Weddings bring out the worst in people. What should be a joyous and fun experience for everyone often get destroyed by insane people trying to take too much control over the uncontrollable. In trying to make something perfect, these people often make more things worse, usually being brutal to those on the receiving end of their ridiculous and often unreasonable tirades.
People in the wedding industry are on the front lines and in the direct path of these psychopaths. Planners, caterers, musicians, and photographers all see the worst in people all the time. Why can't everyone just chill! These are some incredible stories by those people and the horrible things they have seen.
Her Classless Plan To Get Her Money Back
“The bride and all the guests raved about how great we were all night, then the very next day the bride roasted my company on Yelp!
She said she wouldn’t remove the bad review 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 to go eff herself.
I checked her Yelp! account and it seems as though she made the account just to give bad reviews to all of 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.”
And Just Like That, He Ended It
“I work at a bridal store.
A bridezilla came in with her fiancé and flipped her lid about how the bridesmaid dresses weren’t the exact same color as the tablecloths they had picked out. Apparently, the store had stressed to her that the photo online wasn’t totally accurate, yet she ignored them and ordered that color anyway. In the middle of her scream fest, the fiancé held up his hand and said, ‘Stop.’
Bridezilla stopped dead. ‘You made the photographer cry, you screamed at the caterer, and now this.’
She starts screaming at him too and he just sat there, calm and patient and then he said, ‘Give me the ring.’
‘WHAAATTT?!’
‘I’ve had enough. Give me the ring.’
She chucked the ring at him, he calmly picked it up and walked out, leaving her there like a complete fool.”
Caught Red Handed By Stupidity
“I used to supplement my income by filming weddings a while back, and this story is too good not to share.
I was referred to the videographer by a colleague and agreed to run second camera for this guy as a favor to said colleague. The guy seemed nice enough and even paid me 50% upfront for my services. Part my fee was for editing the footage since the guy I was working for was pretty busy at the time and wouldn’t be able to do it himself.
The day went along without a hitch, but fast-forward to the following Monday when I’m sitting down to edit, only to find that the videographer had forgotten to turn his camera off when he and the bride stepped aside for a small interlude of their own (I’ll spare the gory details, but it was EXACTLY what you think it was). I called the videographer and informed him that I would not be able to finish the work we had agreed on, but still required the remaining balance of what I was owed. He blew a gasket and made a comment about the size of my balls. I retorted with a comment of my own about his own genitalia which I was not expecting, nor should’ve been expected to, be exposed to.
Two days later I returned all the footage to him and received the second 50%.
A cursory glance on social media shows that the bride and groom are still together, but the videographer has since gotten divorced.”
The Dark Side Of The Party Bus Business
“I work as an office manager for one of the biggest party bus company in Chicago, Elite Chicago Limo. Every single Saturday we provide transportation for about 8-14 wedding parties.
I had a complaint once about our driver ‘refusing’ to stop and park somewhere they want to take pictures. When investigating further, I learned that the bride wanted the driver to literally stop in the middle lane of a busy street in front of some Chicago landmark, the Chicago Theater, while it was swarming with cars and people. She threw a fit because the driver refused to idle in the middle of a street for 30 mins while they take pictures. On top of that, there was a police car right in front of the theater. Finally, after arguing for good 10 mins, the groom calmed her down and the driver let them off just around the corner.
Sometimes the complaints are just so unreasonable. There was a wedding in June that seemingly went smoothly. It was a very hot day, and of course, the bus driver had the AC on. The next week the groom wrote an email with a bunch of unreasonable complaints trying to get his money back. One of them was ‘the bus was so cold my wife was freezing so much she needed a jacket.’ When asked why he didn’t ask the driver to turn off the AC, he said he was too busy keeping his wife warm.
There was another bride that had rented a stretch limo to take her around for pictures (3-hour rental) and a sedan at the end of the night to take her and her groom back to the hotel. When she was done with pictures and the driver had to leave, she got into an argument, because she wanted to leave all her stuff inside the limousine. She was thinking that the 3-hour rental covers all day…
Unfortunately, sometimes some things do go wrong. One time the driver forgot to put up the decorations (small plastic pom poms) on the bus. The bride called the next day demanding a full refund, despite using our service for 4 hours, driving everywhere she wanted, emptying the bars, and generally enjoying the party bus. Just so unreasonable.”
It’s Never Good When The Ex Shows Up
“The worst I’ve personally witnessed had to be when a groom’s baby mama (and ex-fiancée) came to the reception uninvited.
She grabbed the wedding cake, chucked it at the newlyweds, and began screaming about how he was a deadbeat dad while she grabbed bottles and smashed them on the ground. Everyone was stunned at first, but the ex-fiancée was ultimately restrained by the groomsmen. We called the police, and she was charged with assault, assault with a weapon (from waving around a bottle and clocking a groomsman – no one saw that coming, psycho ex was basically a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man) and destruction of private property (both from the couple and the venue.) What a charmer.
