People Share The Signs At A Wedding That Showed The Couple Might Not Last

A wedding is supposed to be joy-filled occasions that celebrate the union of two people in love. However, that is not always the case... When you bring a bunch of people together from different families, workplaces and social circles, things can get a little dramatic. Add drinks into the mix and the ugly truth comes out.

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#1 Runs In The Fam

About an hour before my cousin’s wedding, she made the comment that her next wedding wasn’t going to be as big and complicated. She was right—her second wedding was super small. Same with my sister. It wasn't a huge wedding but my sister made a joke, saying: "Next wedding, it'll be just me and the groom, some family, some friends, and out in a field." Six years later, she said "I do" out in a field with the second husband and then they ate BBQ ribs seated on the tailgate of a pickup.

#2 Turn The Other Cheek

While getting up the stairs, the groom stepped on the bride’s gown. She turned, slapped him, and called him blind. He turned the other way and left. Good on him, though. He was probably thinking something along the lines of: "If she can't be nice even on our wedding day, I'm out." It was chaos as he walked out of the hall, let me tell ya.

#3 A Sinking Ship

They got married after a ten-year relationship. The wedding was painful to watch as they had such a bad fight the night before. They barely spoke to each other all day and hardly even looked at each other. They split up eight weeks later. Maybe after such a long time, the reason to get married might also be an attempt to save an already failing relationship.

#4 A Bad Joke

A wedding guest looking out of the window beamed at the groom waiting at the altar and said, "She's here!" and the groom jokingly pretended to run away. It went down like a lead balloon because he had actually run away the previous year... She literally went out to the shops and didn't come back for eight weeks, while she was pregnant with their first child.

The bride's mother gave him a look that would have wilted the wedding flowers and happy chatter in the room turned to frosty silence—just in time for the entrance of the bride. They are still together many years later and have had more children together but I wouldn't describe them as happily married.

#5 A Little Argument

The bride got so tipsy that the bar cut her (and everyone else) off. The groom was also tipsy. People started leaving at midnight, and the bride got mad and yelled about how they were all "ruining" her wedding because she wanted to dance and drink more. I was their designated driver to get them to their hotel. The entire drive there, they fought. She berated him. He cried. That was a long 20-minute drive. I could have scrubbed vomit out with cleaners, but the awkwardness has stained that car forever. They've been together for seven years. Their daughter, born nine months after the wedding, is adorable.

#6 The Nervous Bride

The bride cried and looked so nervous during the ceremony... She was the saddest bride I’d ever seen. The marriage lasted less than a year. I spoke to her years after and she told me he’d been physically and mentally abusing her all the time. I felt so sorry for her but she's doing a lot better now without him in the picture.

#7  The Unfaithful Groom

A friend called off a wedding after her fiancé cheated. It was back on a few months later and on the wedding day, she only looked down while walking the aisle. She just looked terribly upset. A year or two later, she found out not only was he cheating on her again, but he planned on leaving her for the mistress. They somehow “worked it out” and she is still with him. I’m sure she’s miserable and that he’s still cheating but they have a kid now. I’m 100% sure that’s the only reason she’s staying.

#8 Not According To Plan

I attended a wedding where the bride cried through the ceremony. The ceremony was on Saturday, and they separated the Monday after. Apparently, she had been heavily pressured by her family. It broke my heart for both of them. He had really loved her and she was in a really tough situation with her very traditional family.

#9 Unpredictable Love

It can be difficult to see other people's relationships, especially if you're just kind of general friends. For me personally there have definitely been friends of mine that I thought everything was great and suddenly they announce they're getting a divorce. Or friends that I thought were just regular people and found out inadvertently one of them was a cheater or whatever.

#10 The Golddigger

At a friend's wedding two years ago, the bride kept the bar open until 3 a.m. even after the groom went home at 10 p.m. She kept telling everyone that she was just with him because he had money and a flat. Everyone felt so awkward. They are now going through a divorce after she cheated on him. Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme.

#11 Kiss of Betrayal

I have a few. The most obvious one was when the bride got caught kissing somebody other than her husband in the parking lot between the wedding ceremony and reception—and for part B, they aren't even together now, nor they were together when the reception "started." Who knows how many other guys she's been with while they were together.

#12 An Odd Dynamic

My sister-in-law got married last fall and after the ceremony, they got in an epic fight over the marriage certificate and didn't come to the reception until two hours after it started. A week later, they separated for a few weeks while trashing each other on Facebook. They're still together and she's now pregnant. I also photographed this wedding and it was the most stressful professional experience I've ever had.

#13 The Creepy Groom

I didn’t know them personally, but there was a story in my town of the bride walking in on the groom hitting on the maid of honor at the wedding. And they went through with the wedding anyway. Then, the bride was the maid of honor at her maid of honor’s wedding a week or two later. I think it was sometime after this that the maid of honor reported the harassment.

