Is there a time of year more drama-fueled and scandalous than wedding season? It seems like every year the stories of insane brides, grooms, and their bridal parties just get crazier and crazier. Perhaps no one knows this better than the people who work at weddings. They witness all the action behind the scenes and definitely do not get paid enough to deal with these kinds of people. Wedding workers took to Reddit to share all the juicy details of the most outrageous weddings they ever worked at and the wedding parties who made their jobs a living nightmare. Content has been edited for clarity.
What A Classy Bunch
“I work at a facility that we rent out for weddings. We probably host like 8 weddings a year and they bring out the worst in people. You can have the calmest, most chill person on your first meeting, but by the time that the wedding rolls around, that bride will be a complete nightmare.
My most recent bride was having what was obviously her second or third wedding. She kept trying to use everything for free, even though she had signed a very specific contract that stated what she could and could not do. She pitched a fit over that. Then, on the day of the wedding, she threw a nuclear meltdown fit when her bridesmaids got tired of taking photographs after three hours and went somewhere to get warm. She started screaming at the photographer that she was going to keep taking pictures and begone with all of them.
I had a mother-in-law-zilla one time, who, after seeing and approving of the chairs that we provided, caused a scene of epic proportions after she decided that the chairs weren’t good enough anymore. The bride was sobbing by the end of it, being consoled by monster-in-law who simply kept telling her, ‘It’ll be alright, even though everything is ruined by these GREEN chairs.’
I had a bride rent our facility for her ‘classy’ wedding. She was a Witch with a capital W. She refused to make eye contact with any staff member, got people’s attention by snapping her fingers at them, and made a complete and total fool of herself when she and her groom showed up plastered to the reception. A rumor had started to spread that she was pregnant, which is why they were getting married. She furiously denied this in a speech to everyone gathered at the wedding. The baby was born five months later, a healthy 10 lbs.
After I had a bride full on scream at me that I was ruining her wedding (her fourth), I calmly looked at her and said, ‘Ma’am, it is not my goal in life to ruin this event for you. I can address your concerns when you have calmed down or you can leave.’ She looked at me like someone had slapped her and I’m pretty sure that it was the first time in the entire process that anyone had told her anything vaguely resembling a no.
It now costs a lot of money to get married at my place of work and bridal parties must sign an 8-page contract.”
Baby Mama Drama
“I have extensive experience as an event coordinator, including private events such as weddings.
The worst I’ve personally witnessed involved the groom’s baby mama (and ex fiancé) who came to the reception uninvited. She grabbed the wedding cake, chucked it at the newlyweds, and began screaming how he was a deadbeat dad while she grabbed bottles and smashed them on the ground.
Everyone was stunned in shock at first, but the ex-fiancé was ultimately restrained by the groomsmen. We called the police and she was charged with assault, assault with a weapon (from waving around a broken bottle and clocking a groomsman), and destruction of private property (both from the couple and the venue). What a charmer.
In the end, the parents of the groom asked me to arrange a lovely (and secret) private dinner for the newlyweds and their bridal party to make up for the fiasco. No cake was salvaged sadly. But, the bride was a huge fan of donuts since childhood though, so we ran out, grabbed boxes upon boxes of them, and they celebrated ‘cutting the donut’ during their midnight lunch. They ultimately enjoyed the remainder of their night, but the brides’ gown was destroyed, a good amount of the linens were ruined, and an arrest was made. At least their wedding was definitely memorable.
From what I gathered the following week when we had the private dinner, the baby mama was a close friend to the groom’s cousin. I guess the cousin was recently divorced, and always felt passed over by the family so she took the ex fiancé’s side. The cousin ended up giving the wedding info to the ex, and well, showed up. Honestly, the cousin probably would’ve gotten away with slipping the information if she didn’t start spurting off that the groom ‘got what was coming to him.”
Textbook Bridezilla
“I worked a wedding where I basically had to play a game of telephone all day long.
I’m a photographer and came onsite the day of a wedding to meet with the planner/coordinator who promptly told me to be careful around the bride. Apparently at the rehearsal the prior night, the bride thought the coordinator was taking too much of her time (after two questions), and relayed through her bridesmaid that the coordinator was no longer allowed to speak to the bride or even look her in the eye. All communication would have to go through a family member from there on out.
I had worked with this coordinator in the past and knew her to be a consummate professional and pleasant person to be around. She had actually assumed the bride would get over her tantrum the day of the wedding, but nope, still no talking or eye contact. The coordinator tried her best to keep the wedding day going smoothly and on time, but it was really tough to do so through proxy. Taking photos took forever because I had to make sure a bridesmaid or sister was always with us to tell the couple where to stand and how to pose. It was one of the most awkward jobs I ever had.
