Wedding disaster stories-averted ( or not?)

My cousin was an only daughter marrying a chap from Ireland so lots of his relatives were over to England for the wedding . An hour before the wedding the bride does a runner refusing to get married . Another male cousin was sent to the church gates to send everyone away but they would not go . Eventually the guest went and ate the wedding buffet then the bride turned up and the couple went off on their honeymoon regardless . The marriage did not last and I thought it must have been heartbreaking for her parents .
On a lighter note DS was standing facing the wedding guest with the bride when his phone went off . He had it on silent but he was in full kilt rigout so it vibrated in his sporran .

When we got married my husband to be thought he had hidden our hired car well on the wedding day and refused to tell me where he had left it . Turned out it was oposite my friends house and when we came to set off on honeymoon it was covered in confetti stuck on with treacle .

MandyRaff, what a waste of money and effort. I don't think a wedding (or holiday) ever fixes anything. My first husband was lovely until we married but he must have been on his best behaviour. His true character emerged when he relaxed, having 'won' me. I was off a year later!

I know somebody who tried to fix a failing relationship with a baby - an even worse idea - who is now a single parent, of course.

Not exactly a wedding day disaster. Having six children we were delighted when one daughter finally got married this April - beautiful day, beautiful ceremony etc. Like a fairytale or something out of a film. Fast forward four months and she has just chucked him out. She said the wedding was supposed to fix all the problems that were already there but they haven't and she can't put up with him anymore!

Trivial but funny in the end.... I was bridesmaid to my elder sister. It was a February wedding and sister was serenely in the hall of the family home waiting to leave. Someone, forever nameless, let the dog in from the back garden, dog trotted over the brides train leaving perfect muddy paw prints. It was like something out of a cartoon.. everyone froze and just started at the train. My sister didn't flinch, to her credit. Not a word was uttered. Our now dear departed father didn't miss a beat, he vanished and reappeared in seconds with a bowl of water and a cloth...the muddy footprints just slid off like magic. Daddy had class!

Knowing the real potential for arguments and disasters with my family, I chose a quick register office 'do' and party for both my weddings. We just invited a few friends and told the family later, much more fun.

Only one of my kids has married and I just made the cake (having tried really hard to talk her out of it!).

MawB, the problem was that the invitation said to arrive at 2pm, which people did. Somebody had forgotten to allow fifteen minutes or so for the walk and settling in time. They had another wedding booked for later so couldn't wait to start the ceremony. It was a production line, a farm wedding (farm animals, farm smells, reception in large marquee with many wasps, etc. - quite a laugh!)

Oh and I forgot this! My youngest sister 18 yrs old, was a trainee hairdresser at the time and volunteered to do my hair. Well, halfway through doing it her new boyfriend arrived to pick her up and off she went with him to the church. I was left with unfinished hair which I made a pig's ear of, and have never forgotten. I still feel cross about it now.... Oh and I might add that she and said boyfriend married two years later and are still together after 45 years of marriage.

Tilly I sympathize

My brother is a farmer. On the morning of his wedding he set off across the fields to check on the cattle and found one of them stuck in a drain. He had to get the tractor and with the help of some neighbours and rope they eventually managed to pull it out. A quick change of clothes - no time to wash or have breakfast - he made it to the chapel with just minutes to spare!

What was it with these mothers? Such a relief to find it wasn't just mine. I was told I wouldn't be allowed to marry unless it was in a church as she hadn't been allowed to have a church wedding herself. So the wedding was hers. The dress was hers as she paid for it. She wanted her friends there, not mine and DH's nor the inlaws' guests. Only by threatening a registry office wedding did I get a limited number of our friends there! Then a couple of years later she was saying I wasn't legally married as she hadn't signed the register (my father did).

Gosh - our minor hiccups with a howling gale and inside out umbrellas pale into insignificance compared to some of your experiences! We did have an interesting interruption at ds’s wedding though - just as his new fil was beginning his speech the fire alarm went off! We had to evacuate around 150 guests out to the gardens until the fire brigade arrived and declared it safe to go back in. One of the bathroom fans had overheated and burst into flames apparently. Dil took it very much in her stride but ds wasn’t quite so happy! We did get some interesting photos with the firemen, the fire engine, ds and dil though!

What was almost a disaster was actually mil’s funeral. We had travelled the 250 miles and stayed the night before the service in a hotel. Dh had packed his suit -which was in a suit carrier - and hadn’t fully checked it out. The following morning he showered and started to get dressed only to discover that the suit trousers were the original ones and now at least a size too small. He'd replaced the trousers with a new pair but had forgotten to bring them. He only had jeans with him and couldn’t possibly wear them. He ended up fighting his way into the too small trousers and kept the suit jacket buttoned for decency’s sake! Poor soul could barely sit down without getting cut in half and struggled to eat anything at the funeral tea. As soon as we left he stopped at the nearest supermarket and changed into his jeans in the gents. He had a big, red indentation right round his middle. Think he’s taken more care with packing since then!

My aunt turned around to watch the bride arrive, she slipped off the kerb hurting her ankle. I was told that a Paramedic had seen her and diagnosed a sprain. Next morning, this Paramedic was a Patient Transport driver ? As an Emergency Nurse, I diagnosed a fracture to base of 5th metatarsal and base of lateral malleolus. Told my cousin to get her to their local hospital and yes, you guessed it, fractures to both, plaster cast and crutches ?

My own wedding was quite without disasters, perhaps because I was a mature bride and DH and I had planned the day ourselves. Both his and my parents had been gathered to their fathers, which may have contributed to the ease of the day.

