[adpiucf]

Years ago, I was in a wedding where the rehearsal was held two days before the wedding and the rehearsal "dinner" was subsequently held at a bar where everyone paid for their own drinks. It wasn't really a dinner, as there was no food. It was fun, but, not surprisingly, everyone was very hung over the next day. Thankfully, we all had a day to sober up before the festivities continued because the rehearsal was on a Friday and the wedding was on a Sunday. During that in between day, on Saturday, there were no planned activities. Some people were recruited to set up for the wedding. The rest of us sat around twiddling our thumbs... Until the bride decided to go AWOL.

She and the groom had gotten into a last minute squabble over table linens, and she turned off her cell phone and took off. No one, including her parents, knew where she went or if she would show up at the wedding. She didn't come home that night and we had no idea if there was even going to be a wedding.

Thankfully, she appeared on the morning of the wedding and the show went on. The ceremony was held outside on a lake and no one could hear their vows because the bride was adamant that they not be mic'd because their personal vows were "private." Even being an attendant, you couldn't hear a thing and I sort of think it was a bit disrespectful to the 100 or so people who had come from far and wide to celebrate the happy couple.

The reception wasn't awful, but the search for the runaway bride sort of put a cloud over the entire party. Oh, and then the guests were asked to come back and break down the reception the next morning...