I should also mention that when I came onsite for the wedding, I was able to locate the bride by the sound of her screaming at her hair/makeup artists. By the time I came into the bridal suite, she had switched to screaming at her bridesmaids for looking prettier than her and made them change their hairstyles to ‘look uglier.’
After I was done with the getting-ready portraits, I found the groom outside on a balcony and staring into the sun with the longest sigh I’ve ever heard in my life.”
You Can’t Buy Class
“I own my own bartending company. The bride and all the guests raved about how great we were all night, then the very next day the bride talked smack about my company online. The bad reviews would stay there unless I returned $450+ dollars. I used screenshots, pictures and copies of the contract to convince the websites to have the reviews removed and told her off.
I checked her Yelp account and it seems as though she made the account just to give bad reviews to all the vendors from her wedding in return for refunds. She clearly planned a wedding she couldn’t afford and ended up with buyer’s remorse. You really can’t buy class.”
Better To Make The Bride Happy Than The Mother-In-Law
“I am a musician.
I played a wedding last year and the bride and groom were fantastically lively, beautiful people. I couldn’t help but like them even though in the lead up I had probably only spent an hour in their company.
Anyways, the bride wanted me to play at the ceremony, just acoustic guitar and singing outside the church for the guests as they walked in. They invited me to the wedding and reception, so I wasn’t just there for an hour and then went home.
About a week before the wedding, the bride asked if I’d also mind playing their first dance song.
I, of course, said yes. I was going to be there anyways. She wanted me to play ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran.
Fast-forward to the day of the wedding: everything is going according to plan. About 10 minutes before the first dance is due to happen, I go and get my guitar.
The groom’s mother followed me and basically confronted me and told me not to play that song. Instead, she wanted me to play ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ because it was her favorite song and she wanted her son to do that. I very politely informed her that my agreement was with the bride and groom and therefore I’d play the Ed Sheeran song.
She wasn’t happy, went on a rant (I don’t remember what she said, I wasn’t paying attention) and she ended it with, ‘I’m paying for this wedding, and I don’t care what that dumb girl wants! You will play what I tell you to or you won’t get paid!’
I told her of course I would play her song. After all, I was a poor, unemployed musician and couldn’t possibly have any other gigs or a source of income and was desperately relying on the $150 that an hour of singing at a wedding ceremony would bring me.
Then I got up to play and did what the bride wanted. I made sure to stare at the mother-in-law for a good 30 seconds, and then afterwards promptly told her to stick her complaining up where the sun don’t shine.
I figured it was best to not ruin the happy couple’s day, so I waited until they got back from the honeymoon before I told the bride what had happened. And bless her cotton socks, she transferred me $300 on the spot for my troubles.”
At Least They Got A Tip
“I briefly worked in event production/management. I had the pleasure of being at this event, working a simple photo booth gig at a beautiful church. It was a simple gig.
The weather was gorgeous, view was gorgeous, everything was great. The second I got there, one of our photographers came up to me with a glass of bubbly, chugs it, and says, ‘I’ve been here since 12 pm (it was 8pm).’
In the distance, the bride was screaming and cussing up a storm. I talked to the photographer a bit longer and I found out, ‘The bride punched her mother in the face during photos, the bride kicked out the groom’s best man, and she cussed out our videographer.’
This woman was going mad. Everything was cussing, screaming, yelling, scolding. To put it in perspective, halfway through the reception, the bride shouted for her ‘loser husband to get [their] money’s worth at the photo booth.’
Later that night, I watched her shove a groomsman to the ground when he asked her to calm down. She eventually broke into tears randomly at some point.
The woman tipped me $150, so it was chill.”
How Are People THIS Classless?!
“My sister fired her wedding planner and cancelled the rehearsal dinner.
The photographer ended up stepping in and being the one to tell us when it was our turn to walk down the aisle, time to cut the cake, who should toast, etc., because my sister was toasted and the rest of us were just clueless. He was also a top-notch photographer despite all the extra responsibility he took on in the wedding.
My husband and I were considering buying some of the photos he took of our family, but he ended up taking all of my sister’s pictures off of his site because she was screen capping and sharing them with the watermark cropped out instead of buying them. So classless.”
The Groomzilla
“Wedding DJ here. It wasn’t the bride this time – this was a groomzilla. For some reason, the newlyweds decided to invite the bride’s son’s father.
