Worst Wedding You've Ever Been To?

I would have left at the gap with my gift.

A tuesday morning wedding with a 3hr gap serving only water and juice, no music, no order, and the bride ended up screaming at guests for leaving early.

The weekend before Halloween in New Jersey, my college roommate had her dream beach wedding at the Jersey shore. She insisted I wear a sari and FH wear khakis and a buttondown (thank God he put on his blazer) It was about forty degrees out and the wind was something fierce! Her family, who were in jeans and parkas (smart people) was standing guard for town police because they didn't get a permit to have the wedding, so once the wedding was over, it was a mad dash to get to the boardwalk before the cops came by. Lunch was at an Italian restaurant that I've hated since we were in college, my pasta entree was raw and she only made enough wedding cake for her family. We got this fudge cake thing instead (and that cake looked good too), the booze options were cases of Andre and I can't even remember what the awful wine was. We and the parents of the kids she nannied for were the best dressed people at the event, the groom's family refused to attend.

They were divorced before their first wedding anniversary.

During the reception of my sister's wedding, an elderly family friend tripped over an outlet on the floor while trying to take a picture of the cake cutting. She ended up breaking her hip. Everything was paused while we waited for an ambulance to come. Needless to say, my sister was divorced a year later.

@Celia "the elusive party atmosphere you are all after comes from happy guests" truth and best bride advice ever.

Celia covered it, and after all of the weddings she's been to, I would take her opinion to heart.

No, the gaps are not fun. Nobody really likes them. To put board games on tables -- really? People don't dress up and travel to a wedding to play Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit.

If you want a wedding that people will remember with a smile, there are a few essentials. No extreme temps -- inside or outside. Spend your budget on good food (and plenty of it), some type of alcoholic refreshment, good music, and a seating chart. If you do that, people will be comfortable, well-fed, in a great mood, and they'll know where to sit without that awkward scanning the room thing. If you take measures to provide a good guest experience, people will love your wedding -- whether it takes place in a park pavillion or in a marble floored venue with crystals chandeliers. If you choose to spend your budget on things that limit your ability to give a great guest experience, you're making a mistake. You may have gorgeous uplighting and beautiful centerpieces, but if people are hungry and bored, those extras will be identified as the reasons for their discomfort.

And some of these stories blow my mind...by now I should be used to it, but I'm not.

I've been to two awful weddings and they were both for the same groom!! The first wedding was in some type of function hall under the elevated train, so whenever the train went by the whole place shook! Everything was plastic: plates, utensils, cups, no glass or metal at all. The toast was made with raspberry ginger ale (for no reason other than they're cheap). Food was awful, the couple didn't greet guests at all. That marriage lasted about 18 months.

Second wedding was in some ratty hall. Invitation was a phone call from the groom's mother (didn't want to spend money on printed invites, apparently hasn't heard of online invites). I think the couple actively sought out the worst caterer in the state. There were bags of store-branded potato chips on the food table, seriously you couldn't find bowls? I only ate salad because that was the only thing that didn't look spoiled. Never even introduced to the bride.

Cash bar at both weddings, thank you notes from neither. Second marriage lasted 5 months.

Guess who's getting married AGAIN!!! Will not be attending.

Where do you live where it's freezing in August. That sucks!! But thanks for sharing this. From a planning perspective, guest feedback is invaluable. I never understand why people don't take weather and bugs into consideration when planning an outdoor wedding. That's why my wedding is outside but the reception is inside. I can't stand swatting away bugs while I'm trying to eat.

Sunshine-- just wondering, where was the wedding? It's so crazy hot here in Dallas right now I was curious where you were that it was freezing --in August! That sounds like a bad time and sorry you had to go through that!

The Halloween wedding I was MOH for had the reception on an entirely different day at a public park pavilion with plastic everything and graffiti walls. After the ceremony on day 1, we all gathered for a meal at a nearby restaurant where everyone footed their own bill. ugh.

I worry so much about my wedding because of what happened at my brothers.

Their venue included everything, when they asked my SIL how many plates they needed she told them 200 and the manager told her there was no way she'd need that many and convinced her to only order 150. Well that day, they ended up running out of food and told her they could come up with 50 more plates for $500. Ok, they agreed since they wanted everyone to eat. When they tried to pay with a credit card the manager refused, saying they didn't take credit cards (even though they had paid everything with the exact same card) and that the bride would have to go to an atm to get cash. The manager stopped the whole thing. Turned off the music and refused to served the cake.

I'm sure the situation would have been avoided if they required RSVP's, but in our families that would be very out of the ordinary. Only one of my cousins has had a wedding that requires RSVP and it was a very formal wedding with a plated dinner.

Yikes. These stories make me nervous! Our venue has the potential of a hot, sunny ceremony, but we plan to keep it short and sweet, and I want to provide sun parasols and fans.

