What went wrong with your wedding?

[joliebelle]

The events coordinator that I had been working with for over a year left a few days before the wedding. As such, I ended up emailing back and forth with the both of them up until a day before the wedding. Because of all the emails, the new coordinator missed the fact that I wanted the bar closed an hour before the reception ended. I'm still pretty pissed that the coordinator left a few days before the wedding. Other than that lovely surprise at the end, everything was fantastic.

[Cheerio]

It's Summer, where are the new stories?

[NWguy]

Our family has bad wedding karma, or drama. This is a large Mexican-American family, btw.

* At my sister L's wedding, my sister V decided to leave the church before the ceremony started. She was still hurt and upset that she hadn't been chosen as the MOH and "needed some fresh air". Fearing she wouldn't come back, and upset herself, L asked a cousin to stand-in and walk down the aisle with me. That was fine until V showed up again, minus her bouquet, obviously had been crying, and then insisted on walking down the aisle. The church had plastic flowers downstairs in its kitchen, so that's what she marched down the aisle with. She then started crying during the wedding ceremony, and asked a family member sitting in the front row for tissue (as the ceremony was going on). She was *ordered* to go home afterwards by my father.

* My brother R has been married twice and coincidentally had wedding cake fails both times. The first wedding was in Florida, in April, and his soon-to-be MIL ordered the cake - well, it had some type of meringue or topping on it that required it to be chilled before serving. When it arrived at the house (reception was at the in-laws backyard), it was put in the garage. Well, it melted. It had sat there for hours in a non-AC'd garage with sunlight directly peaking through some windows at the cake. On his second wedding reception, a nephew of the bride wore sneakers with wheels on the bottom and ran into the table the cake was resting on. Only the bottom layer was salvageable.

* My sister E's wedding had multiple disasters. She "uninvited" my sister L because of a spat. She invited my cousin D, who was shunned by my aunt for marrying a black man. Without an invitation (although, we think my father invited her), my aunt shows up at the wedding and decides to sit with BIL's family, who are mostly red-headed Irish. She sat with them with at the wedding AND reception. She DID, however, give my sister a gift certificate for Olive Garden for....wait for it....100.00!! My sister would've been happy with a Bed, Bath and Beyond gift cert for 100.00, but Olive Garden?! Another disaster at E's wedding was that she insisted on a cousin who was mentally challenged (who is now deceased) attend the wedding reception; she didn't want her excluded. Well, said cousin, freaked out during family photos and threw a tantrum. And yet another disaster was that the BIL and his brother, his BM, wore traditional Irish kilts for the wedding; the plan was to change before the reception, but the brother kept his on and mooned everyone during an Irish Celtic dance - his side of the family laughed, my Mexican Baptist family was not happy.

* Finally, my sister V - never to be outdone - decided to marry by Justice of the Peace. My mom offered to buy her a nice new dress...but V wanted to wear something simple; she and BIL met as church missionaries and she didn't want any kind of extravagance. That went okay, actually. But no one had booked a restaurant for the reception, so we end up at Old Spaghetti Factory. After opening gifts, my sister asked for the receipts - she wanted to donate the money to charity. None of BIL's family showed up at the officiating or dinner because my sister called and told them it was going to be in Spanish and they wouldn't understand; they were offended. Plus, they all lived in another state. But here's the real kicker...when my BIL got up at Old Spaghetti Factory to pray, he asked the restaurant to turn off the overhead music so that he could say grace; when he was told that they couldn't shut it off, he said a very LOUD prayer.

[Dixie_Amazon]

No real drama at mine.

In my first wedding (1979) the flower girl stole the show sitting on the steps with her legs dangling, lifting her skirt over her head.

In my second wedding (1992) the video camera died. A new battery didn't help. At the reception people kept sneaking out to check the score of the LSU game. I blame ESPN for it being rescheduled it to a day game. When we set the date we had checked and planned an afternoon wedding to avoid the conflict.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Some crazy heifer named Amal knocked me down, stole my dress and went to the wedding in my place. So annoying.

How am I just seeing this now? Oh! Maybe because of the memories this thread invoke!

Actually "honeychile gets married, part deux" isn't nearly as bad. Please remember that I was in the process of moving from Pittsburgh to Chicago during this time!

-After proof reading the invitations at least four times (by both Jim and me), we managed to omit the time. He emailed everyone that, "Like our love, our invitations are timeless. The Service will be at 2pm." Crisis avoided.

-Two days before the wedding, my MOH & I got locked inside the church, with no cars left for us. We decorated our little hearts out, not realizing that the heat was programmed to 50 degrees after 4:30p (it was December) until we became numb. We could not get to the phone, and our cellphones needed to be charged. THANK HEAVENS that Jim was driving by the church, and wondered why the lights were still on!