Trying to fix the situation, since we knew the bride was a huge fan of doughnuts since childhood, 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.
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. At this dinner, we learned that the ex-fiancée 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-fiancées’ side. The cousin ended up giving the wedding info to the ex, and well, she 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.’ Oh, and the groomsman who got hit had four staples to his forehead.
Since that incident, I have added the question ‘Would you like security arrangements imposed for your event?’ to my opening questionnaire where I can determine the clients wants and needs. Security has been implemented since for other events (primarily for an estranged parent, old roommates who are known to drink more than their fair share, or in the case of one bride, to feel like a celebrity).”
She Tried To Bite Him??
“I work as a Hotel Manager and we see bridezillas all the time.
The worst was when a bride was so upset that she couldn’t fit all of her bridesmaids on one shuttle back from the reception (they took two vans on a 10-minute trip back to the hotel and it only seats 12) that she tried to physically assault the driver.
He left her on the side of the road when she tried to bite him.
The kicker? When the groom found out and came to get her, since she was acting so crazy he went to pick her up with her parents and when they found her trudging back down the highway and heard her terrible attitude they left her there too.
Though the groomsmen were mostly pricks too to be honest. Staten Island weddings are the bane of my existence.”
The Groom Eventually Gets Wasted Enough To Get Violent!
“I work on a mobile bar that travels to different weddings in our region of the country.
We had this couple who were a bit strapped for cash so we did their wedding for cheap (we normally serve more lavish weddings).
They were so nice, to begin with, but a lot of their guests brought their own drinks to the venue which isn’t allowed. We confiscated it and promised to give it back at the end of the night. One of these guests was the groom’s father who brought a whole keg.
Around 10 pm most of the guests were leaving (the party was supposed to go on until 1 am) as the bride and groom had been taking some uppers and were pretty well mashed. No one was buying from us anymore so we decided to leave early, refund the customers a bit of money and leave all the confiscated drinks behind.
The bride (who booked us) was cool with this so we proceeded to leave.
The groom was not cool with this.
Just after we packed up he started demanding drinks and the phone numbers of all our female staff. We said no of course. Eventually, we had packed everything into my bosses trailer and were ready to leave.
We all ran to the parking lot as the groom was going off by this point and we wanted to get out. Everyone jumped into my boss’ car apart from me (as I drove myself). My boss pulls out of the parking lot as the groom comes out of the venue and starts hurling chairs at her car and trailer, screaming and swearing.
He hadn’t noticed me yet. I turned the key in my car (a classic VW Bug) which of course didn’t start. That’s when he noticed me then. I kept trying the engine and after a few tries, it started. I turned on my headlights and there he was. 6’2″ of a completely trashed groom standing with hazy eyes in front of my tiny car.
I couldn’t get around him as he kept running in front of me so I decided to drive straight at him and hope he moved out of the way. He didn’t. Instead, he jumped on to my car and eventually fell off the curved hood (luckily didn’t do any lasting damage).
I floored it and never looked back. Forget that guy. I really don’t get it, they all seemed normal up until the point they went full bonkers.”
She Was Playing The Long Con
Nick Carroll/Shutterstock.com
“I worked in tuxedos for a long time.
One day a woman comes in frantic because we ‘ruined’ her son’s wedding. She shows us pictures and says ‘the sleeves of the jackets were like a quarter inch too long!’ And that’s it, that’s the only issue, but the wedding was ruined because of it.
So she wants to get refunds. Now as far as I can tell she probably didn’t pay for any of the rentals so we tell her we need to talk to the district manager and get back to her. She agrees and leaves. Yeah, we look up the groom’s name, the wedding had taken place over three years prior. Fortunately, she never came back.
I have no idea why she thought that would work.”
Ignore The Crazy Woman
“I was the planner for a wedding and had been working with the bride and groom.
A few months into planning the groom’s mom calls me to change the date of the wedding. I thought it was kind of weird and called the couple to confirm the change. NOPE!
The couple did not know anything about the date change and said to completely ignore the groom’s mom and call them if she tried to get in contact.”
Too Many Photos Of The Bride…
“My friend is a photographer who does weddings. He got punched in the face by the groom because the groom decided that the photographer was ‘taking too many photos of the bride.’ He said that he went to the bride’s father, who was paying, and explained what happened (a lot of people saw it). The dude paid him and told him he should leave and then call the cops so that is what he did. Nothing came of it because no one admitted to seeing anything and it was his word against the son of a local business owner.
Weddings seem to bring out the worst in humanity.”
Avoid The Bride At All Costs!
“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 a 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.
