It’s an honor to be invited to someone’s wedding! It shows that the marrying couple cares about you and wants you to be a witness to their union. However, even a single guest with a propensity for causing drama can derail these celebrations of everlasting love.

Reddit user u/Frosty-Resort-4163 sparked an interesting discussion on r/weddingshaming. They invited everyone to share their spiciest stories about horrible wedding guests who caused unnecessary headaches for everyone else. Scroll down to hear what they had to say!

We reached out to the author behind the viral thread, redditor u/Frosty-Resort-4163. She was kind enough to share her perspective on wedding stress and handling drama-obsessed guests. You’ll find Bored Panda’s full interview with the OP below.

#1

One of my wedding guests was a plus one I’d never met. I introduced myself to him, held out my hand to shake his, and he put his hand in his mouth, sucked on it, pulled it out, and shook my hand, leaving it dripping with spit.

I should mention he was a 6-month-old baby and his transgression was totally forgiven due to how cute he was.

Image credits: Friendly_Coconut

Bored Panda was curious to get the author’s opinion on why her thread reached so many people around the world. “First of all, it’s fun to share stories about people who ignore social norms, especially in settings [that are] a bit more formal, like weddings. Most of us inherently know how to behave, but it’s clear from the stories people shared on my post that many people either don’t know how to or choose not to,” u/Frosty-Resort-4163 told us.

“Also, couples often spend so much time, effort, and money planning their once-in-lifetime event that it’s kind of unfathomable when guests can’t follow basic common courtesies. As a wedding guest, you’re not asked for much,” she emphasized.

#2

My friends dad whined the whole time that she didn’t tell him she invited his ex wife..guess who his ex wife is?

Her mom.

That she lived with her whole life.

That supported her through school.

That never put her dad on child support.

That ex wife.

She’s a monster.

Image credits: Ziggywife1990

#3

My aunt’s husband kept weirdly touching my husband on the face and shoving money down his pants, and kept trying to convert everyone to his religion (it’s a cult). He got so drunk he started stealing stuff and was kicked out by security. Props to the security guard because I had no idea it happened until the next morning. My aunt, a formerly recovering alcoholic, spent most of the evening lying on the floor p**s drunk, talking to the dog.

On a happier note, one of my parents’ oldest friends threw a bread roll at my Nana’s head when she wouldn’t shut up during speeches. His wife was appalled, I gave him a high five for it.

“The couple wants you to have a really good time, and in many cases, they’re also paying a lot for you to be there. So it’s not rocket science as a guest to figure out what’s appropriate—just glance over the invitation and/or wedding website before you go, read the room, and try not to be a huge distraction on someone else’s big day,” the OP pointed out that being a good guest is genuinely quite easy. And we tend to agree.

We were interested in getting the redditor’s take on how best to handle guests who step out of line, whether it’s best to ignore the entire situation or to tackle it head-first. In her opinion, it’s best to focus on enjoying the celebration.

“As the bride, it’s easy and wise to avoid confrontation. Honestly, you’re way too busy and swept up in the moment to even notice a lot of what’s happening around you,” u/Frosty-Resort-4163 shared with Bored Panda.

#4

My friends MiL wore a near duplicate dress of my friends. She giggled every time someone mentioned it

Edit: my friend was the bride

Image credits: curryp4n

#5

My first husband’s best man was a beach bum kinda guy and showed up in his tux wearing flip flops. Fortunately my uncle wore the same size shoes and lent him his for the ceremony.

The same guy was best man for his brother’s wedding a year earlier. He thought it would be hilarious to streak naked through the reception hall with a bag over his head. This was in the 80s when streaking was all the rage. As he ran out of the room, he missed the doorway, slammed into the door jamb and knocked himself out.

Image credits: MeMeMeOnly

#6

My own Mother interrupted my vows. Sometimes I still hear her shouting “Louder!” as I’m drifting off to sleep. In hindsight, I should have throttled her like Bart Simpson right then and there, but I ignored her instead. I wonder what gives her the audacity sometimes.

