sold her the wrong dress. She legit became a size 10. I get it, you want to look good on your wedding day, but wouldn't the dress size be the first thing you'd consider?"
16."I used to work catering at a banquet hall. The bride and groom had around $2K in cash for the honeymoon. It was in the bride's purse, stored in a locked closet, that members of the bridal party only had access to. The money got stolen out of the purse. It turns out one of the family members stole the money. Not sure what happened after, but I'm sure it was some good family drama."
17."As I was doing the bride's makeup, her aunt would not stop questioning whether her groom was 'the one.' The first time she asked I assumed she was joking, but by the fifth time, I began to feel so sorry for the bride."
18."I work at corporate events but work in the same office as the wedding/social planner. The bride and her bridesmaids got super drunk and left all of their bouquets behind. I guess at the end of the night, as everyone was leaving, a server asked one of the bridesmaids if she wanted to take all of the bouquets for everyone and she said 'Nah, just trash them.' Well, the bride had tied her grandmother's wedding band to her bouquet and forgot about it. She called the next day but it was long gone at the dump."
19."I don't work in the industry but my brother's wedding photographer told her the craziest wedding story: The mother-in-law was making all the arrangements, calling the shots, and the bride was getting more and more uncomfortable. When she finally started to disagree, the mother-in-law told her 'Do not think for a second that this ceremony is about you!'"
If you've worked in the wedding industry, share what your experience has been like in the comments!
© 20th Century Fox / Via giphy.com
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
