Wedding mishaps....

[amarberry]

My mom caught on fire at my parents wedding reception! It was 1972 and she had the long hippie hair going on. There were some open candles and she swished around to see someone when "poof"...up in flames she went. I guess she just wanted to get out of there since her dress was on fire, and since this was 1972 bras were sort of optional. She took off running to spare the guests a topless peak of the bride, but my paternal grandpa ended up tackling her in front of all of the guests instead and snuffed out the flames. I think that the reception ended pretty much after that....

And after that start to my parents marrage, I am happy to report that they are still married almost 35 years later!

 

[OceanAnnie]

Great stories, everyone!

Princess89, I guess you didn't get your pictures? What a crazy day you had!

Here's my funny story. I was a bridesmaid and the only one to know that another bridesmaid was pregnant. Well, during the loonng ceremony, I hear a thud and see a bouquet rolling nearby. I slowly look back and yep, my friend is laying flat on her back. Her feet were in the air as she was trying to get up. She fainted & came to as soon as she fell. So ofcourse everything has stopped. (The dresses we wore were column type so there was no way to get up gracefully without help.) I hand my flowers over to another bridesmaid, walk back to her and help her up and help her sit on a pew. Ask her if she is ok. She says yes. Laughing. I told her after the ceremony she has to tell the bride and groom. Then I get back in position. And nod to go ahead. And they did. It was surreal. Packed church. The groom was a doctor. And several of the groomsmen were doctors. And they were planted in place and looked at me for the go ahead.

Funny thing is, I was the nervous one. Lots of people knew it too. I told them and we all laughed about my being nervous. Anyway, I looked a lot like my friend. Similar hairstyle, frame, dress. So after the wedding, I sat next to my friend & people came up to me to see if I was ok. I played it off for awhile, cause my friend felt so bad about it. But when the minister came up to me and asked how I was, I said I'm fine, --- it was her!

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

At my wedding my best friend was in charge of the stereo which she had never used before. After my DH and I were at the front she was supposed to stop the CD. Well for a couple of mins we stood there while she messed with it. Finally my DH had to walk over there and shut it off.

In the pictures, while the minister was reading out of the bible I look totally bored. I wasn't but just nervous standing in front of everybody!

 

[Amapola]

Mine is a bit different from the others... (BTW, my favorite was the dog who invited himself to the wedding! )

Anyway, my DH's father had Alzheimer's and had been in a vegetative state for several years, but his physical health was good. As our wedding date approached, he started to get weaker and had a couple of bouts of pneumonia. My MIL sat with DH one day and told him that even if his dad died near the wedding day, she wanted us to go ahead with the wedding, because after all it wasn't as though it would be a surprise death.

Well, the day before the wedding came and he was still hanging in there, so we all breathed a sigh of relief. At 11 pm the phone rang and it was my SIL telling us DH's husband had just died. I was still living at home then, and my DH lived in student housing (we were grad students) and didn't have a phone (and this was before the age of cell phones ) so my dad drove me over to his apartment to tell him and bring him home so he could talk to his mom. She insisted we had to go on with the wedding, and we did. It was an 11 am ceremony followed by a formal luncheon, and we were't going to have dancing -- just classical music in the background, so it was not like we were having a wild party.

After I had made my entrance to the church, the priest announced that the groom's father had passed away and we would start with a prayer for the dead -- and all I could hear was a collective GASP!!! from the guests. Oh, nobody from DH's family came because they live 3 hours away, and of course they had to take care of all the arrangements. His brother, SIL and niece were the only ones who made it, because he was the best man, but they left to go back home immediately after the ceremony.

We went to the reception (half the tables were empty) and from there went straight to DH's hometown, where our wedding night was spent at the funeral home. Well, not all of it, of course -- but like Princess89, after we got to the hotel (NOT the one where we had planned to spend the honeymoon, of course) I started crying and couldn't stop. Not a very auspicious start to the marriage, but the 18 years since then have been excellent! BTW, my DH thinks that his dad died so he could be at the wedding, and that he could feel his presence there -- but that's a story for another thread

 

[Princess89]

Great stories, everyone!