Image credits: Ligerjam

“A lot of the stories I shared are from what people told me after the event. Avoiding confrontation at the wedding itself is the way to go. Enjoy your day while it lasts—it goes by in a flash! You’ll have the rest of your life to rehash stories about the rude guests with your spouse, friends, or, like me, on Reddit afterward,” she said.

“If someone is extremely out of line, leave it to your closest friends and family, who’ll be happy to step in, like my one tipsy friend who handled the ‘woman-in-white,’” the OP said, referring to the personal stories she shared when she made the original thread.

#7

A friend of ours, who had rsvpd with no +1, reached out to us the week before the wedding to ask if he could bring his brand new girlfriend. We said sorry, no, we’ve already had to finalize the seating charts and headcount etc. (And also we literally have never met this girl). Well of course he still shows up with her, late to our ceremony so they’re awkwardly standing in the back the whole time. At the reception they stole one of my groomsmen’s chairs from the head table in order to squeeze her in at their full table. Thankfully the venue staff were great and didn’t bat an eye, just brought an extra chair and an extra meal no questions asked.

Also my ex (who was invited as he’s still part of our mutual friend group) showed up in pants that were way way too tight. Proceeded to bust a move on the dance floor and rip the entire a*s crack of his pants. One of my bridesmaids brought him into the ladies room and sewed him up using the emergency swing kit I’d put in the bathroom basket. But that one was more hilarious than annoying.

Image credits: tardisfullofeels

#8

So my parents went to the wedding of our former exchange student in Norway. The father of the bride drove them to the Church, and got really caught up showing them the local sites. My mother, a couple of times, sort of anxiously asked if they were running behind – she thought the ceremony was at 2, but the father insisted it was at 3. It seemed to her they were cutting it close anyway – it was getting to be 2:15, 2:30. But the father kept telling her to relax and showing her local sites.. Anyway, they pull up to the church at 2:50 in time to see the bride, in tears, recessing out. Her father had missed her own wedding. It was, indeed, at 2.

Image credits: _hammitt

#9

A friend of mine, Ellie, told me about how she was invited to her friend Barbara’s wedding with a +1.
Ellie’s relationship was ROCKY and they were fighting all the time, to the point that Barbara had left several hints about maybe not bringing her bf and “are you sure you want him there? Because we don’t want any drama” etc.
Ellie brought him anyway, and they had a blowout, relationship-ending fight during the reception. They went outside to do it but apparently everyone could hear them through the (closed) windows screaming at each other…
Ellie told me this story like it was funny and “whoops I made a mistake”. Funnily enough I don’t talk to Ellie any more.

Image credits: L0ngtime_lurker

The redditor also opened up to us about the reality of organizing a wedding. “Wedding stress is very real. It’s easy to make wedding planning your full-time job,” she said.

“Breathe. Force yourself to take mental breaks. Try to stay off of social media if it gets to you—comparison is the thief of joy, especially when scrolling through extravagant weddings with seemingly limitless budgets,” the author had some practical advice for couples who feel overwhelmed with the entire thing.

Meanwhile, the OP urged marrying couples to try not to hold the guests to the same standards that they hold themselves to. “Whenever you’re gathering people together, someone’s bound to be a bit messy. In the grand scheme of things, someone is bound to be rude or oblivious, but these stories just add to the memorability of the event.”

#10

My MIL gave me a list of 86 people to invite to my 100 person max wedding, leaving me, the bride, with all of 14. Suffice to say I had never met the majority of the people on the list. Of the people I really didn’t know but who showed up, there was Mia. Mia was going through a crappy divorce and she was in full hate mode. She drank too much, got too loud, and then dramatically threw her wedding band and engagement ring off the deck into the shrubbery. She expected people to gasp and then help her find them — no one did. She asked the venue folks to help her, they told her they were busy with, you know, my reception. For all I know, she’s still crawling around out there, 22 years later.

#11

We had a backyard wedding at my grandparents house. Definitely more casual, we’re a casual couple. It’s a large space so we invited 220 people, ended up having 205 people. My husband’s adult cousins (who are local) never rsvp’d. Until the day before my wedding I got a voicemail on my parents home phone from my husband’s aunt who lives out of state saying that her boys want to come to the wedding. I had already ordered the chairs, finalized numbers weeks ago. The chairs were already set up. We scrambled to set up a little picnic table to put some of the kids at so that there were nice chairs available for the extra adults. They didn’t even show up.

