20 Nightmare Wedding Guests Who Completely Ruined the Big Day

A couple’s wedding marks the start of a new chapter in their lives. It is the day they celebrate their love surrounded by their loved ones, hoping their wedding will be one of the best days of their lives.

However, sometimes, things don’t go as planned, and the celebration doesn’t match the couple’s expectations. Often, some guests ruin the wedding by doing something unexpected. A few folks on Reddit shared how some people ruined wedding ceremonies and what happened after that.

Comments have been edited for clarity and grammar.

1. My Father-in-Law Didn’t Get My Name Right

u/[deleted]: My father-in-law repeatedly used my husband’s ex-girlfriend’s name during his speeches and when talking to me.

His toast at the wedding was full of slurred speech and a story about Mark and Alyssa, their budding romance, and how adorable it was. I’m not Alyssa. Alyssa was his girlfriend in high school.

His parents got divorced when he was young. He was into alcohol abuse, and I’ve met him twice outside of our wedding. He didn’t see much of my husband after he was 12. He was out of touch.

We had been dating for about seven years before our marriage. My father-in-law should at least get my name right.

2. The Reception Turned into a Mess

u/Enjolras1781: My friend got married and decided to have a private ceremony but an open reception in a massive hay field in Vermont.

They invite a large number of people, and over 300 show up. It’s a predictable apocalypse from 10 a.m. until around 6 p.m. when everyone is seriously drunk.

People go in and out all day, with four constant groups; the direct family, the bride’s sister’s college friends (from the women’s studies major and Model UN team), the groom’s home friends (who are all either farmers or animal breeders), and the bride’s friends (the guys I came with, numerous interests but a mutual love of poking things with sticks).

There are some minor altercations between the home friends and college friends, but it’s a drunken fire party in the middle of nowhere, so some yelling and boisterous ideological disagreement was expected (and encouraged by many; “he was calling you a feminazi, you are going to go sort it out?”) but it came to a head when a heated discussion turned to a girl getting hit with a hot coal shovel.

Utter chaos, multiple 911 calls, police cruisers from three different departments, and a couple of ambulances later, we had been given the order to disperse.

The problem was that we were all drunk and loud, so after a few arrests and a stern scolding from the police, we put to bed several people well beyond the legal limit and sent home a lot of questionable people.

What about the girl hit with the shovel? The guy had no idea it was the recently used coal shovel and just wanted to smear a little dirt on the girl.

He’s a veterinarian and dragged her off, apologizing profusely, and fixed her up within an hour. The EMT didn’t even bother taking the dressing off. Unfortunately, you can’t undo 15 near-simultaneous 911 calls. Both of them stayed the night since they couldn’t drive, and we found them in the same sleeping bag that morning.

3. The Mashed Potatoes

u/Cant_Spel: My brother had an exciting toast at our wedding. He is genuinely a super-friendly guy that everyone likes. He proceeded to drink, and when his best man speech started, he thanked everyone for attending.

Next, he had to thank the grandparents for attending and “doing what they did” (gesturing with air quotes) so our parents could be here.

Next was a thanks to the parents for doing what they did so we kids could all be here. He then mumbles, “God bless the mashed potatoes!” and drops the mic, stumbling off the dance floor.

We had a good prime rib meal, and some of the best chipotle pepper mashed potatoes ever. The whole reception erupted in laughter, and my mom went to the chef to get the recipe.

4. I Saved the Day

u/karmar13: This was not my wedding, but I was the flower girl (I know it was a while ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday).

So, the bride and her company show up at the wedding. The bride had her gown, the flower girl (me) had her little dress, and the seamstress would deliver the bridesmaids’ dresses at the wedding venue.

Of course, the wedding party got there far in advance. Long story short, the seamstress never showed up with the bridesmaids’ dresses. Nobody knew what to do. Total panic.

Meanwhile, seven-year-old me sat in the corner, and I wasn’t sure what the commotion was about. So, I tugged on the bride and said, “They could wear those dresses.” Pointing to the choir robes in the corner closet. Her eyes got wide. And they did. Wedding saved!

