Pre-wedding disasters

[JoiseyMom]

Well my DS and FDIL are getting married in Sept. In March while watching the news I saw that her bridal shopped closed it's doors . After several days of phone calls we found out her dress was ordered and she was able to get it delivered to another dress shop.

Her dress came in, in May...and it wasnt the dress she ordered . The dress is gorgeous and it fit beautifully, and she is keeping it...but still...


I hope and pray that is the worst of it.

 

[omghidanielle]

the hall where we were having our ceremony AND reception at collapsed 5 weeks before my wedding! The upstairs floor (ceremony area) collapsed into the downstairs (reception area). I found out from an Aunt who was having a conversation with their neighbor about their cousin's son's wedding that was there (how insane is that). Apparently, it had collapsed the day AFTER his wedding. When I tried confronting the owners about it, they lied to me, tried to cover it up by putting black plastic bags over the inside of the windows so you couldn't see in, and after I reported them to their county, they called my Mother and called me a liar! It took the threat of legal action for them to mail me a check to replace the invitations that I had literally just mailed out.

Thank god for my caterers, they found me a new hall a few days later (that was honestly, much nicer, and cheaper!).

There was also a LOT of drama because I didn't want a church wedding, and my Mother did (I ended up having 2 weddings...ugh.) and my cousin was upset because I didn't hire him as my DJ...he was charging us $800, and a friend offered us a PA system to rent for free...hmmm. He sat at his table and badmouthed us the entire time. 2 weeks later, at my OTHER cousin's wedding (which he DJ'd) many of us ended up hanging outside because the music was awful and the bass was WAYYYYYYYYYYYY too high!

I'm so glad that's behind me. What a nightmare. We had lots of fun, though!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Oh your poor sister, I am glad you will be there for her soon.

were quite minor compared to many of these.
The rehearsal was the evening before. Our priest (self described as NOT a people person and wishing he could retire) had lectured repeatedly about the importance of having everyone at the rehearsal and on time. Well, DBiL is a little, shall we say flakey He is a good guy but he tends to prioritize differently than most. He had flown in the day before for the wedding. When my in laws got up the morning of the rehearsal there was a note saying he was mountain biking with friends and not to wait for him he would get his own transportation. So, of course, he did not come and did not come. We tried to convince the priest to procedd without him and let us fill him in later (this was a simple ceremony wwit hall of 2 attendants and a 6 year old flower girl--easy [easy). Not having it--priest set off in literally a screaming rage about inconsiderate brides (how was this MY fault I ask you) and had my terrified flower girl in tears. Finally ran through it without DBiL and jsut as we were finsihing up DBiL waltzed in all smilea and oblivious and over an hour late--only to set priest off into another screaming rage and we were all told there would be no wedding tomorrow if we did not stay and run through it all at least twice now that everyone was there. It was so weird.
The same priest got annyoed with DH for not repeating his vows fast enoug hwhen EVRYONE could tell he was choked up and jsut needed a mnute (and we all thought I would be the one to cry--this is my favourite memory) and "forgot" to say you may kidd the bride (he had laready told us he did not like to include that and wished we would skip it--we waiteda couple of beats and then DH just kissed me anyway).

I arrived to the church in the back of a cop car with its lights flashing! But at least I was not late!

I love that part of your story

DH booked us a mediterranean cruise

aww how romantic

The dress is gorgeous and it fit beautifully, and she is keeping it...but still...

Good for her for being so flexible

 

[scottishduffy]

Hmmm. I have to say my MIL and my Mother were both fun. I have two MIL's, one perfectlysane beautiful woman who is technically DH's step-mom (but he has always called her mom. Then there is DH's Bio-mom. This is from Bio-Mom.

She called my parents 2 weeks before our wedding to inform my parents that I was a skank and would ruin her son's life. She informed them that I would ruin her sons life by dragging him down and she demanded my parents call off the wedding. I don't know how she expected this conversation to go. Did she expect my parents to just say "Ya know what.. Now that you mention it our daughter IS total trash! Thankyou for helping us realize our daughter is a skank!" We had been dating 6 yrs so the wedding wasn't a surprise.

DH was furious!! He didn't speak to her for several months after. On ym Mom's end she had my dress altered a size too small in order to encourage me to loose weight. The dress was already a size 4 but she said I was still too fat. Weddings bring out the worst in people!

 

[bumbershoot]

The priest had never had us sign anything and never filed anything. We were never legally married!

Was the priest still around? Did you let his church know what had happened????

Her dress came in, in May...and it wasnt the dress she ordered . The dress is gorgeous and it fit beautifully, and she is keeping it...but still...

I'm thinkin' there's a reason why that store went out of business!

Did the gown designer manufacturer explain what happened? Or help out at all with it (beyond sending it to another shop)?




If you really want to get depressed about disasters, last week or a bit before there was an article on msnbc about a whole wedding party that was in a nasty accident while on their way for pictures. One person from the wedding party died, and they ended up getting married in the hospital, after the rest of the wedding party members, including bride and groom, were patched up.