Also one of my husband’s friends called me by the wrong name at our reception. Husband and I had been dating for 6 years.

Image credits: herbieeee1

#12

My mother’s aunt didn’t bring a wedding gift but left with an armful of unopened liquor bottles from behind the bar. Just helped herself.

Image credits: yellowbird_87

Marrying couples are under a lot of pressure as it is. So the last thing they need is their guests going rogue and rocking the boat on their Big Day. While they can certainly decide to confront them in person, it usually helps to have someone else mediate whatever drama is rearing its head.

For example, your best man, best woman, or maid of honor can step in on your behalf and settle the guest down. Similarly, if you have a wedding organizer on hand, they can also anticipate any potential problems and head them off before they become major disasters. The stronger your network of supporters, the bigger your safety net!

#13

At my sisters wedding, they did a garter removal. When her husband came out from under her dress my mum ran in and smacked him on the back of his head yelling something about “that’s my daughter”. My sister was married 20 years ago this month and she still mentions how pissed she was when it’s brought up.

Image credits: thedragoncompanion

#14

Of course during your wedding you’re not trying to hear about some else’s drama and/or BS.

I was no exception.

Sooooo, everyone has been in the reception venue for all of 15 minutes. A friend (at the time) came up to me upset that her boyfriend was talking to some girl.

REALLY! THIS IS WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO CARE ABOUT RIGHT NOW?

I said very calmly, “Do what he would do in this situation”

NOTE: I did not hear about this next part, but was told by many people.

Apparently, she went to the lobby (where a lot of guests were), walked up to him and punched him in the face. Helped him to get up and then punched him again.

I had zero effs to give. I think I saw them maybe one time after.

Image credits: Oranges007

#15

I had 3.

First and worst was a mother and daughter duo who are family friends of my in-laws. The daughter is known as ‘the girl in the red dress’ from my wedding due to her antics. They had ruined plenty of past family events, so they were under strict instructions and my in laws were also keeping watch. Both were seriously drunk by the time we got to the reception venue after the chuch. They loudly fought throughout the night with eachother and their other family, the daughter was grinding up against the DJs pole lights, oh and we had Inflatable props for the photo booth – a number of these were popped due to her pretending to use these as ‘pleasure toys’. I’m pretty sure they got put in a taxi and sent home early after that.

Saw them for the first time in a while at my MILs 60th recently. Both got sent home early again after the mum drunkenly took out a table, and the daughter was loudly fighting with her bf. We celebrate 6 years married this year.

The other was my mums partner. He is an affair partner (she left my dad for him) and we don’t get on. My mum had tried to get him a seat at the top table which I refused, along with him wearing a wedding suit. On the day he was okay, until my dad’s speech. My dad made a jokey dig at himself and my mum, which he took offence too and loudly called my dad a c*nt. Unfortunately for him the table next to him was my bridal party who heard and politely told him to stfu. Pretty sure my dad’s best friend almost hit him too.

However, let’s not be naive. Though many people crave their own personal fairytale wedding— whatever their unique interpretation of this might be—there is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ wedding. The best you can hope for is an imperfectly perfect celebration of love. This is because mistakes can and do happen all the time.

The staff might get the decor slightly wrong. There might be a problem with the appetizers. Or some of your guests might have three tipples too much and embarrass themselves on the dance floor. What matters isn’t whether or not these unpleasant surprises happen or not, but it’s how you react to them.

#16

My husband’s brother was getting married. We’re at the reception, approximately 150 people. Their Aunt stands up to say a prayer (she’s a Catholic nun) and the prayer included a blessing for Owen and Kathy. Which would have been lovely, except Kathy was his ex-wife’s name. Husband and I looked at each other and were like did she say what I think she said??!!