5. Someone Stole My Marriage License

u/MissWriter1: I got married on a Sunday. My aunt was doing flash photography the entire time (even though my officiant announced no photos or videos), and my photographer couldn’t get some of the shots I wanted.

Also, my mom and aunt were being mean to everyone. Then, we signed the marriage license, and I put it in my purse before walking away to get some wine.

I come back, and my mom is going through my purse. She said she was getting some gum because “the brisket was too dry.”

I realized I couldn’t find the marriage license until after she left. She took it. Now I have to get another one.

6. My Best Friend’s Ex-wife

u/[deleted]: I am unsure if she ruined it, but it is a fun story. At my wedding, my best friend was our best man. His wife (now divorced) was a beautiful woman who liked drinking. It had been this way for years.

She promised him that she wouldn’t drink during the wedding or reception. So, about halfway through the reception, she is on the dance floor with my 50-year-old, 300-pound uncle. It was inappropriate. Then, she was getting too close to every guy she found there.

My friend then collected his wife and had to leave. On the way home, she gets angry, jumps from the car in motion, and dashes down the street. She’s a marathon runner, and my buddy lost her while turning the vehicle.

She goes to a local bar and meets up with some women she knows from her work. They drink more, and she gets into an argument with another woman she knows who was at the bar.

That woman leaves after my friend’s wife attempts to get her to fight her. So, my friend’s wife, in her work friend’s car, chases them home. She ends up trying to kick the woman’s home door.

This woman finally opens the door and beats my friend’s wife. Her work friends had to take her to the hospital, where my buddy finally got the call to pick up his wife.

7. I Had No Idea I Was Ruining the Wedding

u/Northsidebill1: I once ruined a wedding, but it wasn’t my fault. I swear it wasn’t. I was a friend of a friend of the groom, and I had an F150, so I got asked to bring some chairs and a table to the reception hall, as people who own trucks are often asked to do.

I agreed and was told I would be met there by a couple of women and a few guys to unload everything and place it. Cool.

One of the women was beautiful. I flirted a bit, and she flirted back. She asked if I wanted to walk along the river the reception hall was on. Sure!

We walked for a while and talked, and things escalated quickly. We ended up getting intimate on the riverbank for a bit and walked back to the hall, where I invited her for a ride in my truck.

This was in rural Indiana, so in about 10 minutes, we were along some numbered county road getting intimate in the back of the truck.

It was late evening, and there was no one around. Then a car comes towards us. We laid still and waited for them to pass, but the car stopped, and the girl from earlier got out and started screaming at us. Yep, the girl I was with was the bride.

The wedding got canceled. My friend punched me in the face (he found out later that I had no idea who she was and apologized. We are good now), and it was quite the scandal for a while.

8. My Aunt’s Wedding

u/RubixRube: My aunt had a very fancy formal wedding. Being four, adorable, and related, I was the obvious choice for the flower girl.

Here is the thing: it’s a long day for the wedding party, and even the most attentive adult will get tired and bored between hair, makeup, photos, and long-winded Baptist vows.

So here we are, standing lined up by the altar, and the preacher finally asks for objections. At that moment, I yawned as loud as my little lungs would allow. The once silent room filled with 200 friends and family erupted into laughter.

That is when I noticed that 200 people were watching me, and I got scared and did what many scared four-year-olds do: urinate, cry, and try to run away.

So here I am, an angry, soaked four-year-old in a pink taffeta dress running about a church while my mother (the maid of honor) tries in vain to catch me (running in heels and a ball gown is not easy). I still haven’t lived it down 30 years later.

9. My Mother-in-Law Ruined My Big Day

u/[deleted]: I recently had my wedding, and we woke up together, happy to be getting married. Then, my soon-to-be husband received a text from his mother. Disclaimer: his mother had waist-length black hair.

It’s a photo of her. She cut and colored her hair exactly like mine—shoulder length, brown with blonde streaks. I was livid!

Of all days to color your hair! And to do it on my wedding day. Fine, I let it go and decided to just forget it. Finally, it’s the moment we all have been waiting for. I’m walking to the aisle, and we reach the front.

The parents were called up so we all could recite a vow together. (Our wedding was held in front of a river bank, mind you.) His mother then walked around me near the pastor instead of being with the other parents near the groom.

