If you’re knee-deep in planning your wedding, you might find your thoughts drifting to all the things that could possibly go wrong. What if the caterers don’t show? Might someone’s rambunctious pet destroy the cake? What about uncooperative little ones? Or, Heaven forbid, what if someone actually disrupts the ceremony when your officiant says, “Speak now or forever hold your peace?” While this is just a short list of things that might make your special day go south, these probably don’t compare to the litany of wedding disaster tales popularly circulating on social media.
Two Horrible Cases of "Matrimonial Interruptus"
As an always-fresh source of nuptial disaster tales, the writers at the Huffington Post are all too happy to oblige horrified readers. One upset bride described in a January 2016 piece how her mother-in-law stole the spotlight at her wedding rehearsal in an unexpected way: by marrying her new beau. “She made the request while we were practicing for our ceremony,” Katie related to HuffPost. “So my sweet husband married his mom and her new husband before our actual wedding rehearsal.”
If you think that’s awful, then maybe you should be sitting down for this major nuptial faux pas recounted in a June 2017 BuzzFeed article. The couple’s shindig came with a hefty price tag of $80,000, with the details planned perfectly in advance. However, the groom’s best man decided on the spur of the moment to propose to his sweetie…in the middle of his friends’ wedding ceremony. As the story circulated quickly on Twitter, users reacted with a mix of outrage and disbelief. Some declared that the not-so-happy couple should cut the best man and his impromptu fiancé out of their lives for good.
Who’s the Bride? When Female Guests Wear White
Long the staple of nightmares for many brides, there’s always the possibility that a female invitee will show up wearing a white dress. Many sources of wedding etiquette practices still strongly warn against it. At the same time, some such as Vogue contributor Edward Barsamian suggest that it’s no longer universally verboten, especially if it’s a deliberate request from the happy couple themselves.
Unfortunately, the consensus against it doesn’t always stop the determined person with nerves of steel, an obtuse state of mind or a deliberately petty agenda. One poor bride disclosed in the same 2016 Huffington Post piece that her cousin appeared at her wedding wearing a white dress and shoes, managing to get the attention of the videographer. “For a long time after our wedding, I couldn’t watch our wedding video without hurting inside every time she appeared on screen. I never knew she hated me that much!” she related. Nevertheless, even this miscreant behavior was topped by an attendee at a Long Island nuptials as revealed in a New York Daily News article from 2015. Wedding planner Sarah Glick related that the woman in question wore her own wedding dress to someone else’s ceremony, believing that it was acceptable because it was off-white and not the same shade as the bride’s couture.
The Tales of Tragedy Continue
As you might expect, these anecdotes are just a short sampling of atrocious behavior by wedding guests. Nevertheless, they tend to fall into more common categories such as drunken antics, inappropriate flirting, excessive demands on the disc jockey and interpersonal family drama. Thankfully, invitees who observe proper etiquette and attend with the spirit of helping their newly marrying friends celebrate usually avoid committing their own social blunders. When vetting your list of attendees, be sure to include family and friends with whom you have mutual respect, and those who you know will have a true appreciation for one’s role as your guest.
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