Wedding planning is one tough job, especially when the bride or groom decide to let their ugliest side show. We get it, planning for one of the biggest days of their lives can be stressful, but these newlyweds-to-be have completely lost it. In these cringe-worthy bridezilla stories, we find out just how crazy things can get. From intense family drama to unbelievable lash outs, these bridezillas (and groomzillas too!) have made their wedding planner's life a living nightmare. Content has been edit.
This Is One Selfish Sister
“At my sister’s wedding, part of the the reception was held indoors in an area that isn’t wheelchair accessible. My disabled wife and I had to miss out on that part of it. We found out about it on the day, minutes before that part of the wedding was due to start. A little while after, we realize that there actually is a way to get into the area, we just need to go through an inside room which had been set up with tables for dinner. I found my sister and asked her to ask the staff to let us through. My sister forbade us from going through the room, saying she didn’t want anyone going into it until it was dinnertime, essentially leaving my wife and I sitting alone outside while she and her friends had a chocolate fountain and open bar. I came about THIS close to giving her a loud piece of my mind and bailing on the wedding.”
There Were Signs From The Start
“Here are some highlights:
The bride fired the first wedding planner.
The bride fired the maid of honor (the one who set the couple up together) and brought her back a few weeks before the wedding.
The bride fired the MC (groom’s best friend) and kicked him out of the wedding.
The bride told the groom he didn’t have time for a bachelor party with only 3 months left before the wedding and flipped out when he was kidnapped for a bachelor party.
The groom had a few conversations from his friends telling him to reconsider.
Two bridesmaid nearly boycotted the wedding; they were the bride’s sisters.
The best man had a shirt on under his tux that said ‘Don’t do it,’ which he revealed at the reception.
One of the speeches was from a sibling who talked about how he looked up to his brother and learnt from his mistakes
The best part was they she insisted and got them on a television show recording the whole wedding process and it was drama filled they way it was filmed but didn’t have anything of the above in it.”
Groomzilla
“I am the office manager/assistant for a photographer during weddings – I go along with her on wedding days to be an extra set of hands and help gather everyone for portraits. Bride and groom were doing a ‘first look’ (which I highly recommend!) before the ceremony – how that works is the bride comes up behind the groom, taps him on the shoulder, he turns around to see her in all bridal, they smile and kiss, and get couples/wedding party/family portraits out of the way before the ceremony, so you’re free to spend more time enjoying your reception instead of ducking out to take pics. It’s great because you get up close picture of the grooms reaction to seeing his bride, which is harder to get in a church/ceremony. Everyone stands up when they see the bride, and if you miss the shot, there’s no recreating that look on his face.
ANYWAY. So they’re doing their first look, and the groom has been on a party bus with the groomsman for a few hours while she’s getting ready in the hotel. They are all HAMMERED, like couldn’t focus their eyes when I went to grab the groom for the first look. I asked him to please set his drink down for the pictures, and he rolled his eyes but complied. She comes up behind him, already trying not to cry and smiling big as the sun. She taps him on the shoulder, he turns around… and instead of looking at her, his eyes immediately search for the drink, which he set on a window sill. He reaches around her, grabs the drink, and takes a long drink while FINALLY looking at her. He put the can down, burped in her face, and said, ‘You look nice,’ before spinning around and heading back to the bus.
I followed after him as the photographer is standing there stunned, and I’m like, ‘Hey, Mike, you still have a bunch of portraits to take before we get the guys off the bus…’ and just as he turned around to answer me, the bride threw her bouquet and hit him in the chest. He grabbed it and whipped it into the middle of a very busy street and stormed onto the bus. She follows him screaming, I follow behind her but I can’t get around her without stepping on the dress.
Another wasted groomsman is coming back on the bus, trying to get around both of us, bumps me aside, steps on her dress, ripping part of the train and sending both of us stumbling backwards. He dodges the falling bride, I don’t, and I kind of catch her butt and keep her mostly upright but we both tumble off the bus. I can feel her dress ripping more in my hand as she’s trying to right herself.
The guys on the bus are all laughing hysterically, including the groom. I have tears in my eyes because I just landed on my tailbone and my palm is scraped from breaking my fall. All I’m thinking is, ‘Don’t touch the dress, don’t get blood on her dress, just get her standing up.’
Groom tells the bus driver through his laughter, ‘Just go. Just go man, she can meet us at the church.’ I meet eyes with the bus driver and I just kinda shake my head no, and the groom sees me. ‘Ignore her, she’s not paying you, I am. You want a $100 tip? Drive.’
Bus driver left. Bride is hysterical. I drove her to the church. They still got married an hour later. I drank myself silly when I got home that night. Just checked Facebook, they’re still married 3 years later.”