Then, she proceeded to scream and fall. She grabbed my hair as she fell, and I fell with her inches away from the riverbank. My moment… Ruined.

She got up, laughed, and walked away while I was on the ground, trying not to cry. To be honest, I don’t remember anything else from the ceremony. I was seeing red.

We no longer speak to one another. And I will forever refuse to talk to that woman. My husband stands by me on that decision. To this day, when I think about my wedding, I tear up.

She ruined it and didn’t even feel sorry for it. And those of you who say she fell and couldn’t help it—after watching our wedding video, I learned that her husband and the pastor were holding her arms. She deliberately stepped back and fell.

10. Things Went Out of Control

u/CitizenTed: It was my best pal’s sister’s wedding. I was asked to tend the open bar. No money to exchange hands. Just serve drinks and keep an eye on the liquor.

Halfway into the reception, people were getting very drunk, probably because I was pouring them incredibly stiff drinks. At some point, something got stirred up.

I think it was an ex-boyfriend vs. the groom kind of thing. I didn’t know. I was tending the bar. But fists were thrown. Then chairs. Then chaos.

I did what I could to protect the liquor. Some older guy (whom I had been feeding very strong drinks all night) came rambling over to my bar and asked for another. I poured. He shook his head as screams, fists, and food flew all around. “Kids these days,” he said.

I concurred and poured myself a drink. When the fighting settled down, the hall was a complete mess. The bride was in tears. Everything was destroyed. I decided the party was over. I left.

It may have been an awful wedding for them, but it was a memorable one for me. No other wedding was as eventful.

11. My Wedding

u/Tinkletyme: My family flew in from Michigan. The wedding was in Phoenix. This was the first time my family met my wife’s side of the family.

Well, long story short, right before the speeches, my niece, 2, and her cousin’s child, 2, were playing tag and running around like kids do. So, her cousin’s child fell while running, completely normal, and my niece went to help her up because she’s a sweetheart.

At this time, the cousin’s father started yelling at my niece until she started crying. My sister runs over to see what’s happening, and he tells her to “Watch her kid!”

This was just after my sister complimented her family for being so lovely and welcoming. It didn’t ruin our wedding because we heard about it afterward. Apparently, his wife was running around bragging to our guests.

12. My Father’s Fiancée

u/harsh4correction2: My father’s wedding was a minimal ceremony on the beach. I was 18 then. My great-aunt allowed us to use her awesome 2br beach house for the week and invited us to stay at her immaculate personal home beforehand.

At the house, my father’s fiancée decided she would order a pizza instead of eating a completely made-from-scratch meal. We talked the glance into having the home-cooked dinner, which was delicious. My great-aunt felt very disrespected but held her tongue.

Seven people were at the ceremony a few days later, including me, the wedding official, my father and fiancée, my soon-to-be stepsister, my great aunt, and my grandfather. Indeed, it was a small ceremony by any standards.

Dad’s fiancée threw a tantrum because she said there were “too many people” and “she doesn’t even know this lady,” who was my great aunt.

It didn’t ruin the ceremony, but a handless man could count with his fingers the number of times I’ve heard from my great aunt since the wedding.

That may not seem striking, but we frequently wrote letters to each other in my much younger days. I’ve also been severely alienated from my father because of this woman’s continued psychotic territorial behavior.

13. Stealing the Limelight

u/Five_Iron_Fade: Friends of mine had a big, beautiful wedding. The band finished their first set of tunes when the delicious dinner ended. It was mediocre, at best. No one was dancing.

The band returns, their second set starts with a Michael Jackson medley, and people are finally out on the dance floor. About eight measures into Billie Jean, I see the maid of honor’s boyfriend go for the mic and stop the band.

I thought to myself, no way is this actually happening, but sure enough, he goes into his long-winded proposal and drops to a knee.

The band then played a slow song just for them while the rest of the party stood in a circle and watched them like it was their first dance.

Apparently, he cleared this with the bride beforehand, but it absolutely killed the party when it was just getting going.

14. The Chaos at My Sister’s Wedding

u/Jill-Sanwich: Not my wedding, my older sister’s. We’ll call her A. When our oldest sister, B, got married, she didn’t even invite A, but A had been trying to improve their relationship and invited B despite this.