Image credits: jennthern

#17

My cousins forgot to put out the hand made appetizers our chef made for our guests to mingle w/ cocktails while we did our wedding pics. Found them the next day & our chef was annoyed af

My husband’s family put us on the spot for the mic & it quickly turned into a roast- even his Grandmother got up & said “it’s a good thing you can’t have children b/c they would look like this” while holding a picture of us in Mexico with a monkey.

All my husbands family left early telling us “it was late /they were tired” by 10pm only to find out they partied at their hotel with our hired mariachi band until the wee hours of the morning. They missed out /we wasted a ton of money on a ton of food with a midnight taco cart.

One of the friends staying with us in our wedding villa threw an all-out temper tantrum over bacon (or lack thereof) on our wedding morning. Apparently my husband ordered exactly what I asked for- pancakes with strawberries & champagne (best guy!) & this person decided it would be better to scream & rant & yell at everyone in the villa as opposed to simply asking the chef for some bacon- you would’ve thought it was he getting married given this huge zilla moment.

Lastly our friend brought an unannounced +one who proceeded to try to steal all the wedding favours (little los muertos sculptures) & bouquets of the entire wedding party including mine- the bride! My Mom hustled after her to wrestle the flowers back only to find little los muertos figures flying through the air when her purse literally exploded with them! The scene ended with them huffing off then pulling out a substantial sized penis & pissing on the outside wall before getting into a cab.

Overall was the best day & so happily married to that man 13 years later

#18

One of my guests (also coincidentally extended family) got so drunk they fell asleep in the toilet cubicle. Later they were being carried back to their room by two other guests when they wet themselves… visibly. Goes without saying they won’t be on the invite list if we ever do a vow renewal!

Image credits: ANobleBean

We might not be able to control the events of the day, but we can decide to embrace whatever happens. Look for the silver lining. Choose to laugh and find the beauty in these bizarre experiences instead of getting upset and holding a grudge.

Of course, this is applicable in other areas of anyone’s life, too, not just to weddings. It’s all about cultivating a mindset centered around gratitude and abundance, not cynicism and scarcity. Given enough time, you might even tell everyone about the hilarious(ly awful) things that happened on your Big Day to amuse them.

#19

My bridesmaids boyfriend drank 8 martinis and threw up in the women’s restroom.

Image credits: 84aomame

#20

My MIL handed my husband his son during our vows so then he could no longer hold my hands because she wanted her grandson to be included, a one year old because my 3&4 year old were standing next to me. I didn’t even know they were standing there, I had people in place to watch the kids if they started interrupting or needing attention. I just wanted this 2 min to be about my husband and I, I didn’t have a plan for my MIL interruption though 🙁

Image credits: wstook

#21

The bride’s mum’s family insisted on dead-naming and misgendering her daughter during the ceremony. I could hear them stage-whispering behind us. We shuffled closer to the daughter and engaged her in conversation as much as we could when it was appropriate.

Same wedding, the bride’s cousin ate some… special cake and ended up having to go and lie down. Bride’s aunt and mum went off on the woman who’d brought it (by the bride’s request, and everyone had been warned it was strong and to only take a little, cousin didn’t listen). Cousin was also in her late thirties, so she wasn’t some kid who didn’t know.

Bride’s mum gave us the stink-eye for sitting at a table. No one was sat there when we got to it, there were no bags or coats saving it, so how were we meant to know? She then spent ages s**t-talking her daughter and new son-in-law, until bride’s best friend ‘accidentally’ tripped her up as she went by.

Later that night, bride’s mum began screaming at the bride. I don’t know what kicked it off, but she was going absolutely bananas. Bride and groom stood at the top of the stairs as she went off, with the groom standing in front of the bride and telling mum to get out. She picked up a decoration and launched it at the bride. She then screamed that ‘when’ they got a divorce, bride wasn’t to go running to her.

I felt so sad for my friend. Her husband is lovely, and that’s probably one reason her mum went off. She is not nice to my friend at all. Thankfully, that was a few years ago and they are still happily together, and I think she is very low contact with her mum.

The best way to avoid a problem is to anticipate it and prepare for it. Just like we get lots of rest, socialize with our loved ones, eat well, and exercise to avoid future issues with our physical and mental health, so too do we organize big events in such a way as to avoid disaster. One part of this is going through the preliminary guest list with a fine-tooth comb.