#14 The One That Got Away

The wedding reception of my best friend. We had a dance. He says in my ear, "It should have been you." I left, crying all the way home in a taxi. We haven't spoken since. He's still married to her. In short, I was in a relationship with his mate for years, but we split up. He had split up with his girlfriend around the same time. We had been hanging out as couples, so we continued to hang out when single, completely platonic.

We ended up as best mates for a couple of years. He was fun, funny, completely respectful and a hopeless mess of a man in many ways. He often asked for us to be a couple and I always turned him down. "Don't want to ruin the friendship" and all that. I eventually moved overseas, he started dating his now-wife, and our phone calls stopped. I was in the country at the time of the wedding, so I attended and you know the rest...

#15 It's Too Late Now

I went to a friend's wedding and she was my first love. While dancing with her mom, the bride's mother told me she thought and hoped I would marry her daughter. It was actually sweet. She was fine with who her daughter married, (me too) but she knew how much I loved her. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

#16 Cake Chaos

During the cake cutting, he smashed cake in her face. She immediately started crying and went to the bathroom for about 30 mins. Then they got into a huge fight and they barely spoke the rest of the night. Shockingly they are still married, but they still fight all the time. She's my friend from college so we keep in touch occasionally. She never has good things to say about him.

#17 Why He's An Ex

My ex and I agreed to no cake-smashing, and there was no cake-smashing. But the whole point is that you each feed the other a bite of cake at the same time, right? He held his mouth open for the cake, while just holding the bit meant for me in his hand. I stopped and said, “Where’s mine?” Then he remembered and we did it the right way. Fast forward 10 years later and he doesn’t want to get a job using the degree I supported him through because he feels I should just support the whole family. And that’s why he’s an ex.

#18 Awkward Vibes

My brother's wedding. It was super uncomfortable and awkward during their engagement. My parents kept asking him if he was sure, he said yes. Then the wedding... It was super small. When they were asked to kiss, they both went in for a peck, but she turned her face at the last minute so he kissed her cheek. My husband yelled for them to do it again (I was also their wedding photographer and he knew I didn’t get a good shot). The marriage only got weirder and worse from there. They acted like they were on an awkward first date every day. Finally, a year later, they divorced.

#19 You're Still The One

My parents attended a wedding where the bride's mother persistently told the groom to pay more attention to her daughter (i.e. the bride) instead of just chatting with his friends. The bride seemed upset. My parents came back from the wedding, which was in spring, predicting it would be over by Christmas. Five years and two children later, the couple is still together and seem pretty happy.

#20 A Healthy Relationship

My wife and I at our wedding spent a good bit of time socializing separately—there were lots of people there we don't see often, but we had been living together for three years and owned a home together, so we didn't feel the need to be attached at the hip throughout the whole thing. Obviously, we still spent plenty of time socializing together too, but nothing seemed out of place with spending time apart too.

#21 Best Wife Award

A wedding is a social gathering where you're knitting two families together. In our case, my family is from the midwest, hers is from the east coast. For all my aunts and uncles, this was the first time meeting her and her family. So my wife went out of her way to make sure to spend time with them, and make introductions and it has paid dividends. Her family and my family have made connections and are family.

#22 A Groupon Wedding

The bride kept telling anyone who'd listen that she booked the wedding through Groupon and it was super cheap. They hadn't planned to get married until she saw the deal online. Not sure how long it lasted but she posted a sarcastic comment about how successful her marriage was on Facebook on her first anniversary (using the 'memories' feature).

#23 A Whole Mess

The groom had his car stolen on the morning of the wedding and spent the whole day swearing and punching inanimate objects because, as we all heard a thousand times that day, not only was it "the most important thing in his life," it also wasn't insured. The wedding was at a boy scout hall, for no apparent reason... and the reception was in the cafeteria at one of those Underwater World places with the glass tunnel, but no one was allowed to go see the fish because, get this, the whole day had a Lion King theme. Then, towards the end of the night, the bride beat one of the bridesmaids because she caught her with a groomsman who she tearfully admonished for "cheating on her'. I have no idea how long the marriage lasted for, I never saw or heard from them again.

#24 At Least They Tried

Well, the wedding was in his parents' lounge. It was a quickie wedding and she was eight months pregnant, both very young. He paused partway through his vows and said, "I love my child, that's why I'm doing this..." then he cried. I tried to stop it, told him not to do it out of obligation to the child, but he said he had to. She glared at me and his parents were furious at me. They got married, had three kids, cheated on each other all through their marriage, and he's with someone else now. Both have kids to other people. She's a single mom now, but he cheated on his new partner with her and they tried to make it work before giving up again and reverting back to him going back to his partner and her being single.