A Wedding Planner’s Nightmare
“I had this client book me for a day-of two weeks before the actual wedding. I regret taking it to this day.
She had no transportation planned to take her home at the end of the night. I asked her repeatedly what her plan was and she told me she just wouldn’t drink and planned to drive to her honeymoon spot. She never told me where it was even though I kept asking.
Fast forward two weeks. A massive tornado just went through the area the day before her wedding and power lines and trees were blocking every entrance to the highway to her wedding in the boonies of Maryland. I got up early to deal with the issues at the venue, like no electric on a 100 degree day. I get a call from her around 6 am saying she realized she needs transportation now. Fine, I’ll find it. One last question, where is this mystery honeymoon spot…. Oh, hours away in West Virginia. I call every D.C. and Maryland based limo company and beg them to find someone to drive into the Maryland countryside at 11 pm and then take them to West Virginia. Finally someone relented and I called the bride to tell her the price. Complete. Friggin. Meltdown. Well guess what, you request that at the last minute, you’re going to pay whatever they want to charge you.
The wedding itself was a complete mess. The bride hated her hair and makeup and made it very well known to me, even though she had personally booked the stylist. As it was 100 degrees and blazing July sun, the original unshaded area was going to be terrible for the ceremony. I suggested we move it for her comfort and the comfort of her guests to the beautiful area with a centuries old tree. She refused but as guests arrived, they did nothing but complain. I decided to say oh well and moved the ceremony to make everyone happy. It was a one hour traditional Jewish ceremony and in no good mind would I let people suffer in the sun.
After the ceremony, I had to wait outside the bridal suite while the couple had a bedding ceremony, something I never want to witness again. Said ceremony went way over, thus extending social hour and shortening the reception. The bride freaked out that she lost out of dancing time because of it and blamed it on me.
At the end of the night during clean up, the mother of the bride started throwing decor in her car rather than let my team do the load out. As soon as she left, I noticed my emergency kit was no where to be found. I called the mom and she claimed she never saw it, even though it was next to the decor we had started to pile up. The next week I get a call from the venue saying they saw a car throw a bag out of their window onto the steps of the venue and then speed away. Alas it was my bag and I had to drive over 90 minutes to go fetch it, even though the mom and bride lived super close to me and had my address.
To top it all off, I got heat stroke and my poor assistant had to drive us home at midnight.”
Poor Bridesmaids
“I was a bridesmaid. The bride-to-be took us (the maid of honor, another bridesmaid, and myself) out to pick out dresses. The bride’s mother and the groom’s mother also came at her insistence.
We (the bridesmaids) arrive at the dress shop only to find that the bride, her mom, and the groom’s mom had already picked out the dress she wanted us to wear for the wedding when they’d bought her wedding dress a few weeks prior.
Ok, that’s fine in theory, but we had been under the impression we’d get to pick our own dresses. Whatever, it’s her wedding. But when we try the dresses on, we realize that it doesn’t really look good on two of us because we’re all different frames and sizes. We come out and show the bride and two moms, and the moms are in agreement that this dress really doesn’t work. The bride, however, is very upset that we don’t all magically look great in the same dress. She starts making snide, subtle comments about our appearances. She started implying that we’d need to lose weight to look good in them, and telling one of the other girls how she’d need a push up bra to look ‘normal.’
The moms ignore the bride’s attitude and flag down an employee to help us find some alternatives. We’re in a small city, so their selection isn’t the best, but the employee finds at least half a dozen other dresses that come in the color the bride wants. We try them all on, but because we vary so much in body types, most of them don’t look good on one or all of us (strapless ones look bad on the busty girls, the long dresses don’t fit right one the short ones, etc.). The bride continues to make comments about our bodies.
Finally, the last dress we try on is generic enough that it looks fine on all of us. The bride doesn’t like it because it doesn’t make us look ‘good’ enough. To make matters worse (in her eyes) the dress has pockets. She absolutely does not want her bridesmaids having pockets. At this point, every single one of us is happy with this choice except her. She reluctantly agrees to let us pick that dress but is very clearly not happy.
So then we go to pick out shoes. The bride tells us we will be wearing the same shoes as her, but in a different color. Weird, but again, we try not to argue with her. When we try them on, though, there is a snag in her plans. I have very small feet (technically a 3 in kids, though some size 5 shoes will fit). The heels she wants are sky high and strapless. When I put them on and try to walk, my feet keep slipping out. They’re also open-toed, so I can’t really stuff the front like I’ve done in the past. To top it off, just standing in them to try them on, I find the front is absolutely killing my feet. I tell her this and she watches me try to walk in them only to have them flop off. Her mom asks if they come in a smaller size, but they’re fancy working women shoes, so no, they obviously don’t make them to fit kids.