Had my Dear Mother been present she would have made some kind of fuss, of that you may be sure.

My sister married at 17 because she was three months pregnant. She married from our aunt's house, my parents refused to attend and forbade me from doing so, as well, as my sister was "in the family way" and they neither liked nor approved of her intended. They were scandalised when they saw the wedding photos and realised that my sister had worn a white dress and veil.

I attended a friend's registry office wedding as a witness. I have no recollection of the whys and wherefores of why her future in-laws disliked her and her parents disliked the man she was marrying, nor do I know why they had invited both sets of parents in these circumstances.

It would have been wiser not to. Immediately after the wedding, instead of congratulating the bridegroom his mother-in-law spat in his face (literally).

I sympathise as had the same circumstances. Might as well not have been there and the wedding cake was cut while I was in the loo as "nobody noticed" I wasn't there!!

We had a simple registry office wedding as my parents did not have much money. My MiL wore black!! The wedding went well but we left for a hotel in London before flying to Tenerife the next day. The room was ensuite but when flushed the toilet went up instead of down and the bed was hard. The next day we took off in a propeller plane in a thunder storm. I am surprised we are still here! Things did get better after that and celebrated 50 years last year.

When my DH's sister got married the groom drank so much the night before that he wasn't just hung over but still drunk during the ceremony. He had more to drink at the reception and fell asleep. At the honeymoon hotel DH and his brothers deposited the groom in the shower cubicle to sleep it off and sister in law spent the night alone! No the marriage didn't last!

DM insisted on organising mine and it was horrible. We went to get the wedding dress which she was paying for therefore she would choose it but actually didn't she just bought the cheapest in the shop her hat cost more than the dress because "no one would be looking at me they would all want to see how lovely she was". Sister is a hairdresser so she would do hairdos for her bridesmaid and DM I had to walk into town to have mine done. Venue was the cheapest in town back room of a pub during a heatwave. My friend gave me the wedding cake which started to lean due to the heat looked like tower of Pisa. Someone brought along a huge green ribbon which they tied to my sister's arm some stupid custom as younger sister (me) was being married first. I didn't notice as was having photos taken however when proofs arrived all I could see was this huge green ribbon on bridesmaids pink dress.
At the reception in laws sat in a huddle at one side of the room and did not mix. We left to catch a train to our honeymoon and DM bridesmaids etc came to wave us off when they got back in laws had packed up the buffet and taken it home cake and all.
Still together after all these years but don't think I will ever forgive.

Goodness I have no idea where that apostophe in omens came from!!

My 1st husbands nephew was getting married in a registry office in the town where his prospective wifes parents lived. He stayed in a hotel the previous night . On the morning of the of the wedding he ordered a taxi to the registry office and the taxi driver asked him " which one".
He didnt know there were two in the town.
He didnt have a clue, and the bride and guests were kept waiting over 30 minutes for him to turn up .
The bride was in a long white dress and veil with bridesmaids the whole bit. Im sure she thought she had been jilted and her parents looked murderous. When he did arrive she laughed nervously through the ceremony.
The marriage lasted a year.

I won't write another long missive, but second son's wedding had a difficult run up too, DD had a miscarriage the week before and was found to be carrying a possibly cancerous ovarian cyst. I was so worried about her I didn't really react properly to the phone call from DH that youngest son had received a hockey stick right in the mouth and was in A and E. Front teeth completely and irretrievably smashed. The wedding photographer did a great job of digital manipulation, and in the wedding photos he has created good replacements!

Youngest son now wears a mouth guard and has a removeable bridge. Second son's marriage has lasted, so no omen's there fortunately. I won't mention the marriages of the other two.....

Sorry I meant Bradfordlass72 ?

My heart breaks for Yorkshirelass72& Harrigran - how awful about the dresses? I cannot believe people would be so spiteful and controlling. I don’t blame people who choose to have a quiet wedding with little fuss- it’s everyone to their own choices. I draw the line though at not being able to choose your own dress, as the bride. It’s given me a chuckle at some of the stories I’ve read but I’m still dreadfully heavy hearted at many unfortunate tales. Thank goodness brides of today know their own minds and are not afraid to speak up about the things they would like at the wedding. Many couples choose not to get married in church ( whether it be that they are not religious or the actual extortionate costs of the church wedding itself). I don’t mind attending a resort wedding abroad, a wedding in a grand hotel or a registry office. I do love a church wedding personally. I just like to be reassured that the bride and groom are happy together and that they have the best of times on their special day.

Booked soon-to-be DH and his best man into a hotel for the night before the wedding. They went to check in on the day and were told that no, there was no room booked for them. Oh no, hang on you're booked in for the following night - our wedding night! And no, we can't book you in tonight, the hotel is full as there's a rugby team staying. The hotel had then to ring round and eventually found them rooms in a pub, which we made them pay for. Luckily the pub was over the road from the church, so they had a 30 second walk to get there. Apart from that everything else went ok. Apart from my DM being shocked at seeing our Methodist minister downing the sherry at the reception - in those days most Methodists were strictly tee-total. Next thing I knew was DM was on the sherry as well!

...by being awkward.

We had a small wedding; MiL had managed to spoil the engagement party but being awkward, making spiteful remarks and generally pouring cold water, and she wasn't much better at the wedding itself. Face like thunder throughout, and I will never forget walking upstairs on my own and looking up to see her staring, cold and hateful, from a side room. I truly think she was psychopath.