-At this point, I still did not know if my brother - my one relative who even considered attending! - was coming into town or not. When I got back to the hotel after the Rehearsal Dinner, I had a voicemail that he was in the hotel, and that he had found a wonderful climbing wall facility, and he would meet me at the church. As Big Brother was once an internationally known rock climber, Climbing Wall obviously trumped Baby Sister's wedding.

-My MIL was sick in the hospital but was to be sprung for the wedding. I found out that she would not be permitted to leave the hospital at 9am on the morning of the wedding. The wedding was at 2pm, but never fear! Both my DH & pastor think it would be wonderful if we went to the hospital prior to the wedding, and have a sort of mini-service!

-The next hour is spent cancelling appointments (massage, nails, hair), and trying to make myself presentable. I was in my wedding dress, veil, gorgeous coat, and sneakers! Other supplies are in the back of the car.

-I only got lost once on the way to the church!

-We got to the hospital, and MIL is wearing black. Head to toe black. I have a cousin who got married in the 1960s, and my mother wore a very classic black and white dress. She did not speak to my mother for over 30 years! I decide to cut MIL a break - happily ever after could be a long time. She never once cracked a smile.

-Back at the church, I realized that the Spanx/pseudo-Spanx I was wearing (to maintain dignity with my dress) does not allow one to use the little bride's room. The little bride's room is also used for the toddler class, so the facilities are very, very low. I basically had to get nekkid and do the limbo to use the facilities prior to that long walk down the aisle.

-The bridesmaids swarmed around me much like you see the Peanuts characters do the Christmas Tree in Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. My veil, which was to ride very low, ended up perched at the top of my head. My hair was smushed down. A lot. I was trying to fix my makeup when one of the deaconesses popped in and said, "the music is starting!" We literally ran to the sanctuary!

-There were only two hitches to the service: 1) We used The Cord of Three Strands ceremony, but forgot to have something to tie off the braid. One of the photographers graciously donated elastic band from her hair for the cause! and b) I could not stop crying. Not loud, crazy tears, but "I wanted to have my parents here!" tears. Jim had dedicated a special song sung by the soloist for me, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house after that!

-Jim is a Deadhead. We had dated six years prior to getting engaged, and were engaged another ten years. The Best Man stood up and announced, "What a long, strange trip it's been!" Sadly, he continued with one of the best wedding speeches I ever heard, but we have no record of it - the photographer (not the one who donated her hair band), who was to also have the wedding recorded, neglected to tell me that there was no recording until we were literally leaving.

-This was all in December, 2011. We got the wedding pictures in January, 2015.

But do you know what? Other than wishing we could hear all of Eric's speech, and still wishing that my parents had been there, it's all good. I had the right groom this time, and that's what makes it right.

My wish for everyone who reads this finds someone at least half as wonderful as my guy!

And the song at the wedding: I Will Be Here.

[KSUViolet06]

Confession:

I am not a fan of children in weddings. Yes, I know flower girls and ring bearers are traditional. They are too much of a "wildcard" for me!

I went to a wedding about a year ago in which my BFF was a maid. I was her date as her boyfriend was out of town. The ring bearer was about 5. His sister was about 8 and the flower girl. Dad and mom were both in the wedding party as well.

So, the processional goes fine. Ringbearer actually does his thing pretty well and stands next to sister and daddy for the remainder of the ceremony.

The priest keeps talking and the boy starts to get antsy. Sister is doing okay. He starts wandering away from dad, dad is trying to discretely be like "Hey Zeke. Get back over here buddy!" He's not really listening and starts to wander further away from the party and toward the 5-8 stairs up into a microphone on the side of the pulpit (not the one the priest is speaking from.)

Priest is talking and all of a sudden we hear "HELLO" booming through the speakers. Ring bearer has somehow reached the top of the steps, up to this microphone and is talking into it. Guests are somewhat amused (and they laugh a little.) but the priest isn't. Sister is trying to motion for him to come down. Mom has this look of "omgggg" but is trying to stay composed on the side of the bride because the ceremony is going on, and tries to discretely motion for him to get over here.

Priest starts talking again and about a minute after that, the ring bearer TRIPS, ROLLS DOWN THE 5-8 STEPS and hits the ground pretty hard. Guests gasp because they think he is hurt. My friend looks at me and mouths "WHAT." Dad rushes over to him. Priest actually pauses and looks over. So does the couple (bride seemed to be more concerned with whether he was okay than anything.) Dad is mortified and practically carries him back over to where he was supposed to be sitting the entire time, and gives him a DS or something to play with so the ceremony could continue.

That is why I don't do kids at weddings. They're crazy.

[Sciencewoman]

My daughter was the flower girl in my husband's sister's wedding. She was almost 3, very precocious, but still, not even 3. She did great going down the aisle, dropping her petals, and the minister even commented on how well she did. She got bored during the ceremony and started singing "Jesus Loves Me" repeatedly. At least it was church-appropriate. My husband and I were cringing.

