My wedding turned out ok, but my mom was so awful that it ruined it for me.

My parents are divorced and my mom was angry I invited my dad to my wedding.

So my mom tried to convince the entire family that I had been abusive to my mom and grandmother, and therefore nobody should attend my wedding.

So my wedding turned into this weird test of loyalty to my mother vs. Me, and like half my family didn’t attend (including my own sister, my mom, and my grandma). The half that did attend felt obviously uncomfortable and unsure about the whole thing.

Despite all of this, we went forward (we’d already paid everything and invites had gone out), and I for some reason held onto this weird hope that in the end, my mom would find a way to make it right and that she and the rest of my family would attend. I sort of could not get my brain or heart to believe what was happening and I really thought she’d fix things in the days and hours leading up to the wedding. I held onto this belief up until the moment I had to walk down the aisle. My sister was supposed to be my maid of honor and I also believed somehow she’d show up and be there for me. They didn’t.

My mom continued to threaten people who were planning to attend (like her siblings and my siblings) with being disinherited if they attended (mom and grandma are wealthy). In fact, all who attended were disinherited and the ones who boycotted were given cash payments. For one of my uncles this decision cost him several hundred thousand dollars. And I kind of think he regrets coming. I told him at the time it would be ok if he didn’t attend and that I understood. I kind of think he blames me for all of this somehow.

It’s been 8 years and it’s still not something I can laugh about or feel anything but sorrow.

I haven’t spoken to my mother since. My grandmother died a couple years ago and we never spoke again either.

I have reconnected with my sister but the hurt is still tremendous on my side, especially since she’s only given a cursory “I’m sorry, but....” kind of apology.

I did not have a perfect wedding. It was nice, I think most of the guests enjoyed themselves, but I myself did not think of it as the most enjoyable day of my life. I spent most of worrying about logistics and getting the various parts of it "right". Even now, when I think about, I tend to fixate on a couple of small issues which went wrong, and which still bother me, I don't know why.

I walked into a metal shelf nose first after the ceremony. It hurt so badly, I couldn't hear or see anything for 5 minutes. I just froze in pain. I knew my nose was going to swell, so I rushed through the pictures as quick as I could. Then we drove to an urgent care afterwards. Found out it wasn't broken and got some pain killers. I did all the typical reception stuff with a killer headache. We can laugh about it now

Anonymous wrote:I went to a wedding where the bride's grandmother literally dropped dead in the middle of the dance floor.

Alright, I think we have hit bottom and can shut the thread down. Wow. Doesn't get much worse than that.

I went to a wedding where the bride's grandmother literally dropped dead in the middle of the dance floor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother in law got arrested at mine. So, no, not the best one.

What happened??

Please share this story!

I'm picturing a scene from American Gypsy Wedding or something.

I can't share too many details because the parties are very DC googleable, but the venue tried to shut the bar down 2 hours early. Mother in Law objected to the point that they called the police. Arresting officer didn't realize who MIL was at the time and manhandled her during the arrest. Charge were dropped and MPD was sued. That officer lost his job and the venue paid out the ying yang. It was all sad.

Sorry I am the PP and just want to clarify SIL was, at the time of our wedding, married with one kid. This isn’t a “your teenage sister needs to feel included” moment which would have been understandable.

We had to pull it off fast because a close family member was dying. People were practical sobbing in the church not at the beauty of the moment, but because they knew they would never see this person alive again. So yeah, not perfect.

My mother in law took the opportunity to tell my husband, shortly before the wedding, that her *priority* for our wedding was that his *sister* feel included and important. In retrospect it is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of “when someone tells you who they are BELIEVE THEM” but at the time it was horrible.

(SIL is exactly the kind of person who you would expect given her mother’s statement)

My sister in law (brother's wife) gave a speech about how horrible my mother is. We tried to pass it off like she had been drinking but SIL was stone cold sober.

The bridal shop botched the alterations on my dress after the final fitting. There was a big obvious horizontal fold in the bust area where it should have been smooth and fitted. It showed up in every photo and we had to pay to gave it airbrushed out in all of our photos. When I tried to get my money back for the alterations, the shop manager was very snotty and blamed the dress. Really, they just rushed the alteration because I had bought a $800 dress instead of a $10k dress. The day of my fitting, they were hastily fitting my dress while absolutely falling all over themselves fawning over another bride with a big expensive beaded gown.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother in law got arrested at mine. So, no, not the best one.

What happened??

Please share this story!

I'm picturing a scene from American Gypsy Wedding or something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother in law got arrested at mine. So, no, not the best one.

What happened??

Please share this story!

We got married in our living room. It was kind of a hot mess.

Great marriage. We look back & laugh about the wedding.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Mine was nowhere near as bad as yours. I’m so sorry.

I was going to complain about mine because my MIL said she would do all sorts of things: take care of food, take care of sending thank-you cards, centerpieces, flowers, etc., and she basically didn’t do any of it. With food for the reception she had people come over to her house and she served apple cider and zucchini bread. She never sent our thank-you cards, the centerpieces were fake flowers from the dollar store, and she was late bringing the bouquets. I really do love her but it was such a mistake to depend on her.

That said, I don’t have terrible memories like you, OP. So sorry that happened to you on your wedding day!

Thank you cards are your responsibility as couple.

Mine wasn't perfect. Pictures took far too long. I believe we finally said "enough". I didn't want the wedding we had. DH did. It ended up being fine. It doesn't have to be perfect.

We found out after that the limo driver was hitting on one of the bridesmaids, and gave her a card for his "modeling " business. I complained and he was fired.

I wrote the cards, MIL offered to deliver them, never did, and I didn’t find out until a year and a half had passed.