To put it bluntly, you want to avoid inviting people who are likely to cause a ton of drama and outrage. If someone has a history of derailing events and wants the spotlight to be on them (and them alone!), it might be worth not sending them an invite. You have to be candid. Weigh whether someone has more of a positive or negative influence on your life.

#22

At our wedding, a “plus one” of my husband’s friend got drunk af and tried to hook up with my dad.

My dad was 50+ she 22.
My stepmother went crazy. Was funny at the beginning, ended abruptly as she threw up in the garden at midnight.

Image credits: anabanana_bobana

#23

Mostly a tidbit, but definitely a bad person/guest and well….

My sister’s husband’s cousin was in a bad relationship. Her boyfriend was into drugs, alcohol, and was abusive. There were plans for an intervention for her, but it was very delicate as a situation, as he’d taken her out of state far from family before.

For their wedding, my sister and husband paid for a block of rooms to be available at a discounted price. There were still rooms available the day of the wedding, which came in handy as the booze was flowing as all good receptions tend to do. Despite this being well known and family even offering to pay for a room for them, the boyfriend decided he was going to drive them home. They were arguing about this (while driving) and he peeled out of the parking area of the hotel and into traffic.

He died, she was seriously injured. There were injuries in the other vehicle but not as severe and no deaths. This was 2 years ago and she has since fully recovered physically, at least. She, as far as I know, is still living with her parents (I think she might also have a kid, which would explain why she stayed so long in the relationship too, and if she does they were not present at the wedding or crash) and they’re working on the medical debt, but there’s honestly a lot of relief at the end it all.

Image credits: Gato1486

#24

Attended my good friend’s wedding last year as a bridesmaid. Her MIL had the audacity to use the bridal suite to get ready and acted like she was being inconvenienced when we had to kick her out. Groom’s entire family ignored the bride during the reception because MIL was a first class narcissist. During the mother son dance, everyone was noticing how awkward it was for the groom when the mom looked too enamored. MOH decided she didn’t want to have the makeup or hair that the bride wanted for the wedding, so she could stand out. New SILs were photo bombing the wedding photos. All night, awkward awkward awkward.

Image credits: StabilityonaWheel

If they’re a big part of your life and you’ve already sent them an invite, but they’ve already overstepped their bounds, consider uninviting them before the wedding. It might be awkward, but tell them the truth without sounding like you’re accusing them. Meanwhile, you may want to leave the door open to rekindle your friendship by getting together for a meal or a drink once you come back from your fab honeymoon!

The truth is that we love attending weddings, dear Pandas. They’re so much fun! However, no large-scale event is immune from at least a little bit of drama or some guests misbehaving. We’d love to hear your own stories about the most bizarre and horrible guests you’ve personally witnessed at weddings. If you have a moment, feel free to drop by the comment section to share your thoughts!

#25

We invited my stepdaughter’s best friend (Tracy) and her 3 kids to our wedding . Stepdaughter insisted we had to invite Tracy’s boyfriend of 2 months. So we rearrange some of our tables and make room for him, and told Tracy to let us know what boyfriend wanted to eat. We gave the guests 3 options, steak, chicken or a vegetarian. She told us he wanted the steak.

Only one guest chose the vegetarian option. That guest happened to reach out to me the day after our final count was due and said she had changed her mind and wanted the chicken but the website wouldn’t let her change it and asked if it was too late to get the chicken instead. I told her I’d talk to my coordinator and have her reach out to the caterer and make sure she got the chicken. Since she was the only guest that had chosen the vegetarian option the caterer was more than willing to change it and not have to deal with making just one vegetarian plate.

So on the day of the wedding, food is being brought out to the guests and everyone seems to be enjoying their meal. About half the guests had been served when we hear someone loudly yell “You can’t be f*ing serious!” and we see Tracy’s boyfriend get up and leave. We figured they had a disagreement and didn’t pay it much attention.