[2015ma]

I was not quite four when I was the flower girl in my aunt's wedding. Apparently when the priest said "Let us pray", I launched into "Now I lay me down to sleep". Fortunately she and my uncle have a good sense of humor . . .

Twenty-one years later, I asked her to read the Psalm when my husband and I were married, so she had an opportunity for payback which she mercifully did not utilize.

[3StringedLyre]

My wedding, while ultimately fun, what a disaster because no one stopped to listen to me, not even my now-husband (who turned out to be having some major side effects from a new medication that was really stressing him out. He gets a pass.)

-The church address on the invitations was wrong. I had no idea until they had already been sent, and a family member that was invited enlightened us. The address we had on the invitations was for the woman who was in charge of church operations. All legal documents for the church went to her home, so that's what was listed as the church address. Crisis avoided by sending out a mass email saying that Google Maps/Mapquest was having a hard time finding the location, so here are some directions. We also posted signs.

-My bachelorette party was almost a flop from the start. The MOH, who lived six hours away, declined to come so she could go volunteering with the local dog shelter. I was upset, but I didn't say anything because she lived six hours away and that's a hell of a drive. Then another bridesmaid decided she didn't really feel like going. My now-husband caught wind of it and enlightened both of them to how upset I was and how crummy their reasons were. My MOH, who is a superstar, packed up an overnight bag and drove up. The other bridesmaid came as well, but she and I had a long Come to Jesus about her behavior that night.

-I accidentally threw out my veil. (No, I'm not kidding.) I had put it in a small bag on my dresser, and when I cleaned I must have grabbed the bag and tossed it. I realized it three days before the wedding. At this point I decided to nickname everything National Lampoon's Wedding. I had a birdcage veil (super simple), so I had Amazon overnight some russian netting, and I made one myself with a beautiful silver and pearl haircomb and a single bobbypin. I actually liked this one more than the one I bought.

-We had rehearsal the night before. We skipped the walking in part because we were more concerned about the ceremony. My now-husband thought that the bridesmaids were just going to wait up at the altar the way the groomsmen do and I would walk out with my dad solo. Uh, no. I'm convinced Husband has never been to a wedding.

-Because my now-husband thought this...there was only one song for us to walk out to. The Classic Bridal March, which I did not want to walk out to at all. I had made a CD of the music to be played because I was under the impression from my MIL that our DJ from the reception would play the music at the church (which is extremely old and has no standard A/V setup). Nope. He wasn't there. The best man set up a Bluetooth thing to play the Bridal March song, the only one on his phone. Luckily I had put the music I wanted on my phone as well and sent it in to be played. They played the music from my phone for the bridesmaids to walk in to, then repaired the Best Man's phone and played the Bridal March for me. However, I cannot fault the Best Man for this, because I didn't say I didn't want to walk in to that. I was under the impression we would have the DJ there. MIL got an earfull for that.

-I was late to my own wedding because the bridesmaids and my mom, who had gone up to decorate the church earlier that day, wanted to shower before we went up to the church. Since the Bed and Breakfast I rented for all of this only had two showers, this ate up an extra hour and a half. I was 45 minutes late. Now-husband was irked.

-The fancy eyeshadow primer I bought for the wedding somehow never made it to the bed and breakfast. I used concealer as a base instead. It did the job nicely.

-The gorgeous cake-topper my husband and I picked out never made it on the cake. To be fair, we didn't noticed until after the cake cutting when someone asked if we just decided to go without.

I was very, very happy when it was all over with because I was beyond stressed out with it all. Though no one noticed! People kept coming up to me and my husband and saying how gorgeous everything was, and how happy we looked (We were, don't get me wrong.) They loved the decorations, the food, my dress, etc.

Thankfully my honeymoon went far better and my marriage is going swimmingly.

[Xidelt]

-My bachelorette party was almost a flop from the start. The MOH, who lived six hours away, declined to come so she could go volunteering with the local dog shelter. I was upset, but I didn't say anything because she lived six hours away and that's a hell of a drive. Then another bridesmaid decided she didn't really feel like going. My now-husband caught wind of it and enlightened both of them to how upset I was and how crummy their reasons were. My MOH, who is a superstar, packed up an overnight bag and drove up. The other bridesmaid came as well, but she and I had a long Come to Jesus about her behavior that night.

Nowhere does it say that your attendants have to throw a bachelorette party or attend.

[3StringedLyre]

Originally Posted by Xidelt

Nowhere does it say that your attendants have to throw a bachelorette party or attend.

Throw it? No. Attend? No. Would I like the women I consider to be my best friends to be with me on the only bachelorette party I'll ever really get? Yes, I would. I wouldn't force them, and I didn't force them. But of the four bridesmaids I had, the MOH and another were considering bowing out, the third wasn't sure she could come at all due to a work conflict, and the fourth is ten years old and lives with my sister (her mom) an hour away. It just hurt a lot. My MOH I could understand given the distance, but the other I just felt like she couldn't be bothered.