What went wrong with your wedding?

[GammaGirl1908]

Originally Posted by JayhawkAOII

my husband thought we should be up at 6 every day to sightsee

...the hell? Anyone who thinks there is any possibility that I'd be up at 6 EVER is not a person I'd marry in the first place.

How did you not know about this before you hitched yourself to this ...person?... for life?

(Please note that I am posting this at ~4:30 am. I have not yet slept, and am heading to bed. I am a big-time night person. Morning people are welcome to do their thing at whatever time, and bless their happy little morning hearts, but the one who tries to force me to join them to do anything at 5:55? Will get their arm ripped off, and then I will beat them to death with it. I'm only kind of joking. Sorta.)

[Sciencewoman]

My husband and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in July. I didn't sleep a wink the night before the wedding, because I was anxious about everything that could go wrong. However, it all went off without a "hitch."

The only major issue occurred right before the wedding, when we realized that my husband's ring wasn't attached to the ring bearer's pillow. I was a traditionalist, and I felt that if there is a ring bearer, he really should bear the ring. Plus, he was a bit older than is typical (8) and his flower girl sister was 6 -- they were neighbors I had babysat since birth and I was very attached to them (so it wasn't just a "courtesy pick"). It wasn't his fault...the ribbon and pin were still attached, so the adult who "attached" it must not have done a good job. Anyway, everyone was seated and we were ready to start, and unbeknownst to the guests and our parents, the wedding party was running around the rest of church trying to find the ring! The ring bearer's dad had actually pulled his own band off and we were going to use that instead, when someone found it in the parlor, where we'd taken many of the pictures. Whew! I attached the ring to the pillow myself, and away we went!

During the service, the ring bearer and flower girl kept moving closer and closer to us, so they could get a better view. My MOH sister was trying to quietly signal them them to stay in place, but it didn't work. They ended up standing right in front of us throughout most of the ceremony, and you can see the flower girl scratching her bottom during the video. We all got a laugh watching that! I actually found this to be charming...most of the time the kids are bored, but they were really into it!

It was probably a good thing they stood in front of us, because we needed them for camouflage. During the service, my husband's face was sweating PROFUSELY. We were facing each other during our vows, and I was trying to subtly back away so he wouldn't drip face sweat on my silk ballgown-style dress! Ewwww...I was shooting him dirty looks during the vows, as if he could control the sweating. We had a good laugh with the minister afterward. Seriously, though, it was gross.

We had a very nice country club reception, and there was supposed to be a shrimp sauce over the chicken, but the kitchen forgot to plate the meal with the sauce, so they brought it out in gravy boats. Nowadays, people would probably assume that was intentional, to accommodate those with food sensitivities, but I don't think we were that enlightened back then.

I had a morning wedding and afternoon reception, because I liked the British idea of wedding timing, with morning suits and the "wedding breakfast" luncheon (influenced by the televised royal weddings in the 1980s). There was another reception scheduled for the evening, and their baker delivered their cake and set it up while we still had a half hour left. It was really tacky to bring it into the ballroom while we were still there. Plus, it was ugly...white with bright blue frosting trim. It really bugged my dad, who was the country club president at the time -- he had some words with the club manager about that later.

Although that still annoys me, I have a bit more empathy now. The bottom tier of my sister's wedding cake collapsed during delivery, and her baker had to quickly go home, re-bake, and rapidly cool the replacement. The baker was really worried it wouldn't work. None of us were any the wiser, but after she told us the story afterward, I had a little more understanding of how tricky wedding cakes are and how vulnerable they are while being moved. I'm still mad that cake showed up during my reception, but I do understand why it couldn't be stored in another room and moved. Kind of.

I attended the weddings of my ring bearer and flower girl within the past couple years. My parents attended both weddings and were recognized as the "longest married couple" both times. They just celebrated their 60th anniversary in December.

[flirt5721]

My five year anniversary is coming up. My wedding day had a few things that I was not happy about.
1) Some of my bridesmaids didn't show up to the meeting place to take the limo ride. They did show up to the church but still made me irritated.
2) The DJ showed up an hour late. He didn't even have a valid reason. Couldn't even get a refund. He closed down a few months later. He was highly recommend.
3) My cake....my sister had her friend make it. I was so disappointed. The price I paid was not worth it. It was small. The only good thing about it was the flavor.

[33girl]

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

[AOIIalum]

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.

Well played. Very well played!

[BraveMaroon]

Just got back from a big, fun outdoor wedding for one of my cousins where one of the cousins from the Scandinavian side of the family sang a song his family had written for the occasion. He was probably a little buzzed and he messed up, and said, "Aw, F***!" into the microphone, to the horror of the bride and some of her father's very prim relatives.

The bride said, "Don't use that word! " he asked which word and somebody explained. He said, "I said that? Shit!"

He finished up the song and the bride looked PISSED. Those of us with a sense of humor thought it was one of the highlights.

[Sciencewoman]

^^^ Hahaha...you just know that's what everyone is going to remember.

My husband's cousin had his own father serve as best man. You would think that he could be counted on to give a tactful, respectable toast, free from anything cringe worthy. You would be wrong in thinking this was a safe choice. He thought he was being funny, but it's really not appropriate to mention that you're not sure your son is ready to get married, given the fact that he "still leaves skid marks in his underwear."

That's what I remember from that wedding.

[BraveMaroon]

My own wedding was pretty smooth. One of my parents' neighbors fell into the band. He'd been drinking, was dancing, and went into the band. They kept playing, he popped right back up, and kept dancing and everyone cheered. People still remember that, and since no one was hurt, it's all good.

We got married in August and had intended to get married at 7:30 PM outside (in Atlanta), but the night before, decided it was just too hot, and moved the ceremony inside - we had the whole facility rented, and there was a room ready and waiting, so we pulled the trigger at the rehearsal.

My sister... when she got married, the florist was putting the moves on the photographer - full court press before the ceremony. The pictures were so bad, that he dropped off the album at my parents' front door while they were out.

Thankfully, we had tons of friends and family who had taken tons of pictures, so...

[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.