Well turns out that he decided THE NIGHT BEFORE the wedding that he was going to be a vegetarian and was upset that Tracy had told us he would have the steak. So he told the guys bringing the food out that he had changed his mind and he wanted the vegetarian option. Obviously they told him no, and that the best they could do was make up a plate of just the sides with no meat on it or bring him another salad. He then decided to go speak to the wedding coordinator and demand that she fix it and get him a decent meal. She tells him there is nothing she or the caterer can do because there wasn’t a full kitchen at the venue and they didn’t bring any vegetarian options because nobody chose that option. The catering company offers again to make up a plate of just the sides without any meat and bring him out another salad but that was the best they could do. He tells them it’s not good enough and storms off.

He tries to tell Tracy that they all have to leave because he’s hungry and it’s her fault that he doesn’t have a meal to eat. He spent the next several hours sulking in the parking lot because Tracy refused to leave and he had no other way home since he refuses to use Uber or Lyft. You would think this all would have been a big red flag for her but they ended getting married a year later. Guess who wasn’t invited to their wedding….

#26

My best friend’s wedding. Small reception, about 10-20 people, can’t remember.  

 She was drop dead gorgeous. The father and uncle of the groom get drunk and start dancing in a very suggestive manner around her. I send a bridesmaid to fetch the husband but he’s MIA – he went outside for a f*g and nobody knew *where* outside. 

 I manage to distract the father of the groom (who took advantage and grabbed my bum). In the meantime the uncle starts hugging and touching the bride. Grabs her, puts her on a table and throws money at her asking her to dance on top of the table. As she wouldn’t, he climbs on the table with her and starts dancing. As he was a fat b*astard, the table breaks. My friend is ok, but he’s definitely not, there’s blood everywhere. 

 The groom shows up and drives the uncle to the hospital. Everyone else goes home. The bride and I pick up as many bottles of wine as we can possibly carry and spend the rest of the evening in her car, drinking and smoking. The end.   

Later edit: Of course she did not drive home after drinking. We left the car there and took taxis.

Image credits: Bitter_Tradition_938

#27

Was ten years ago so my memories aren’t the best but I’ll try.
My ex’s (boyfriend at the time) brother was getting married & it was a lovely ceremony but Jesus the reception was a s**t show.
1) My ex and another brother got in an argument because his wife upset their mum (she wouldn’t buy her more alcohol because she was a violent drunk)
2) Brother getting married invited a friend who didn’t get on with two other guests, resulting in a fight outside.
3) I was babysitting two kids, somehow ended with 6 kids, and 3 were absolutely feral.
4) ex’s mum got so wasted, she started arguing with everyone who looked at her & her husband had to drive out and get her which caused her to throw a bottle at him because she didn’t want to leave.
& 5) caught my ex cheating in the bathroom.

There was more chaos, but my mind is fussy on details. ?

#28

Ooooh I had one and now have a couple!

1.) My ex-aunt is living proof that abusive wives exist. She was either your bestie and sweet or absolutely vile and selfish, but both to everyone, depending on the day. At some point she started selling MLM sex toys, paraded it at every family gathering including to grandparents, then announced we didn’t support her or her business because we’re prude (I’m a sex-positive feminist lol).

At my cousin/her niece’s wedding, the family stayed in the same hotel block, but her and my uncle were a no-show for the ceremony and part of the reception. When they walked in, someone asked where they’d been.

“WE WERE F*****G.”

She proceeded to dance allll over my cousin’s new brother-in-law, literally taking his tie off to Bruno Mars — my cousin’s in-laws are religious/fairly Conservative. Later the brides and young adults went bar hopping, and Aunt Marian was SUPER interested. We dodged her like an ex, and my younger brother said she was PISSED she wasn’t invited to go out with the kids.

2.)(TW alcoholism) Same Aunt Marian. Two years later. Her now-ex almost died of alcoholism, and it took my dad and grandpa getting him to rehab, because Marian just left him at home and went to work. About 5 weeks later, my uncle was newly out of rehab and happily sober.

My grandpa and his 2nd wife had a wedding reception, having eloped prior, and another cousin was excited to talk to Uncle since she’d also quit drinking that year! She came over to my dad FUMING. Aunt Marian handed my BRAND-NEWLY sober uncle an empty cup and said, “go get me a drink,” right in front of my proudly sober cousin.