I haven't been to a truly bad wedding, just ones where the music (a band) has fallen flat so there was no one on the dance floor. Most recently there was a wedding crasher at FH's best friend's wedding. Didn't ruin the wedding, and it was not the bride and groom's fault, but she somehow got a few cards out of the card box. The bride and groom took everything in stride though, and the coordinator kicked her out and called the cops. How crazy!

@Kathleen Evil twin? Jk... kinda.

I haven't been to any truly terrible ones, but I went to one with bad food and music.

My sister, however, went to one this past summer that was crazy. She said that they ran out of food in 30 minutes because around 100 extra guests showed up. People were leaving and coming back with Jack-in-the-Box and Pizza Hut. And it was a cash drink station - the guests had to pay for even water and soda. Cash bars aren't a big deal here, but at least offer some beverage for free!

The worst one I ever went to ran out of food, ran out of cupcakes, the groom gave the bride lingerie in front of everyone *awkward*...It was just like "why did we come?"...

Wow these are all truly horrible!!

I haven't really been to a bad wedding, but the worst was a friend I was a bridesmaid for. She is mormon and so they have their ceremony in the temple and only people that have gone through the temple are allowed to watch. So I stood outside in my (awful) bridesmaid dress (made by her mom out of some sort of parachute type material) and waited for her and her husband to come out. Then the reception location was over an hour away, we stopped for some food along the way. Then we got to the reception site, took a bunch of pictures and then the reception was just some cheese and crackers and veggies. The cupcakes were awesome at least. There was no dance floor, they planned to move some tables aside for the first dance, but the bride and groom forgot to charge their ipod so they did their first dance to some sort of elevator music that the venue had (this couple met through a ballroom dancing class so they had a whole piece choreographed too that they didn't get to do). Then after they did their first dance that was it, no more dancing. Then people just sort of stopped by like it was a house party or graduation party like on their way to dinner in jeans to say their congrats. It was very different. Not horrible, but it definitely didn't feel like a wedding. Apparently that is really typical for mormon weddings. She is also one of my bridesmaids and I asked her if she's ever been to a non-mormon wedding and she said she hasn't so I think she'll be in for a surprise when she finds out how most weddings really go! Maybe then she'll stop saying "Oh it's just a party".

ETA: Oh and needless to say, the wedding was dry.

@Becky I'm in Ontario. This summer has been off and on very hot and really cold. The day of their wedding just happened to be cold. It was about 15 Celsius, but very windy so it felt even colder.

Wow!! That wedding sounds terrible! And how rude of the bride to say that to you as you were leaving. Weddings are expensive to travel to and you give people gifts.

I have had two terrible wedding experiences and I'm not sure which one is worse. At one there was a cash bar no one told us about, and the MOG sat in front of it and yelled at people ordering drinks. Then there was no cocktail hour, we went to the reception that was suppose to "immediately follow the wedding" and we waited in the reception room with no music or food with the MOG yelling at everyone for 4 hours while the wedding party went and took pictures. Then the reception music was mostly country line dances played in spanish. We left shortly after dinner to drink heavily.

The other terrible wedding, was a close friend of my FHs from high school. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception.... there was no alcohol, it took place in a brightly lit church gym, no seating chart, they ran out of room for everyone, small children (under the age of 10) were the servers, they only played taylor swift music, and my FH and I were asked to leave early after he requested gangham style because "it was inappropriate".

Jeanette - LOL. I was dying reading that. That's hilarious! 100% awful, but hilarious because I didn't have to attend!

Nikki - Yes, she is evil.

Happy in Hawaii - You need to tell us how your mormon friend feels about your wedding Lol. Their wedding just seems awful. You get super bonus kudos point for sticking around!

Kathleen, at least they would have been fun if you were there!!

I would have to say the wedding of my ex sister in law. The wedding was held on an island in Boston Harbor. That meant the first each guest had to take a boat to the wedding (which the guests paid for themselves) and just as bad (if not worse) there was no running water (there was 1 outhouse for all the guests plus any other island visitors). My ex husband and I were expected to set up all the decorations (but we had 2 children so my ex took care of the younger daughter who was too young to be in the wedding) and I was stuck swetring up (and later removing) all the decorations. Then I had to go to the floating dock (where the park rangers slept) to help dress my older daughter (the flower girl), the matron of honor (my ex mother in law, also the mother of the bride) and the bride (it was so hot in there and no windows/air flow. Guests were asked to bring food for a pot luck meal (again the food had to be transported by boat). There was no music except a radio and because it was on an island no one could leave for hours (when the next boat arrived)

I haven't been to any that were THAT bad as these so I won't even try and tell a story. I have to say I enjoyed reading these stories to help get me through a blah work day (but I'm SO sorry for those of you who had to suffer through them!).

I think Theresa might win purely because she was forced to stay on a damn island (but these were all really bad). Wow.