The dance floor cleared early and everyone was in the photo booth or outside mingling and partying…except the baby daddy and the groom.
They were sitting at a table alone and appeared to be having a raucous, laughing conversation. Except their faces started get angry looking. The groom put his finger on the daddy’s chest and screams, ‘HE CALLS ME DAD NOW! I’M HIS FATHER!’
Groomsmen came running in to hold them both back. Groom flipped the freaking table over. The bride was in tears.
Magical.”
You Get What You Pay For
“I worked in event planning at a casino and worked on a bunch of weddings. Most people are stressed but otherwise decent human beings…and others are monsters.
The bride decided the morning of her wedding that she just hated her dress, and expected me to fix that for her. She had seen pictures of Gwen Stefani’s wedding dress, and wanted me to either dip-dye her David’s Bridal Clearance dress ombre pink, or just procure a couture dress for her. When I told her neither was possible, she screamed, ‘What am I even paying you for?’ and threw her shoes at me. She did eventually get married in the offending dress, but looked miserable the whole time.
There was a Momzilla that showed up in a white dress, with an Ascot-sized hat, and a parrot. No, I am not kidding. A freaking bright red macaw, screaming its head off because it was totally stressed out by all the people and being attached to a crazy person by a leash.
Then there’s the bride that started demanding we serve the same food at her no-frills, bargain wedding reception that she’d seen being served at the spared-no-expense, super-rich reception being held in another ballroom. She’d paid for a social reception with just hors d’oeuvres, drinks, a toast, and a pretty basic wedding cake. Now she was suddenly screaming at the serving staff to get some ‘real’ food in there for her guests. When they refused, she actually followed one back to the kitchens and was trying to load up trays herself. We ended up placating her with some extra hors d’oeuvres, but she had the gall to complain to my bosses about the whole night.”
In Love With The Wedding Planner?!
“I’m not a wedding planner, but I do work in the industry and my friend is the wedding planner I’m telling this story about.
He is a good-looking, straight male that has an amazing eye for design and detail. He can do everything from wedding dress design and execution, flowers, you name it. And his services are not cheap.
He had a bride who called him up a few days before her wedding and told him she couldn’t go through with the wedding because she was in love with someone else. The conversation went something like this:
Bride: ‘I can’t marry him, I just don’t love him anymore, I think I’m in love with someone else!’
Him: ‘What do you mean you’re in love with someone else!? Your wedding is in 5 days!’
Bride: ‘Well…. I’m in love with you. You just GET me! I’ve never met anyone else like you!’
Him: ‘…Do you know how much your parents are paying me to get you?!’
She ended up getting married 5 days later and it was never mentioned again.”
Stressed About The Dress
“My mom worked in a bridal salon when she was in college.
Sizing was a nightmare. This woman, Sandra, came in to try on gowns. She tried on the large sample dress, had it pinned to see how it would look on her if it was her size. She said this was it, so my mom took her measurements, and figured out what size she needed to order.
My mom told her dress will be a size 8 based on her measurements and Sandra threw a fit.
‘That’s impossible! All of my other dresses are size 4! I have been a size 4 since I was 14. I am not an 8! Order me a 4!’
My mom would explain how sizes vary from designer to designer and that, while she may be a 4 normally, with the designer of her dress her measurements are considered an 8. She told her that it’s just a number, and if it was too big it could be taken-in, but a 4 couldn’t be taken-out. Sandra took none of that. Despite all protest, she demanded a 4.
A couple weeks before the wedding, her size 4 dress arrived. It wouldn’t zip (duh). Bride had a meltdown. Mom had to apologize and reorder a larger dress at the bridal salon’s expense.”
Mother Nature Had The Last Laugh
“I work for a florist/event coordinating shop. We have several high end venues we are exclusive with and lots of money breeds lots of entitlement. We get pretty horrendous bridezillas on the regular.
One I remember was a woman who was very sweet up until after her wedding. We had to substitute peonies (every bride and their grandma’s favorite flower) because they weren’t in season and to get them she would need to pay a ton, so she opted for garden roses instead. It rained on her wedding day, and not like ‘maybe we should make a rain call,’ but like tornado sirens and stuff falling over. The power went out and the hotel used all of their backup generators to light her ceremony and reception for the 3 hours the power was out. The rest of their guests just had to be rich by candlelight, I guess.
None of that was her fault, but it wasn’t ours or the hotel’s either. Nature’s gonna nature. She tried to sue not only us for ‘messing up her bouquet,’ but also the hotel for not letting her ceremony be outside and for not letting her ceremony be in ‘the prettiest area’ of the inside of the hotel.