Recently, divorced B attended the wedding with a good friend of A’s husband-to-be. She started the night by being super rude to my grandparents and aunt and refusing to come into the dressing room with all the girls, promptly making it awkward for everyone.

Our mom also refused to be in the dressing room for some reason. Before the ceremony, B makes an uncomfortable joke to her future brother-in-law about being busy getting intimate with his friend all day.

B and her date were the only people dancing at the reception (it was held in the honeymoon suite of a hotel), and she was shamelessly getting close to him in front of family members who used to change our diapers.

I pulled her aside and talked to her about this, and she laughed in my face but did stop afterward. However, she convinced her date, who had been friends with the groom for 20+ years and grew up with him in Alaska, to start a fight with the groom.

I’m convinced my sister was the first person ever to let this guy get intimate with her because, for some reason, he did. Some ugly things were said, a few other friends of 20+ years intervened, and the best man decided it might be best if B’s date left the reception.

Mind you, A and my brother-in-law didn’t ask him to do this, and only B’s date was asked to leave. B responded by jumping up and drunkenly announcing to anyone she passed on her way out that her “OWN SISTER” had kicked her out.

Our mom then went around apologizing to everyone at the reception, including people who didn’t even see what had happened. She told everyone that A was being a “bridezilla,” and she was extremely worried about B being off somewhere in the middle of the night.

A eventually suggested that my mom take her husband (not our dad) home, as he’d been passed out on a chair for several hours and had just vomited on himself.

Our mom then announced to everyone on her way out that her daughter had also kicked her out. Neither of them has spoken or apologized to A, and this was years ago.

I’ve caught them both making up lies about what happened and called them out, which apparently means I “think I’m better than everyone else because I’m in college and have a career.” They make up ways to victimize themselves and start to believe their lies.

15. One Woman Had Issues

u/Smouldering_goose: Not my wedding (it was my SILs). It was a very formal wedding at a beautiful venue.

One of the groomsmen’s girlfriends had a meltdown because her boyfriend was getting his photograph taken with another girl—a bridesmaid (along with the other two bridesmaids, two groomsmen, the best man, the maid of honor, and the bride and groom).

I pulled her aside and told her to stop or leave, so she sulked in a corner for the next few hours. After dinner and speeches, it was the first dance. Then, the bridesmaids and groomsmen dance with the newlywed couple (then the bride and groom’s parents, etc.).

This girl stormed up to the dance floor and started screaming inappropriate things about the bridesmaid dancing with “her man.” The bridesmaid is happily married with two children and has met the groomsman twice.

Everyone was horrified, so I pulled her out the nearest door, down the driveway, and told her not to return. The bride was fuming, and the groomsman was very ashamed.

16. So Many Things

u/bunnyplop: I had a couple of weird things happen. I wouldn’t say anyone ruined the wedding (we ended up married after all!), but one girl ruined a lot of pictures!

A guy was working in the kitchen at the venue that she and I worked with for a couple of weeks, and she invited him to watch the ceremony in his yellow hoodie and backpack. They were standing right on the aisle, so they’re in many pictures. Oh, and she wore a white dress. She also caught the bouquet.

I had a bridesmaid get in a fight with her boyfriend and sit in a corner crying all night. And the DJ made a terrible mistake. After the ceremony, he missed his cue to play us back down the aisle, so I awkwardly turned to him, did finger guns, and said, “Hit it!”

And then later, my mom asked him for the mic to give a speech, but he said, “No, it’s too late.” Then, I cried, so my friends went and talked to him, and she made her speech.

17. He Ruined His Own Wedding

u/AsianWhoHatesMath: My fiancé’s cousin was getting married. He and his now-wife are lovely people but have terrible friends.

The friends had drunk way too much, were very rowdy at the reception, and kept pressuring the groom to drink with them.

Fast forward to the night’s end, and the DJ calls the groom to the cake table to cut the cake. A couple of minutes pass. The DJ calls him again. I turn and see the groom seated with his back to me. I wonder why he hasn’t noticed his name is being called.