Honestly after typing those two out idk if the other ones matter.

#29

My mom’s cousin was strapped for cash, so we all helped out to get him to my wedding – my mom paid for his flight, he stayed at my house, chauffeured him around to/from the rehearsal dinner/wedding, etc. When my husband and I returned the day after the wedding (we stayed in the hotel bridal suite, a groomsman took him back to our house), the first thing he did was complain about the beer selection. I looked him square in the eyes and told him I picked out the alcohol myself. He sputtered out an apology very quickly.

He also complained to my mom the next day that our house was too hot. He slept in our finished basement, which we joke about how cold it is all the time.

Image credits: glasssa251

#30

My husband’s mother ragged for MONTHS about how she wanted to match my mom almost exactly on our wedding day. My husband really wanted her and his dad to match him and the groomsmen instead, but she threw huge fits and constantly harassed us over it. It was literally the only request my husband had asked of her, but she made it her hill to die on. Even my husband’s father was trying to bully it out of us.

Somehow, my husband’s mom figured out what my mom was wearing right before the wedding and bought a similar dress in the same shade, but way more… bedazzled. She has a thing for upstaging, so no surprise there. She was smirking as she walked up to my mom and whispered that because they matched, they were honorary maids of honor now. Right in front of my actual MOH! I believe she made a point to tell all the guests as well; she was weirdly obsessed with having some form of honor or being acknowledged as part of the wedding by other people. She was weird about the wedding in general, but that was certainly the most frustrating. At least I didn’t have to worry about her wearing white?

And just to top it all off, this woman tried to make up a “tradition” of all the guests coming to watch us open wedding presents, insisting it was something everyone did. She was even offering to host it as a “second reception,” which made me think she had already planned and decorated for this. She pushed really hard about it the entire weekend until everyone was actively heading home or had already gone home. I should also add that her house was almost 3 hours out of the way for half the guests, which I can guarantee nobody wanted to add to their drive home. Oh, and both of my husband’s parents were mad we wouldn’t tell them which room we were staying in (they chose the same hotel as us) on our wedding night because they wanted to “check in” on us. Lol, no. We even asked the hotel ahead of time to make sure they weren’t anywhere near our room even if they asked (and they did, they wanted to be next door, but got put on the other side of the hotel. Thanks, hotel staff!!). All of this was honestly pretty minor, but my husband’s parents are very good at being extremely annoying and stressful over really stupid things.

#31

My husband’s half brother wore trackpants and a graphic tee and cap to my semi formal wedding.
My only brudezilla moment on the day was when someone asked if they should get him for fan photos and I replied with a curt no!!

He’s not a nice person with not much going on that has made my MIL’s life harder than it needs to be so I didn’t feel bad about it.

#32

I got married at 7pm on a Saturday night in February (in Oregon), so I assumed people would dress up a little, since it was evening.

One of our guest’s +1 wore denim capris and flip-flops!

Image credits: MollyWobbles1979

#33

At a friend’s wedding this really awkward friend showed up with a date. He did not have a plus one and they just crowded their table. I sat with a different group of friends thankfully and didn’t have to deal with that. She also just confirmed to be there as a friend, had a boyfriend, and I’m sure he thought he had to bring a date.

Another friend was doing one of those sparklers arches and as they walked out they picked a spot to do a kiss. The photographers are waiting and as they do it a relative jumps in front of them to take pictures with her phone on a stick. Thankfully the bride missed it and they just said do it again for extra pictures.

Image credits: soonerfreak

#34

I have two:

Drunk MOH and socially unaware mother in law

This happened a couple years ago I was going to a wedding as someone’s date. It was a wedding of his classmate. The venue and ceremony was lovely. Then it was speech time and the MOH aka the bride’s sister took the mic. She was really drunk. She was slurring her speech and then said “I made a song for you.” Think of Patrick Star from SpongeBob yodeling on The Flying Dutchman’s ship. Yes that is what her song sounded like. Then after the speech she walked away and fell. Me and a bunch of people ran over to help her up and give her some water but she refused. Then later on I saw her downing more drinks that night while her husband was with her kids.