Before my wedding, my best friend ended up nearly dying b/c a gallbladder stent migrated into her small intestines, pierced through, and she went septic...she was in the hospital for something like 2 weeks, so instead of freaking out over seating plans and such, I was sitting with her making sure she was OK (her doctors enjoyed asking her, while she was on a morphine clicker, vitally important questions and then believing her answers...I stayed there to make sure they knew the REAL answers, and encouraged them to actually read the charts instead of relying on the drugged up woman for assistance). Thankfully she was OK, she actually insisted on coming to the wedding (she remembers very little of it), and people ended up choosing their seats almost exactly as I would have sat them, but BETTER.


Day-of, not a disaster but something that has bothered me ever since b/c I noticed AFTER the wedding and couldn't make it right....someone talked with the florist in the parking lot of the hotel, which caused her to only bring MY flowers into my suite. She was supposed to deliver ALL the "personal flowers" to me so I could distribute them. I was all alone when she got there, and was really flustered by my gone-rogue MOH and bridesmaids who had chosen to start drinking at 11am (wedding at 3pm) and who had all disappeared, and I didn't realize she was only giving me my flowers.

Later I found out that none of the parents or my aunt got their flowers, because she'd left them near the band's area, having told someone where they were (didn't tell me or DH)...so dad, stepdad, aunt...no flowers. Stepdad's wife who didn't show up had no flowers, but then, she didn't show up. Just made me sad that I dind't realize it until it was well over and done with, and that I'd paid money for flowers AND service that i didn't get, all because someone talked with her in the parking lot, changed the plans, and she didn't ask ME about it.


If your sister has a train on her gown, make sure she brings things like safety pins etc TO her wedding and reception. My MOH left my 'bridal kit', which was a gift from an online-turned-real-life friend, back at the hotel. So when she stepped on my poorly done bustle and ripped it out, I couldn't fix it. And she'd been drinking, so she couldn't drive back to get it. 100 degree day, outside wedding, and I had to carry my silk gown chapel-length train over my arm. hot hot hot!


Then again, my good friend was there, and that makes up for quite a bit of the annoyances!!!!

 

[mickeyboat]

4 days before my wedding my front tooth chipped noticeably. I was able to find a dentist to repair it on the morning of the rehearsal.

The day of the wedding we went to decorate the church and reception hall. When we got back to the hotel all the guests were standing outside. The hotel had been evacuated because the fire alarm had been set off. I flipped out, but my dad promised that if there was really a fire he would rush back into the building to rescue my dress. Turns out my brother had been smoking in the elevator.

When DH and his groomsmen arrived at the church there was a bat flying around the altar. They leapt into action and captured it between a hymnal and collection basket, and released it outside.

 

[Poohlovr]

The day before our wedding, I got a third degree burn on most of my right hand, with a beautiful, huge, blister to prove it.

The day of our wedding.....

1. MOH called to tell me that she had colored her hair and it had turned purple. Not a problem for me, but she seemed upset by it. She was going to the salon and hoped it could fixed, but she might be a little late to the wedding.

2. As I was walking out of the hair salon, a torrential downpour started. We tried to wait it out, but, it wasn't letting up. There went the hairdo that just took 2 hours to do.
Eh-who cares? The veil will hide most of it.

3. We got to the reception hall with the florist and the baker (with the cake) and it was locked. I called the lady with whom we had made arrangements and she said she didn't have the keys. We had to call someone else. So we called the someone else, but they didn't answer. Multiple phone calls (this was in the days before cell phones, so had to keep running to a phone booth--and remember the torrential downpour?-still coming down) and 45 minutes later, someone finally showed up with the keys to let us in.
The baker and the florist both had to leave, so we had to put our cake together (good thing I knew how to do a tiered cake) and put out the flowers for the reception.
Now, I was a little (Ok-more than a little) perturbed.


4. I found out after the ceremony that DH had locked my ring and his keys in the house. He found some neighborhood kid, who had to be slight in stature, and shoved him through the basement window so that he could unlock the door.
Had to laugh, because I had put the ring box in his shoe so that he couldn't forget it.

 

[minkydog]

I lived about 3-1/2 hours from my mother and planned the wedding to be in the town in which I lived. My younger sister was one of two bridesmaids, both of whom were making their dresses(we all sew--I made my wedding dress, in fact.) Anyway, my mother drove up 2 nights before the wedding--with the bridesmaid dress pattern pinned to the 4 yards of frothy material. Now, my mother is an excellent seamstress but a terrible procrastinator. I wouldn't have mattered if I gave her 4 years to get the dress done, she would have waited until the last minute. So, she spent about 36 hours putting the bridesmaid dress together. Then she announced that she needs to cut off my other's sister's dress and put a ruffle on it. I thought I was going to loose my mind. So I went to bed the night before my 1pm Saturday wedding to the sounds of my sewing machine whirring and clacking into the night.

And the next morning, what do i spy but two flat tires on my car. The car that is going to take us to the church and on the honeymoon. Thankfully, my 18yo brother was a mechanic and was able to wrangle new tires on it AND even washed the car for me. By the time I actually got to the wedding I was just ready to get it over with. I remember very little about it and on our way out of town, my new hubby had to pull over to let me vomit on the side of the road. No, not pregnant. Just supremely stressed.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

These all crack me up... and scare me a bit

I have lots!