Princess89, I guess you didn't get your pictures? What a crazy day you had!

Actually, I got all of them she continued to call me. Her sister even tried to bully me the next day, but I had pics to prove it. But I did get all of them

 

[PoohPrincess76]

DH and I got married on July 22 of this year. Well, in Napa the A/C is optional in a lot of places because it usually isn't that HOT most of the time, 2 or 3 days a year maybe. When we booked the church we made sure to ask about a/c, "yes" we were told. And they did have it. But, July 22 was one fo the hottest days in a long time (average temp is 81), it was 115! Well, the a/c at the church wsa not enough to cool the whole church enough, so, we were sweating up a storm. The photographer insisted that the lights be on up front for correct exposure. Luckily, our minister is a really good friend of mine and didn't mind when I asked him to skip part of the ceremony because I had sweat dripping down my spine. I thought I would die. Thank goodness the a/c at the reception worked better than expected.

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

I thought of another one from my wedding. I'd packed my bag for our honeymoon and trusted DH to take it to our hotel so it'd be there after the reception. He did, but before he left our house, he looked in my bag and wondered why I'd packed my shoes-after all, I'd be wearing shoes at the wedding. I wouldn't need 2 pairs so he took my shoes out! Without telling me.

And I was wearing shoes-my fancy white wedding pumps! So we get up the next morning and I get dressed to meet our families for brunch and I have no shoes to wear but my wedding ones. The clothes I'd worn to the church before I changed into my wedding attire was sent home with my parents so I called and asked my dad to please find my shoes and bring them because we didn't have time to go home and get some shoes before we had to leave for our honeymoon. And I didn't want to wear my wedding pumps! And be discreet please. I didn't want my inlaws to notice I had no shoes.

We got to the restaurant and I go strolling in in my sock feet. No one noticed! Whew. Everyone starts clapping for us and I look over at my dad. My plan was to sit by him and slip my shoes on under the table discreetly. He was grinning from ear to ear, holding my shoes out to me, "Here's your shoes, Lin!" I was so embarrassed!

My dad just passed away last month. Thank you to the OP for this thread. Today is my dad's birthday and this memory made me smile. He would've been 72 today.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Well, one time a very drunk guy came up to my table while I was DJing, and while making a request, he passed out on my table, causing everything to come crashing down.

Oh, and at my aunt's wedding, her FIL died from a heart attack.

Actually, I have seen numerous medical problems at weddings, usually older folks who get carried away with aprtying.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

These stories are absolutely hilarious.

We also had a few wedding mishaps.

The bridal party and I got to the church to dress, etc just fine. But as my DSis is attempting to put on her pantyhose, she shreds them with her newly-done nails. So she ends up running to K-Mart in her Maid of Honor dress.

During part of the ceremony, where DH and I walked up to the altar, DSis was supposed to pick up my train and *gently* lay it to one side. Unfortunately, she picked it up and just kind of tossed it over. You can hear the thump of beads on the video.

During the post-ceremony photo shoot, one of my flower girls starts crying and running about on her hands and knees. She'd lost one of her plastic bead clip on earrings and as I moved back to get out of her way, I hear a crunch. When I move my foot, the bead is smashed to pieces. Oops.

DFIL and DMIL were in charge of getting the cake to the church. They had planned to take it in his Bronco, since there would be more room. The Bronco has one of those windows on the rear that flip up. DFIL had flipped up the window so he could place the cake inside and backed out of the garage with the window still up. The wiperblade on the window managed to catch just right on the top of the sill (in the garage) as he was backing out and shattered the glass.
Luckily the cake was in a box and they could just move it to their other car. However, when they got the cake to the church and began to assemble it in the reception hall, they realized that the bottom layer had cracked in half. Uh oh! One of my stepsisters sees it and manages to keep her cool. She grabs some white plastic coffee stirrers to anchor the halves back together and runs to a local bakery for some generic white icing so she can fix the problem. DH and I had NO idea until about a week later when DMIL told us.

