Wedding Industry Workers Tell How They Knew A Couple Was Heading For Divorce

Have you ever been to a wedding that was such a disaster, you knew the bride and groom were probably heading for a divorce?

On Reddit, wedding industry professionals are sharing stories of wedding day catastrophes that spelled out the likelihood of divorce.

Whether it’s the bride and groom being incredibly antagonistic towards each other to the mother of the groom setting things on fire, here are some of their most extreme stories.

Some stories have been edited lightly for grammar and clarity.

1. Smile for your big day!

“Photographing the groom and you see his eyes light up when a guest arrives. You look over and it’s a cute woman in a short dress. He smiles, walks up to the woman, picks her up and swings her in his arms. Best smile I captured of the groom all day. Marriage didn’t last 6 months from what I’ve heard.”

Twitfried

2. Fork you.

“I was helping out at my parents restaurant where a huge wedding party was hosted. I was busy serving drinks and suddenly loud yelling and screaming started right behind me. Turns out the bride had somehow found out that the groom had hooked up with her sister right before the wedding ceremony (and apparently on a few occasions before) and in her anger she stabbed him in the chest with a dinner fork several times. We had to call an ambulance and the police. It was like hell.”

SuperConfusedCoryn

3. That’s a lot to unpack.

“I work in a hotel. I came in one night to find the wedding was already wrapped up (it was supposed to go until 1 AM and it was 11 PM) because the wedding couple had a fight and she went home with mom. At another one, they had a huge rehearsal dinner fight which spilled out into the lobby. Everyone in the lobby found out that she hated his parents, she was pregnant and she had no idea who the father was and a few other things. Half the guest list packed up and checked out the next day. They still got married.”

mesembryanthemum

4. Third time’s the charm?

“It was the third time the bride had hired me and all the guys had been carbon copies.”

ChronosDustorm

5. Is it too late for an annulment?

They had a big fight the night before the wedding and were considering calling it off. Until the bride showed up 30 minutes before the ceremony, no one was sure if she would be there at all. The groom danced with his MOM more times than he did with the bride. The bride was snippy and nitpicky with the staff all night. The word “annullment” was cast around and I hope to god they went through with it the next day because holy shit.

— pm_me_your_molars

6. I’m sorry, why is the mother of the groom getting gifts?

“When the bride and groom argued over why the groom’s mother shouldn’t get all money given to them on their wedding day. Ya, that was a red flag.”

JoeEIRE

7. I’m a little tired. Could we do the wedding tomorrow instead?

“Not actually in the industry but I have helped out a friend with a few weddings. Two of the weddings I could just tell they weren’t going to make it. At the first wedding, the bride and groom hardly talked about the entire wedding. It was like they had nothing in common. And then later the groom pretty much f**ks off halfway through and went home because I quote, ‘he was tired.’ So he just left his bride having to take pictures with the wedding guests on her own. He never came back that evening so she had to greet everyone off etc. Funny enough about a year later I heard they’re filing for divorce.”

Eggsegret

8. I mean, at least it’ll be easy to imagine his twin during sex?

“I worked fine dining/catering for over 20 years so I’ve worked lots of weddings and receptions. I once heard a bride at the reception during the toasts say that she actually thought she was asking out the groom’s twin brother on their first date and that might actually be cute except she…just kept going on. How the twin was more compatible, etc. then she ended the toast with ‘well…as nice as you are youʻll make a great first husband.’ I was walking past the cameraman at that time and you can hear me on tape saying ‘did you get that? Tell me you got that.'”

Scoobymaybe

9. Fine, I guess.

“At a wedding when the ‘I do’s’ came, the groom said, ‘I guess.'”

MissCarolineC

10. Chris Brown over here. Jeez.

“Wedding DJ here. Had a wedding a few years ago where the groom was a total dickhead. When it was his turn to make a speech he refused to make one. When the bride’s sister begged him to please make a speech or at least just tell the bride she looks beautiful, he got up took the mic mumbled to her that she looks beautiful, and sat back down. When I left after the wedding was done I was walking to my van with some gear and then I saw the bride sitting on one side crying. Found out a few days later that the groom hit her 3 days before the wedding and he tried to hit her at the wedding again when she asked him to not drink so much and pace himself.”

MrBashew

Patricia Grisafi

Patricia Grisafi, PhD, is a freelance writer and educator. Her work has appeared in Salon, Vice, Bitch, Bustle, Broadly, The Establishment, and elsewhere. She is passionate about pit bull rescue, cursed objects, and designer sunglasses.