21 Tales of Weddings Gone Horribly Wrong

The day of your dreams can all-too quickly turn into a nightmare.

These 21 people took to Reddit to share the most outrageous things they've ever witnessed as wedding guests – and each one makes eloping even more tempting than the last.

"After the vows and the kiss, as the couple was walking together down the aisle, the mother of the bride stopped the recessional and announced that she and her husband were renewing their vows right then and there. The husband was mortified, but went along with it. After all, they paid for the wedding, and the band and the flowers, and they didn't want all of that to 'go to waste.' Once they had renewed their vows, the bride's mother invited everyone to the 'joint reception.' Throughout the reception, the mother loudly and repeatedly commented on how many gifts the bride and groom had received and how no one had bothered to bring a gift for the mother and husband. Never mind the fact that none of the guests (nor the wedding party, the planners, nor anyone else) knew the bride's parents would be exchanging vows.
Towards the end, after a whole night of drinking, the drunken and sobbing mother accused the bride of stealing the her 'special day,' called her a whole bunch of mean things in front of her friends and family, then grabbed the wedding cake and left. The bride and groom had another ceremony a few weeks later. No parents were invited."

"It was dad's cousin's wedding. My dad's uncle (the groom's father) did a toast when the groom and bride were at the altar (not normal) and said, 'I'm glad I made it out here today. I just want you guys to know that I have cancer and I'm going to die soon. Congrats to my son and his beautiful bride. Enjoy your time!' Everyone was in complete silence. It was the most awkward thing I've possibly ever witnessed. FYI, this was in 2008 and the groom's father is still alive."

"My husband and I were invited to the wedding of a military buddy of his. We were running a little late but weren't too worried. We got onto base and headed for the main chapel (there are three or four chapels on base). When we got to the main chapel, it was apparent that there was no wedding going on. Looked at the invitation again. It just said 'Post Chapel' and gave an address. So obviously, this wasn't the Post Chapel that the bride had intended and I whipped out my phone to look up the address. We drove to that part of the base and found the place. It was some sort of administration building, definitely not a chapel. We were confused, but we found a building with 'Chaplain's Office' on the directory so we figured we'd been invited to some sort of civil ceremony. The building was locked. Now thoroughly confused and late at this point. As we were wondering what we should do, we see an older gentleman in a tuxedo wandering around. He's pretty clearly in the same boat. Turns out he's the groom's father and he doesn't have any more idea what's going on than we do. After a few more minutes, a soldier arrives. He's the chaplain's assistant and he's looking for lost wedding guests (namely the groom's father). Turns out the bride put down the wrong address and the wrong chapel name on the invitation. By the time we got to the wedding (which they had delayed because the groom's dad was missing), the bride was in tears. I felt so bad for her. They finally started the wedding, and the chaplain gave an awkward sermon and lost his place several times. Finally, as the ceremony was over and the guests began to applaud, a bat fell down out of the ceiling and died. Craziest wedding I'd ever been to."

"Good friends were getting married. The bride's sister-in-law is p---ed off something mighty. It was a wedding and reception by a lake, and everyone knew the venue, so we dressed accordingly – shirts and comfortable trousers, sundresses and sandals, etc. Sister-in-law is dressed like she's heading out for an evening of dinner and dancing. Sky-high heels, tight dress, rhinestones everywhere. She looks gorgeous! But it's not comfortable. And we're outside. The ceremony is sweet ... except for the words "F---ing bugs… f---ing pine needles, goddamn dirt …" that's being picked up from the small (yet apparently mighty) microphone up front. Right after the ceremony, we walk over to the gazebo/picnic area where the reception will be, and the sister-in-law starts lobbing her high heels at her husband, screeching about what an awful day it is, gashes her husband's eyebrow open. While people are scrambling to get him napkins because facial wounds bleed a ton and try to get him into a car to drive him the the hospital for stitches she decides to up the ante. She says 'I can't take this anymore!' and throws herself off of the dock in a dramatic swan dive. The problem is, the lake at that point was only four feet deep, and marshy, so instead of a suicide, she just sort of ... bobs? along in the water because everyone's more concerned with her husband's eye/face. Sister-in-law's father just turns towards the lake, tells her to get her ass out of there and cut the s---. They pile into two cars and drove off. It was surreal."