It turns out the groom hasn’t made his way to the cake because he drank too much and can’t even walk. Two of the groomsmen have to carry him to the cake, where they can barely get him to cut the cake (or at least fake a cake-cutting ceremony for the photographer).

Eventually, he threw up on the bride and had to be carried, chair and all, to the bathroom and then to the car.

18. My Solo Performance

u/bobbymack44212: My girlfriend was a maid of honor for her college roommate around 1983. I stayed sober but felt the reception dinner in the golf course banquet room was dragging. I had my girlfriend go up and slip the band 20 bucks to play that wedding standby—feelings.

You know, “Woah, woah, woah, feelings?” Yes, that awful excuse for music. As the band launches into the song, I wear The Blues Brothers shades and vault on stage for a soul-shredding solo on Kazoo.

I see jaws agape at the head table. The bride’s father is trying to get himself out of his chair to come onstage and kick mine, and as he frees himself, he topples over in a heap into the chairs at the table behind him.

This was my cue to crank it into another gear, honking and wailing on that instrument of sonic torture. At the same time, the band pushed themselves to ever greater heights of emotional expression to counterpoint my buzz-saw rendition of the chorus.

Confused couples on the dance floor aren’t sure if this is all part of the act, but as I grind through the final verse, they suspect something has gone horribly wrong.

Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, I climb off the right side of the bandstand and make my way to a nearby exit, leap into a golf cart with my girlfriend in search of our car so we can get out of there before I get into trouble.

Knowing the history of my girlfriend and her roommate, occurrences like this were practically par for the course, no pun intended, which led this story to become a staple at their social events.

The only downside was that I had to endure a cavity search before I was allowed to go to any more wedding receptions. Not that I would’ve repeated myself, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

19. The Woman and Her Kids

u/peanut_little: So, around 4 or 5 years ago, I was at my cousin’s wedding. It’s a little before the ceremony starts, so people are still coming in, socializing, and trying to shove aside their hatred of Aunt Muriel because it wouldn’t be prudent to start a fight on a family member’s wedding day.

Anyway, I was talking to a few people standing across from the open church doors when suddenly, I spotted THEM.

A young woman comes in with nine little ankle biters, none of them older than 10. All of them are screaming and complaining loudly.

With an apologetic smile, she plops right down next to me, arranging her children so they take up almost a whole pew. I was ready to get up and move, but at that moment, the ceremony started, so I sat down in my old spot.

The kids were as loud and annoying as possible during the ceremony. They screamed, cried, dirtied their pants, and pawed at their mother’s chest (She was still breastfeeding her 3-year-old and 4-year-old).

At one point, they started crawling all over the pews, across the laps of several extremely angry wedding guests, and playing tag in the church, making as much noise as possible.

Their mother just sat there, an amused smile plastered all over her face. Never did she once make any move to reprimand the little heathens.

Never once did she apologize for her children’s behavior. She just sat there, grinning, acting like absolutely nothing mattered. I understand that kids will be kids, but you should still tell them their behavior is unacceptable.

I’ll just list what the kids did at the reception. They stuck their hands in the chocolate fountain and then wiped them on a tablecloth. They used the bathroom floor as the toilet and urinated in their pants on the dance floor.

Some of them threw up everywhere, and one kid took off their pants, threw them under a table, and proceeded to run around half-naked for the rest of the reception. This kid was at least 7. Besides that, the kids messed with the speakers and lights and annoyed older women.

My cousin finally got the guts to ask them to leave. The mother made a huge scene, started crying, and called my cousin a terrible woman.

Then, she gathered up her children, purse, and diaper bag and promised to buy them meals from McDonald’s for being so good. My cousin starts crying whenever you bring it up.

20. Crazy mother-in-law

u/[deleted]: My mother-in-law ruined my wedding. I’m allergic to seafood and she knew it. She secretly added tiny pieces of fish to my salad. I saw her laughing as I was rushed from the altar in an ambulance. I decided to get back at her in a way she’d never forget.

Three days later, my furious husband burst into my room yelling, ‘THIS IS TOO MUCH, HOW COULD YOU file a lawsuit against my mother?” I responded firmly. “She knowingly endangered my health. That’s not just cruel; it’s illegal.” My husband’s anger gave way to shock.