TOV

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding. My friend was getting married at her home church where a "wedding coordinator" was "included." This woman was the biggest flake I have ever met and my friend did not want to use her services and actually had her own planner but was stuck with her as she "came with the church."

Let me tell you, this woman was a nut! She was straight out of the 1980s, wore her makeup like Bozo the Clown, had some control issues, and seemed to believe she was more of an authority on weddings than Martha Stewart. However, based on her lack of knowledge and evidence of lack of experience, I would venture a guess that she had never done a wedding and had bullied her way into the position. (It was a volunteer position at the church.)

Day of the wedding, the church coordinator is freaking out about every little thing, ticking off the bride and making everyone anxious even though things were going really well.

First, she showed up in this white-sequined-cocktail-dress-with-shoulder-pads thing that looked like it had once starred on "Dynasty." Her "white" shoes were gray from dirt and resembled stripper shoes (big platform, very high spiked heel) That got the Mother of the Bride mad as it was an inappropriate clothing choice.

She then harassed the florist and tried to swap the decorative flowers with some ugly fakes she had arranged because "they look better in the chapel." They did not and nobody asked her to make her own fake flower arrangements.

She also insuled my friend's beautiful designer gown because "strapless is not in style. Everybody knows that. Why didn't you pick something with sleeves?" My dear friend replied "Because it's not 1987."

She then tried to insist that she "had" do the bride's makeup and would not stop chasing her with a blush brush! She insisted that she knew "all about fashion" and how to apply makeup. I can tell you, she is an authority on applying makeup with a spatula! Well, she dropped the brush on my friend's gown! Luckily, the real wedding planner was able to get the blush out. My friend's MIL was able to keep the church coordinator out of the way after that incident.

However, the ceremony begins and the church wedding coordinator insists upon telling us when to walk down the aisle. At that point, my friend was royally ticked, but figured, 'whatever, we all know how to walk, let her ramble.' I was the first bridesmaid to walk down, and as I was walking, I felt like something was off. Halfway down the aisle, I realize there is nobody up front: no pastor, no groom, no groomsmen. I get to the front, take my place, and grin like an idiot at the guests who all look a little confused. The second bridesmaid comes down the aisle and I can tell from her expression she knows something is wrong. As she is walking down, the pastor and all the guys rush out, looking rather flustered.

I later found out that the church coordinator had "forgotten" to notify the guys to walk out. She realized her mistake and began to freak out so much that another bridesmaid had to do it. That, combined with everything else, set the bride over the edge. After the ceremony, she let the woman have it. Normally, my friend is the most laid back, calm person you will ever meet, but enough was enough! The woman, being the delusional nutjob she is, insists she has done nothing wrong and tries to tell my friend all weddings work that way. My friend was like "You freaked out when you realized you screwed up! You almost ruined my dress, you insulted my taste and my family, my vendors hate you, and your dress is inappropriate!" The woman tried to tell my friend she was having "wedding jitters" and might be hormonal because (this is a direct quote) "Are you preggers? You look preggers, you sinner!" My friend is a size 2. Her stomach is probably concave and she and her husband "waited" until marriage.

Later that week, the woman was "fired" from her position and had to write a letter of apology to the bride and pay for the cleaning of her dress. My friend had called the pastor from her honeymoon to complain. Turns out she was not the first bride to have problems with this woman. The woman was later asked to leave the church because of her excessive gossip and political strategies were beginning to divide the church. So sad...

Sadly, you can see the distress on the bride's face in almost every picture from the ceremony. The reception pictures are much better.