"The main hostess for the reception of about 30 guests carried in the 3-tier wedding cake, rather than using a cart. She not only dropped it, but fell face-first into it on the floor. First dead silence … then a few giggles … and then her emotional breakdown like I have never seen before. She was completely devastated from both the embarrassment and ruining that special moment. We all eventually assured her that we're half drunk and don't care about the cake. The best part was that she easily collected $1,000 more in tips than she would have had that not happened."

"At a wedding of a college friend of my husband's, we learned that the bride (his old friend) had been in love with my husband for over a decade. We learned this from the women at our table at the reception. We introduced ourselves while we waited for the bride and groom to arrive. They were horrified that we were there and extremely worried. My husband had NO idea that she had feelings for him. The bride beelined right for our table after the 'introducing Mr. & Mrs.' thing – ignoring her family and leaving her husband standing alone. She clung to my husband and sobbed – lifting her head to glare at me. She had to be pulled off of him. She repaired herself, then followed us as we tried to leave quietly – her parting shot was to stare at my chest and say, 'Well, I guess I know what I was missing all along!' Her new husband was in shock and my husband was horrified and embarrassed – he was completely clueless and would never have gone to the wedding if he'd know she was obsessed with him. It was bizarre."

"The pastor officiating my wedding had a heart attack, and my (now) wife and I caught him as he fell. We have video of my wife, in her wedding dress, consoling the pastor's wife, who was in tears behind the podium. One of my groomsmen is an ER doc and handled the situation well, and the pastor finally came back around. He was stubborn and insisted on finishing the ceremony (through the sound of sirens of the ambulance coming for him). Then my brother (best man) passed out minutes later. Apparently he had put on the wrong collared shirt and it was too tight around the neck. At least the EMTs had something to do while the pastor finished up. My brother spun and handed the rings off to ER doc groomsman as he fell, and my wife and I just busted up laughing at that point."

"Ex-girlfriend of the groom showed up at the wedding … uninvited and drunk. He broke up with her 10 years earlier, and has not seen her in over 8 years. She was loud and saying very perverted thing about what she wanted to do to the groom. The bride steps up, goes all out and punches the ex in the face ... knocks the ex out cold. The bride we know is a normally calm and peaceful person. A few of us carry the ex out of the reception and drop her at her apartment about 20 min away. Bride told my wife that 'there is nothing that will ruin my wedding day.'"

"The groom waiting at the end of the aisle all smiles and happiness until a bridesmaid came quietly walking down the aisle and pulled him aside to talk to him. The bride had run off."

"Bride and groom were 2 hours late to the wedding. Neither one of them has a license, but had to have a wedding out in the woods. They never thought to contact anyone and ask for a ride to their wedding. Of course they didn't pay the cell phone bill and it got shut off. Didn't matter because there was no cell reception where we were anyway."

"It was my friend's wedding last year. They had only known each other for 6 months or so before they got married. She was Mormon, he was Atheist. We all thought it was really weird. The parents of the bride and groom hated each other. Two moms got into a verbal argument, then it because physical. I don't know who made the accusation, but one said they're only getting married because she's knocked up. Aaaaand she popped a baby out 6 months later trying to pass it off as a preemie. Yeah, no."

"The groom pretty much made out with his mother. Big, slobbery kisses on the lips. Then when he was dancing with the bride he spent the entire dance staring over her shoulder at his mother."

"My dad taking pictures at my brother's wedding. It doesn't sound bad, but he was getting in the way of the photographer my brother hired. Every pic he tried to take my dad was right beside him inching him out and pushing him out of the way. My brother and mom were both furious."

"The usher was handing out little pamphlets, and as he did would let every single person know that he had just got engaged recently."