The bride’s solution? ‘Once you start to wear them, your feet will swell and they’ll fit then,’ and walks off. The bride’s mom assures me that ‘we’ll figure out something’ and buys all of our dresses and shoes as condolences.
I never got to know how that would have worked out though because the bride and groom simultaneously cheated on each other, so they called off the wedding. The bride didn’t even have the nerve to tell me herself; I had to hear it from the maid of honor.
We are no longer friends and it’s sad to me now that this wasn’t even the reason why. I can’t believe I let someone treat me, and other people she called friends, like that.”
Mother Nature Had Other Plans
“It was an outside ceremony at a golf course, with an inside reception. About an hour to the ceremony the skies went dark, and storm clouds began rolling in.
I tell my outdoor bride we need to call the wedding no later than 30 minutes in advance so we have time to move guests indoors, as well as any other items (flowers, etc). In this case, the bride had a beautiful indoor location that was easily used for both ceremony and reception, which is why there was no tent.
I suggest to the bride that she move her ceremony inside. She says no. She wants it outside.
I show her the clouds. ‘It’s Seattle,’ she says. ‘There are always clouds.’ Well yes, but these are storm clouds and you have 200 people sitting outside on a golf course…
She won’t budge. No amount of reasoning is helping.
20 minutes to ceremony, it starts to get windy. Nothing big yet, but this is just more signs that wet weather is upon us.
She still won’t reconsider. Several guests are seated outside. Many hover inside the reception area because its cold out now. I tell her this. Tell her last call. Warn her what happens if it rains during the ceremony. She still wants it outside.
The ceremony begins. It starts to sprinkle. Bridesmaids are getting wet as they walk down the aisle. Shoes are sinking into the grass. Guests are looking worried.
The bride walks down the aisle just as big wind gusts begin. Rain starts to fall in earnest. Guests try and use umbrellas but it is just too gusty.
We aren’t even five minutes into the ceremony when the heavens suddenly open and it POURS. Guests start screeching and start moving inside. Ceremony is still happening for the bride, but guests are bailing. Musicians grab their instruments and head inside.
The bridal party continue to stand there like nothing is happening, much like the band on the Titanic.
There are maybe 20 guests left. Everyone else has bailed. It is an open downpour; anyone left is just soaked.
Officiant is rushing now; though there isn’t really anyone left to witness vows. Before they got to the kiss, the lightning began. At that point, they finally bailed.
The bride and bridal party spent the reception looking like drowned rats. The bride was just ruined. Runny makeup, hair smushed. She had rashes on her skin from being wet all night. Wet lace and heavy ball gowns are not easily worn wet. All the decor that was meant to move inside following the ceremony was ruined; thousands of dollars on flowers and centerpieces down the drain. Literally.
And in the end, hardly anyone witnessed the ceremony at all, and they didn’t even get to finish.
Bad bride.”
Seems A Bit…Rash.
“It was my brother’s wedding and I was one of the bridesmaids for my sister-in-law.
We were taking all those cutesy, typical pre-wedding photos between the bride and her bridesmaid, and her and her parents, when we realized that only the bridesmaids’ transport had arrived, and that the car for her and her dad was stuck somewhere.
She called up to find out what was happening, proceeded to scream at the poor guy who was stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Her skin erupted in a red sort of rash that was visible on her chest, and her arms, and she screamed that she was not going to get married if she couldn’t go in the car she paid for.
Half an hour went by. No car for her.
We suggested she just come with us? We had a wedding decorated van, and had plenty of space for her and her parents.
Her response? ‘No, I can’t turn up this late to my wedding. I’m not getting married!’
After a tense 10 minutes, she got in our van, and we continued with the wedding day.”
Disaster Wedding 101
“Not just the bride, the entire wedding was a disaster. I used to work for a wedding catering business, one time we had a wedding where everything that could’ve gone wrong, went wrong. The groom’s ex showed up, demanded to be let in, and was eventually walked out by the cops. The groom later screamed at his mother to ‘Get the eff out of here.’ The bride’s brother was cut off after he was noticeably sauced. He proceeded to knock over a stack of glass racks (maybe 5 racks) and break about 8 dozens glasses on the floor in the dining room. Multiple guests had their acid confiscated and a lady vomited and passed out on the dance floor. I miss that job.”
Family Drama To The Max
“This is the story of when my ex fiancé attacked my brother and a photographer because of my sister. A bit of a read but well worth it. A few things you need to know first:
1. My parents are Mormons so I had only seen my ex fiancé a handful of times times before the wedding. My ex was crazy. One small example of her bridezilla behavior was when she threw herself on the floor because I could not get her a ring 3 times the cost of the wedding.