Two days before our wedding the pastor called my mother and said my husband and I could not get married in the church because my husband's baptismal certificate was non-denominational. Now we had been engaged for a year, registered for banns and submitted the baptismal papers at least six months prior, and had been to both pre-cana and individual church counseling, and at no time was a problem with his certificate mentioned! If it had he would have gladly been re-baptized! Needless to say my Mom gave the pastor an earful, and he "somehow" managed to get a special dispensation from the bishop, and the wedding went off as planned.

Except...

Despite being engaged for over a year, my DH and I forgot to buy wedding bands until the night before the wedding! We went flying to the mall after the rehearsal dinner, got there with 15 minutes to spare, and just bought whatever they had that fit.

And...

My parents rented an antique Rolls Royce to take me to the wedding. Well, it was antique all right! Halfway up a hill, in the middle of the woods, miles from the church, the rear axle broke, and the back right tire, axle attached, went rolling into the woods! And the driver's cell phone was dead so he could not call for help! So there I was, sitting in the back seat of the Rolls, in a gargantuan wedding gown, with no way to get to my wedding! Thankfully, after a few minutes, a policeman drove by, and stopped to see if he could help. So I asked the policeman if he could please give me a ride to my wedding! I arrived to the church in the back of a cop car with its lights flashing! But at least I was not late!

The rest of the day went off without any more trouble. The wedding was very nice (once I got there!), and the reception was a lot of fun. We've been married for 13 years.

That is CLASSIC!

Everything was smooth as silk. (Or so I thought ....)

I was twenty, the first person in my family to have a big wedding in years and years, and really knew nothing about the legalities like signing the marriage certificate ....

We received a package from the church with our wedding certificate in it and framed it. It was so pretty ....

Eleven years later I went to an attorney to file for divorce and took my marriage certificate with me. Guess what? It was just a pretty keepsake. The priest had never had us sign anything and never filed anything. We were never legally married!

Needless to say, my daughter and I were shocked and never told my soon to be ex. I got divorced without ever being married!

Wow..that is crazy!!

she'll make it. At least she didnt get sick the night before the wedding!




as for me, I sent my invitations out on December 31st and my dad died later that night. So I dont really remember much after that.

How awful

4 days before my wedding my front tooth chipped noticeably. I was able to find a dentist to repair it on the morning of the rehearsal.

The day of the wedding we went to decorate the church and reception hall. When we got back to the hotel all the guests were standing outside. The hotel had been evacuated because the fire alarm had been set off. I flipped out, but my dad promised that if there was really a fire he would rush back into the building to rescue my dress. Turns out my brother had been smoking in the elevator.

When DH and his groomsmen arrived at the church there was a bat flying around the altar. They leapt into action and captured it between a hymnal and collection basket, and released it outside.

Oh...if it was my brother....I'd had killed him!!! LOL


We are getting married in a little over 3 months, and have just moved our venue to our town (no longer Florida!) and now its the chaos of booking everything... It was all still going ok until we found out on Friday my stepdad has cancer, so my mom and him may not be making it out for the wedding. It's hard to plan the happiest day of my life while learning news day to day on his health prognosis...
But... not to damper the funninesss of this thread, just whats going on right now...

If we have something funny/chaotic to laugh back on, I'm ok with that

 

[SkyGirl]

Was the priest still around? Did you let his church know what had happened????

I had moved thousands of miles away and had totally lost touch with the church. It was so many years later.

Given that I got a divorce, it always makes me smile when I think that I was never, ever married to that guy!!

 

[cassiez76]

i picked out my bridesmaid dresses and then they all tried to get different dresses....longer, different colors...you name it. since the wedding 2 of them have worn them to mardi gras balls. yeah...horrible of me to think they would serve a second purpose. no hey thanks for choosing those, they came in handy.

three weeks before our wedding, the cake baker closed shop without telling anybody. it was included in my wedding package, but the other 2 places were closed for the week of our wedding (july 7, 2007).

i went to the baker i really wanted and they were like 3 weeks? we just need 3 days notice! so my cake tasted great and i got the design i wanted.

nite of rehearsal - now this is july in new orleans, wedding was outside. hot is putting it midly. we told everybody in the wedding party to wear shorts/capri's, t-shirts, flip-flops cause it was so hot. MIL shows up dressed. we're all in summer clothes and she's dressed up nicely.

then tells my mom how horrible we all are for dressing down. something to the effect of stupid idiot, it's a wedding rehearsal, we should be dressed up. hubby and i had matching 777 slot machine shirts on. i guess she would have liked for us to have passed out in something more dressier. have i mentioned how much worse it's gotten since then? *sigh*

wedding day...at this point i just want it over with. cakes were supposed to be delivered at 4. it was 6pm and they still weren't there yet. i figure well they won't be happy when i get ahold of them. i've got a great tone when i'm upset i'm walking down the stairs and enter the hallway and literally 2 seconds before my 1st bridesmaid goes out the door my cakes show up.

everything went smoothly after that. i knew i should have eloped!