 

[frndofpooh]

My sister (maid of honor) tripped and broke her arm walking on the stone walkway up to the reception pavilion. She spent the rest of the reception in the ER. I missed her terribly - she was moving to the west coast the next day and I did not see her for about 6 months after the wedding.

We had a cloudburst and pouring rain for about 10 minutes - the 10 minutes in which the guests had to walk from the wedding (inside) to the reception (outside).

The florist sent us someone else's flowers. They were beautiful, just not what I had picked out .

After the guests braved the rain shower to get to the reception they arrived to find no food (it was late, but did arrive and was quite tasty).

Bottom line - we exchanged vows and today is our 12th wedding anniversary. None of the other things ever really mattered .

 

[Stacerita]

I once passed out during a ceremony when I was a junior bridesmaid. It was in the middle of August, hadn't had anything to eat all day (I was at the age when I didn't speak up about not getting my lunch) and I had to wear a totally tight dress with ill fitting shoes. Half way through the ceremony, I got all light headed and twirly, and then was about to go down when someone saw what was happening and came up to get me.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

My wedding had less drama than many of these stories, but we did have a few minor glitches. DH and I met online through a singles website, and he was in CA while I was in WI, and the wedding was held in WI in February (no, we weren't crazy; there were all kinds of schedule issues that led to our selected date). We had a reception in CA about a month after the wedding, so I was planning one ceremony and two receptions. DH wasn't much help, but he did his best long distance.

The pastor I wanted to perform the ceremony resigned from the church just as we were planning the wedding, and he was very apologetic but he was leaving 3 weeks before our wedding date. So I had to pick a pastor from a different church that I kind of knew, but I didn't know him very well and DH didn't know him at all. We met with him once before the wedding, and I had a few conversations with him on the phone, but that was really it. This lack of knowledge about each other really came out in the sermon - it was almost entirely a caution that we were committing for a lifetime and we can't get divorced! Several of our friends and family commented that it seemed like a very odd message for a wedding day! I guess he was just concerned that we hadn't known each other long enough and we'd met online so he thought maybe we weren't really ready to get married?

The florist failed to deliver the flowers for the centerpieces (we were supposed to have some daisies and daffodils and some greenery to put in cute little terra cotta pots for the tables at the reception), and they also didn't make the crosages and boutineres for the "kid ushers" (I've taught preschool and sunday school for years and we had 4 of the kids from my classes be ushers with the grown-up ushers - it was really cute!). Fortunately my wedding coordinator and my personal attendant were on top of it, and I didn't even find out about the florist glitches until after it had been solved!

The only other thing was that one of my flower girls started throwing a fit right in the middle of my saying my vows. Her mom quickly took her out and got her settled down again, but I got distracted and forgot what I was supposed to say and the pastor had to repeat it for me again. Not a big deal, but kind of funny.

I still love looking through our wedding photos and watching the video - DH always laughs at me! If I could, I think I'd wear my wedding dress around the house sometimes, too. I just loved it, and it was a great day despite the glitches along the way. Oh, and the CA reception went off quite well, too, even though I only knew a few of the hundred people there. At the time everyone's face & name were just a blur, but now when I look through the pictures I know who each person is. I kind of wish we could do it again now that I know these people - I think I'd have a lot more fun!

 

[bsnyder]

The year is 1977. My great-grandmother, "The Geeg," (long story on that name) has thrown herself a little pre-party before my parents' rehearsal, and she hauls herself and her blue dress out to her Oldsmobile Toronado in a thoroughly drunk state. Please envision The Geeg in all of her German, 4'9", immaculately put-together beauty, teetering on her heels. The Geeg sits on a couch cushion to be able to see over the dashboard of the Toronado. Anyway, she proceeds down Millburn Avenue ... steers a bit off course ... her heel gets caught in the hem of her dress ... a bit more off course ... mounts the curb, drives over the sidewalk and 15' into someone's yard, where she crashes into a tree.