2. My sister is a crazy drama queen that loves attention. She was a bridesmaid at our cousin’s wedding and refused to smile in the pictures and ‘accidentally’ knocked the bride over because she was angry at the attention our cousin was getting.
So the day of the wedding, I was getting ready with my little brother Coda. I was dreading getting married but holding it together. My uncle comes in and tells me I need to come outside there is a problem. Turns out my little sister, who had been fuming, had gone around and told literally everyone Coda is gay. The only people who knew this were my sister and myself. Everyone was acting pretty cool about it except my wife-to-be. She made a beeline for my brother. She pushed him and screamed that he ruined her day. I explained it was my sister but she was inconsolable. She kept yelling, calling my brother names, who in turn got really upset. She pushed the wedding photographer as well.
I was done with all the drama at that point so I said sorry to everyone and left with my brother. The best part was her parents paid for the wedding as it tradition. I paid for the ring and honeymoon. I told her to keep the ring. The honeymoon was paid for by me and I couldn’t get a refund just a downgrade to a family suit so that night my brother and I jumped a plane to Ibiza for two weeks. Best two weeks of my life. We went out to crazy clubs as Ibiza has the best nightlife and I met a lot of girls. He met a lot of guys. We got to go surfing, deep sea fishing, you name it. I got married a few years later my brother got married early this year. Neither of us invited our sister. Way too risky.”
Monsters-In-Law
“My brother was getting married and I was one of his groomsmen. It wasn’t even his wife, it was her family that acted like complete butts from start to finish.
Normally the bride’s family throws her a bridal shower; her family said, ‘That’s too expensive,’ so they did nothing. My mother offered the use of her house, paid for all of the food and, at the request of the bride, asked that only the ladies of each family attend the event (i.e, guys were not invited).
The family of the bride shows up with a party tent that nobody had asked for, literally dropped it in the driveway with no idea or intention of setting it up and left. I had the pleasure of figuring out and setting up this clown house themed tent that nobody used since the event was held indoors due to inclement weather.
Fast forward to the day of the shower. Every single member of the bride’s family (men included) show up after being told ‘ladies only, no men.’ Then the men were confused why they were corralled and told they weren’t welcome to eat before the bride and add the burden of their presence to the event.
Later, the bride’s family tried to complain about how my mom ‘high jacked the wedding’ by stepping up when the bride’s own family refused to contribute.
The wedding day and reception were no better. Again, not a single dime contributed towards either the wedding or reception. But the first people to line up at the bar was the bride’s family. They also tried ordering an additional keg on my parent’s tab and they brought Tupperware to take leftovers.
After the reception, my parents learned that a full keg had been tapped without their approval. Regardless, they were sent the bill although a refund was eventually issued. The refund, for some reason, was sent to the bride’s mother (who contributed nothing to the reception or the wedding). My parents asked the manager of the venue for confirmation that refund had been issued and was shown a record of the refund. The check had been cashed, but the bride’s mother outrightly denied receiving any such check.
To this day, despite literally stealing money, freeloading thousands of dollars worth of food and drinks, and contributing nothing they still talk about how my mom ‘high jacked the wedding.’ This all coming from girls who lived with their parents well into their late 20’s.”
Burning All Bridges
“I’m not a wedding planner but my friend is getting married soon. She planned this huge wedding with eight bridesmaids/groomsman and when she tried to arrange for the bridesmaids to get together and pick out bridesmaids dresses, two of them couldn’t make it on the day she picked. She was so upset that they couldn’t come on that particular day that she sent out a nasty text to all the bridesmaids and cancelled the big wedding and now is having a destination wedding with just her fiancé and their family.”
Something Isn’t Right Here.
“Let me start off by saying that I was a deacon. Fully empowered to officiate weddings. But no one, in my experience, asks the deacon to do a wedding unless they are a family friend. So I was a little shocked, and somewhat suspicious, when I was approached by this couple. They wanted two things; me to officiate and use of our church. They were only two weeks away and their first venue fell through. Alternatively, they would just like to rent the church and they would have a family friend officiate.
Unless the family friend just happened to be clergy of the same denomination as us, the latter wasn’t an option.
As I asked more questions, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the couple. Something was off. Finally, they came out with it. The couple had broken up after the invites had been sent. But the bride was not going to be deprived of her ‘special day of being treated like a princess’ for some technicality like she didn’t have a groom. Deposits were already in place, anyway, so they figured they’d throw the big wedding, have the reception and then go their separate ways.
I asked the groom why he would be participating in this farce. The father of the bride, in an apparent effort to give his special princess her special day, was willing to give the groom the honeymoon tickets/hotel. So he basically got a vacation to show up and look sincere.
The reason why the first venue dropped them was that they didn’t want to stage a fake wedding. Neither did we.”