Another story was I was a bridesmaid at a wedding. The bride and groom gathered their parents to announce their pregnancy. The whole room was cheering. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were jumping with joy. The parents were amazed and speechless. In comes mother in law from the groom’s side who wasn’t cheering. She takes the microphone and decides to bring up some drama that happened between her and the bride months ago. It went along the lines of oh you’re pregnant no wonder you were acting so disrespectful to me. The whole room went silent and even one of the bridesmaids called mother in law a b***h. But mother in law did not care and decides to bust out in a song in a foreign language because who knows. This left the bride and groom upset. This was years ago and they are cordial since then.

#35

I recently got married a few months ago and I’d like to share some of the most annoying guest things I either noticed myself or something else told me about later.

1. One of my MIL’s best friends from childhood wore all white. Like stark white. Head to toe. Even the shoes. Listen, normally I think it’s ridiculous to give a f about some middle aged woman’s wardrobe, BUT, since wearing white to a wedding is such a known faux-pas , it makes me wonder if she was trying to slight me. Very odd. We have no issues and barely know each other and my MIL and I are extremely close. One of my friends who was a little too tipsy went up to the woman in white and asked why she thought it’d be appropriate to wear white to a wedding. The woman snapped “I’ve known the groom since he was in diapers, I can wear whatever I want. My friend said “that still doesn’t answer my question.” LOL! The woman said “well, my mom said it was fine!” WTF? Her mom is like 90?!!

2. I had a formal winter wedding. All guests saw the dress code on the invite. My aunt showed up wearing uggs. UGGS! Lots of people were in light wash jeans and casual sweaters, including the photographer who knew the dress code. Would black pants or at least a skirt have killed anybody? The whole night just had a much more casual feel than what I was going for.

3. I had an unplugged ceremony , announcement and everything, and people still whipped their phones out. This one makes my blood boil. Also, we did allow young children, so it is what it is, but someone’s kid fell and scraped their forehead during the ceremony and instead of excusing themself and their child , this person decided to stay while their kid screamed bloody murder the whole reception. Can’t you just excuse yourself?

4. My uncle was an *sshole. Him and I are not close and haven’t seen each other in a long time. He had never met my husband. The first thing out of his mouth to my husband was “well, I sure hope your vows were good because I couldn’t hear a single WORD from where I was sitting!! I almost went up there myself and shoved the mic closer to your face. ” WTF!! We had a giant wedding and he tried to monopolize our time the whole reception. We tried to avoid him but if you dared glance in his direction he’d aggressively beckon us over and got all butthurt that we didn’t comply. I’m sorry, but there were so many people that it was a feat in itself to even say hello to everyone, let alone spend the entire reception with uncle entitlement.

5. My grandmother in law came up to us mid reception , during the 2 mins I had to actually eat some food, complaining about the seating arrangements. She didn’t like that we had a head table and didn’t sit with the bridal party. I was starving and kind of snapped at her. The bridal party was happy to sit with their +1s and families at guests tables instead of sitting at some horizontal bridal party table where no one is facing each other.

6. At the end of the night, our best man (who is SO polite and respectful) rounded everyone up to line up for our grand exit. We had to exit the venue at a specific time . At this point the DJ had announced last calls multiple times and stated that the night is over. Some older guests were parked at the guest tables refusing to get up when we were literally asked to vacate by a certain time. They were chatting, pouring wine, and ignoring the best man. He clapped his hands and said “I’m so sorry but I’m going to have to ask that you follow me! We have to leave the venue” and the woman yelled at him “DONT YOU DARE CLAP YOUR HANDS IN MY FACE YOUNG MAN.” He was floored.

I could keep going. I think I’d like to do an edition with ways the vendors messed up too. I’d love to hear thoughts , reactions and your own stories

Image credits: Frosty-Resort-4163

#36

My daughter’s wedding was in our yard. Beautiful tent. Lovely tables. Perfect weather. A group from the groom’s side brought a cooler with their own beer and liquor. We provided beer, wine and liquor. During clean up the next day we found empty beer cans and liquor bottles under the table they sat at.

Image credits: StuckInTheMiddle2022