She's fine, (complaining up a storm in there) but the Toronado's alignment is twisted and none of the doors or windows will open. Thus, the Millburn paramedics cut her out of the car with a primitive 1977 version of the Jaws of Life. And as they lift her out, the reporter from the local Millburn paper was close enough to hear her announce to the attractive firefighter that "I never liked that car anyway."

It was a hilarious issue of the local Millburn paper. My parents' wedding was a huge event taking up an entire inside page. It was pre-empted by The Geeg's car crash on Page 1. The Geeg then threatened to sue Millburn for planting a tree too close to the road.

The Geeg ... an institution.

Reminds me of a story from my parents' wedding in 1954. After the rehearsal dinner, my mom's Uncle Rudy (a lawyer) drives his wife and several out-of-town widows home. A cop tries to pull him over on Bayshore Boulevard for speeding, and he ignores this as the cop follows him, lights and sirens going, for the approximate 4 miles back to his house - with my great aunt and the widows wailing and wringing their hands the whole way. He whips into the driveway and grabs his shotgun out of the trunk and is standing there pointing the shotgun at the police cruiser when it pulls in behind him.

His subsequent arrest, on the front page of the paper the next morning, did put a bit of a damper on the wedding day festivities.

 

[Philagoofy]

As I was walking up the aisle with my Dad I stepped on my dress & said "oh shxx. I rarely curse and never in front of my parents and never in a church - it just came out. Luckily my Dad was too busy beaming and being all happy to hear me & I said it low enough & was still pretty far back that I don't think anyone else heard me.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Actually, I got all of them she continued to call me. Her sister even tried to bully me the next day, but I had pics to prove it. But I did get all of them

Good for you! I've never heard of a photographer that messed up! Crazy.

 

[Tazicket]

We only had a few. The tux rental shop screwed up on my ring bearer's vest and he had an adult sized one (he was 5 or 6). Also, we lit our candles before the ceremony to take our pictures and since the air was blowing right on them, they started dripping black wax (don't know how- the candles were the dripless metal ones and were white!) So, the wedding started about 15 minutes late b/c my Mom and husband and all the groomsmen and some of the closer guests were in the kitchen scraping candles! We have pictures!

As far as other weddings go, I was in my friend's wedding a few of weeks ago. It was outdoors on the beach in the middle of August in FL. The ceremony (the beach part) was almost a full hour long! There were quite a few people who had to go inside b/c they were dangerously close to heat stroke.

ETA: I just remembered another one from our wedding. We had friends who were professional videographers that offered to do the wedding video for us. We didn't get it until almost a year later!

 

[tuckerkeys]

my maid of honor was giving me what i thought was "lemonade" all during my reception...turns out they were margaritas. so i ended up throwing up at the end of my reception and being a very drunk bride...but i remember everythng & had a great time though! my friends still talk about how fun my wedding was and it has been 7 years! i guess when the bride is a drunk fool, everyone else can let their guards down & do the same... i was a bit tipsy from wine when the "lemonade" started coming out, therefore i didn't even taste the liquor!

 

[mickeyboat]

When I returned to my hotel the morrning before my wedding after decorating the church and reception hall, I was confused as to why my entire family was standing outside the entrance, until I got out of the car and heard the fire alarm going off. The fire trucks arrived and firemen searched the hotel. I was almost in tears when my father promised to run back in and rscue my dress if it was a real fire. It wasn't.

When DH arrived at the church with his ushers, they found a bat - yes a bat flying all around the church. DH knew I would flip out if I got there and saw this bat swooping around the guests' heads, so he and the groomsmen took action. They batted it down with a long-handled collection basket, and trapped it underneath. They stuck a hymnal under the basket, brought it all outside, and released the bat.

Denae

 

[phisigprincess]

I put the ring on DH's right hand and didn't even realize it until I looked over halfway through the ceremony and didn't see his wedding ring!