"Was a wedding DJ for 7 years. DJ'd several hundred weddings. Seen a lot of stuff. One horrible thing I've witnessed: I introduce the best man to give his speech and hand him the mic. He starts out by saying, 'Well, there were a lot of things that I didn't agree with in this relationship when it first started, and that I still don't agree with because it's seriously messed up and unbalanced and the dynamic is too one sided, etc. etc. (he's staring at the bride while saying this, proceeds to trail off) … But … that's not why we're here today. We're here ... to celebrate the marriage between Jack and Ingrid … so I just want to say congratulations, best of luck to you guys, etc. etc.' Everyone in the whole place was just looking around, glancing nervously at one another. Afterwards the father of the groom or bride (can't remember which one) comes up to me and says, "'Thank you for not cutting the mic. I saw you looking at the head table and at us for direction and when you didn't get it, you didn't act. I appreciate that because I think it would have been even more awkward if he had just been cut off and didn't get the chance to at least come back to congratulating them.' Most awkward compliment I've ever received."

"I worked on the banquet staff for a high-end wedding reception facility throughout college. Bride, groom, and wedding party got super drunk so we called them cabs around 1 a.m. ... the cabs arrived but the bride was nowhere to be found. I was doing a bathroom check and stumbled upon the bride passed out in a stall with vomit all over her wedding dress. I don't think that dress will be passed down to future generations …"

"Had one wedding with a nice couple from a very religious family. Everything was very traditional and it was time for dancing so the DJ started with some slow songs like always but then he 'kicked it up a notch' with some pretty vulgar and unedited rap/metal songs ... turns out he was looking at the song requests for the wrong wedding. The looks of horror on some of the older people's faces was pretty priceless."

"My parents had a pretty disastrous wedding. I wasn't there to witness it but my parents and the guests tell the stories all the time. The wedding was in July, they were expecting a hot, sunny day but it ended up being a major downpour. My mother had a taxi scheduled to take her from her hotel to the church; due to the rain the taxi was super late. As my mother was waiting, in her wedding dress, she gets hit by a car. She gets knocked to the ground, but it wasn't hard enough to break any bones so she just walks it off. Unfortunately, her dress picked up a lot of the mud from her fall and a big chunk of lace was torn. It turns out the car that hit her was actually the taxi that was supposed to pick her up.
She finally makes it to the church, my father was in tears, on the verge of a nervous breakdown thinking that she wasn't going to show. Again, because of the rain, about a third of the guests didn't make it. At the reception, the hotel was understaffed due to the rain and the DJ couldn't make it (again, due to the rain) so the reception consisted of guests sitting around in a silent room waiting for food. A plus-one soon decides that she is literally dying of hunger so she goes up and cuts a slice of the wedding cake for herself before my parents had taken pictures with the cake or sliced it. On the positive side, later on they discovered that a restaurant in the hotel had a jukebox so the restaurant lets them move it into the banquet hall and they're able to pop in some quarters to get music playing. It was a disaster at the time, but now they look back at it and laugh."

"I went to a wedding with my boyfriend a few years ago. His friend was marrying a woman that NO ONE liked. She was awful. During the ceremony we could all tell that the best man was uncomfortable. As soon as the ceremony ended the best man burst into tears for about 10 minutes and had to excuse himself. You could tell he just realized that is best friend was gone forever. We tried to cheer him up and reassure him that him and the groom would still be close, and that the bride wasn't too bad. Everyone present knew it was a lie and we were all just so depressed. Later, the bride came and yelled at our entire group (all of her husband's friends) because we weren't dancing enough. We weren't dancing because they had no DJ, just a short playlist with the couples favorite (not dance-y) songs being played on repeat. I think throughout the whole night we heard playlist start and end about 5 times."

"Our buddy stood up to make his best man speech and was so drunk he was swaying all over the place and slurring his words. The groom was not too happy, his wife is super conservative and a 'goody-goody' and was really upset. aAyway, our boy making the speech started saying stuff like 'You can do better than her, we never see you any more, man and she took you from us. You need a girl who's cool and ...' and then he got cut off by the bride's father, and was taken to the back to 'have a few words' (the father of the bride punched our buddy right in the gut and sent him home in a cab)."

"The DJ got so drunk that she couldn't even stand. She didn't have the bride's wedding song, so a group of people all joined hands and tried to sing the song (some random country song) for her and she just stood in the middle of the circle crying in her dress, and no one knew the lyrics. Her father got wasted and started a fight which ended with him destroying a stop sign with his fists."