Thankfully, we always have two coordinators meet with brides from this venue (it’s our biggest client), but we also record consultations and have contracts notifying all parties. She couldn’t do anything to us, but she did decide to blast us on Yelp, Facebook, and any other social media medium she could. Thankfully we threatened to sue her back for defamation and she removed them all.
The hotel has similar practices, but also a ton of money to throw against her in court, so they basically told her to bring it and she backed off.
More recently, but not involving us directly: a groom from a wedding we just did is claiming the venue they used stole from them because he didn’t receive wedding presents from all of his guests and he is 100% certain every single one brought them something (they requested only money by the way). Now he wants to sue the venue while also calling all of his guests to make sure they gave him money for his wedding gift. This one is more fun to watch burn.”
Just Enjoy Your Wedding Day
“I worked for a few years as a wedding singer.
The worst disaster I’ve seen was directly caused by a bride being a bridezilla. If you’ve ever been to a wedding, you know that weddings run behind schedule. This bride was adamant that everything be exactly on time. Of course, it being a wedding, everything was running behind about 30 minutes. At 7:55, she could no longer handle that the wedding was running late and decided to skip ahead to the Hora (aka the traditional Jewish wedding dance). The Hora was scheduled for 8:00pm. We (the band) and the wedding planner suggested that we should not skip ahead, but she was having none of it. With her face red with effort, she screamed at us that the Hava Nagila would start at 8:00pm and not a minute later. Well, she was paying us, so we did what we were told.
We started our Hava Nagila’s at precisely 8:00pm. The guests rose and began to form a circle as they have done countless times before. But something was amiss – the groom was nowhere to be found. The bride was alone in the center of the circle. As if on autopilot, the guests danced and sang on while the bride’s expression changed from confused, to horrified, to hysterical. It was a train wreck. They finished the dance without the groom ever arriving. The bride was sobbing uncontrollably.
The groom was outside taking a break because the wedding was running 30 minutes late. He knew the schedule and thought he had time. In the end, it was the Bride’s own stubborn insistence that led to the tragic ending. She was the captain on her own Titanic and we were the band playing as it sank. I sometimes wonder how that marriage worked out.
My #1 advice to people getting married is to enjoy their wedding day. No matter how much you plan ahead, things will always go wrong. Instead of trying to control and manage everything, spend your wedding day celebrating with your guests. No wedding ever goes perfectly. Considering you ideally only do it once, do your best to enjoy the ride.”
The Infamous Breakup
“I was booking a wedding at my store. A young couple comes in and is picking stuff out. As usual, the guy is pretty ‘I don’t care’ about things. Brides are never happy about this attitude.
We go through for a bit, but when it comes to picking vest styles, they get into a huge argument right in front of me and my colleague. Eventually the groom throws up his hands and says, ‘if we can’t decide what colors we should have, then we just shouldn’t get married!’
Then he walks out the door and leaves in his car.
The girl starts crying in our store while we are just bewildered. My colleague asks if she’s okay. She says she’s having someone come pick her up and walks out the door crying.
I never saw them again. Hands down a famous story in our store.”
The Wedding Planner With All The Gossip
“I am a wedding/special event planner in Toronto. I own my own planning company, and I have been in the industry for about 8 years.
I have so many horror stories that I don’t know which to choose.
I had a really high-strung groom who yelled at a one of his young guests (the kid was 12) for sitting out of his assigned seat and told the kid and his parents to leave.
I had one horrific couple that didn’t care about anyone. The groom was 30 minutes late for the ceremony, but it was no big deal, because the bride was two hours late. After the ceremony, we had to shorten the social hour to make up for lost time. The couple got wasted in their limo, and both ended up falling asleep. They were both so late for their own reception that I had the venue served dinner without them. Their parents were furious. The bride’s parents left early and the couple didn’t arrive until 11:00 at night. Half of their guests left before they arrived, and they yelled at me for allowing dinner to start before their arrival – this was a 400 guest wedding.
I had a bride that openly spoke utter and complete trash about the groom’s family (in front of his face). She would say that they were ‘crazy, unclassy, and annoying.’ But when the wedding came around, her family was actually the hardest family I ever had to deal with and the groom’s family was absolutely lovely. On top of all this, the bride yelled at all the vendors all day, resulting in the videographers leaving after just 1 hour of shooting and the photographer crying in the bathroom. The groom and the bride’s cousins apologized to me for her behavior all night.”