Also should 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 just smoking and staring into the sun with the longest sigh I’ve ever heard in my life.”
She Wanted The Citizen Kane Of Wedding Videos
PHILIPIMAGE/Shutterstock.com
“I used to shoot wedding videos. We’d shoot on the weekends and edit during the week. I was assigned this wedding and no one told me anything was special about it. I show up and it was an Indian wedding.
In a typical wedding we would mic up the groom and when the bride and groom would stand in front of the preacher, the one mic would get everyone’s audio…except in this wedding the bride and groom sat on a swing and the person officiating the wedding was pacing back and forth. So my audio was like this, ‘today we are Here To Celebrate The LIVES OF THIS Young Couple Who have agreed to spend…’
On top of that, the bride and groom had eloped months earlier and this was all for show. So what did the bride and groom do? Sat there and talked smack about all their guests. So not only could I barely hear the guy talking, I had way too much audio about how the bride’s mother’s cousin was loose and had a drinking problem.
Then we go to the reception. The reception lasted 8 freaking hours. 8 hours! I brought enough batteries and tapes but jeez, that was a long time. I set a camera up at one end of the hall for a long shot, then a slightly closer shot from over the DJ booth, and I was doing handheld camera work. Every few songs I’d move my long shot cam to get a different angle.
Now we go into the editing phase. We have a standard format we follow. A montage in the beginning, then ceremony footage, then the first dance, the father-daughter dance, mom/son dance, cake cutting, random footage of people dancing, testimonials and well wishes, etc. Basic stuff. It ends up being about 2-4 hours once everything is done.
In total, theirs was 5 hours long. We gave them a copy and the next day the bride stormed in the store demanding the rest of her wedding. I have no idea what’s she’s talking about and I don’t get paid for any re-editing work. We gave her an hour longer than any video I’d ever done, but that wasn’t enough…she wanted all 8 hours of the reception, edited together.
I loaded all my shots up and did huge cuts where I’d stay on a shot until it sucked, then I’d change it. Some shots wouldn’t move for 3 songs. There was no way I was spending a lot of time on this.
We finally finished and exported the video to DVD. We called her in and she wanted to watch it in the store and she brought a notepad!. As she’s watching, she’s making an ‘edit list’ of things she wants me to change. That list ended up being 3 pages of edits.
I stood up, looked her in the face and said, ‘This job isn’t worth it. I quit.’
That was the last wedding video I ever edited.”
Always Check With Your Actual Client
“I worked in stationery design in the wedding industry a while back. Invites, wishing wells, menus, you name it. If it was wedding related and on paper, we sold it. Some of the customers we got were a class act I can tell you.
The best/worst was a detailed consultation with the bride and groom in regards to their invite design. Over the next two personal consults and many phone calls, I primarily dealt with the bride and her maid of honor together. After the last revision, the maid of honor came in to make a relatively major change, insisting that the bride wanted it that way. Idiot me made the change, and the order went to print.
Well…
Turns out the bride and her maid of honor had a falling out and the maid wanted to get back at her ex-friend. Apparently, she had approached several of the wedding services acting as an agent of the bride and pretty much mucked the whole event over…”
The Color Was Off, The Store Was Destroyed
“I used to work for a dress manufacturer who dealt with the bridal shops ordering the dresses for these ‘lovely’ women. Heard a doozy more than once.
One, in particular, I remember because before ‘the incident,’ the bride got our number.
As the manufacturer, our customer was the store, not the end user. We weren’t allowed to talk to the buyer and were instructed to let them know to call their store and simply hang up.
This one girl calls in and kept requesting fabric swatches because the color of her dress needed to be perfect.
We kept telling her that there is absolutely no way to ensure that a dress would match a fabric swatch because of dye lots. We could ensure that since they were all ordered on the same day, that they would all be cut from the same dye lot though. We sent the store some swatches and a letter to the same effect.
The owner calls us back about two months later, with the crazy story. Apparently, the girl came in to pick up her dresses but brought in one of the roses she had purchased to compare.
She had a nuclear meltdown IN the store because the color of the dresses was not EXACTLY spot on identical to the roses that had just been delivered for her wedding that weekend. By meltdown I mean she started to knock down gown racks while screaming at all the staff.
Sorry, we didn’t consult with Mother Nature when we dyed your gowns!”
Three Hours Of Photos Is Enough
I work at a facility that we rent out for weddings. We probably host like 8 weddings a year and weddings bring out the worst in people. You can have the calmest, chill person on your first meeting, but by the time that the wedding rolls around, that bride will be INSANE.
1) 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 to heck with all of them.
2) 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.’
3) I had a bride rent our facility for her ‘classy’ wedding. She was a witch with a capital B. 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.
It now costs a lot of money to get married at my place of work and bridal parties must sign an 8-page contract.”