#25 Still Not Happy

We were good friends with a couple that fought all the time. She wanted to get married desperately and he was indifferent. After years of nagging, he finally proposed. On the day of the wedding, right before he walked out, he looked at us and sighed, "Well, maybe now she will stop nagging at me and finally be happy." They are now divorced—she cheated on him with some guy she used to date.

#26 We're Just Like That

During the wedding banquet, the groom went over to help his aging father cut some food. When he finished, he sat down again. The bride yelled at him, "Hey! What about helping my mother?!" He was taken by surprise at her tone but went and helped her mother. Almost 20 years later and I am still married to her. I still get yelled at.

#27 A 'Yikes' Moment

Not to the wedding party yet, but my friend got engaged to his girlfriend and not too long ago she told MY fiancée (they are best friends) that she was going to the clinic to get an STD test. She said she needed an alibi to hide it from my friend. I still don’t know how to bring this up without completely destroying people’s lives.  The only thing I took out of the situation was her cheating and being dumb as hell in more than one aspect.

#28 The Co-worker

I was the best man at my best friend’s wedding. He had only ever been intimate with his girlfriend and resented that she had experiences with other people. He and a co-worker became close and started to mess around. Eventually, he broke it off with the co-worker and proposed to the girlfriend. During a stressful moment the day of the rehearsal dinner, he told his bride-to-be about the co-worker, in that way you decide to use a nuclear bomb to “win” an argument. Needless to say, this created tension all through dinner, into the wedding day and reception. The wedding evening ended with me in a hotel room, consoling the bride, who was in tears, doing my best to reassure her that it would be ok. They ended up getting divorced eventually.

#29 Cleaning Up The Mess

They were both tipsy and the wedding was all planned by the bride's family on the same day as they had decided to get married the night before. The groom’s family didn’t even show up, so he only had his best friend attend. The “reception” was just a big table at the same restaurant where the bride’s (now divorced) parents had their wedding reception. This was when the bride's best friend decided to tell her family that she was tipsy. They spent their wedding night getting more tipsy using the cash they were gifted. I am thankfully no longer married and am now sober!

#30 That Can't Be Good

I went to a wedding for an extended family member a few months ago where, during the ceremony, she bent down and washed his feet in this bowl. He did not wash her feet. It took a weirdly long time and it was super awkward. Then the vows were all about how the woman must always submit. It’s only been a few months, but I don’t know how long it’ll last.

#31 Blame The Bride's Sister

Not so much evidence that they shouldn’t have been together, but evidence that my sister-in-law is just a horrible, thoughtless person... The wedding was supposed to start at 3 p.m. At that time, she was getting in a bathtub in her hotel room to “unwind” before starting to get ready. All of us bridesmaids were already ready. I had to call my mom and tell her that we were at least an hour out. My brother was there waiting already.

Oh, and it was October (Halloween), around 40 degrees F and windy, and it was an outdoor wedding in a park with no indoor venue attached. Their poor guests ended up waiting for more than an hour and a half. The divorce papers have been filed and should be final within a few months.

#32 The Practice Run

Not at the wedding but at the “practice run” the night before. The bride and groom got in an argument because the bride didn’t want the groom to kiss her for longer than just a quick peck on the lips. The marriage lasted about two years. Some people just have different levels of PDA that they’re comfortable with, I guess?

#33 SOS Calls

My one mate had a wedding in Jamaica, after dating this girl for less than a year. They fought all the time and the night before the wedding, he called me and had a heart to heart about how he didn't think they should get married and that there was no spark. He ended up getting married, and I found out a few months later that I was one of eight people he called that night. I think he was hoping one of us would make him cancel the wedding. They lasted one year and two weeks.

#34 No Support

The bride's family looked super underdressed (except her brother) for her wedding and she didn't have a father-daughter dance. She danced with her brother instead and when they were dancing, she was tearing up. Her family also left early, except her brother. The groom's family loved her and didn't understand why they didn't seem supportive. They are still together and just recently had their son.

#35 People Don't Change

I had a friend who legitimately thought he would “grow up and stop drinking and partying if they got married.” He didn’t even promise that. Their marriage lasted less than a year. She was a divorcée at 23 years old. People do not change just because you want them to. And when they do change it’s not usually how you expect or want them to.

#36 Harboring Doubts

The groom cornered my roommate and demanded intimacy as a wedding gift. Apparently, he was under the mistaken impression that all gay men are always down at any time. My roommate declined the invitation. Shockingly, that marriage did not last. Oh, I should have specified. The groom was marrying a woman. He was self-proclaimed straight. I don't know if he harbored some doubts, or if it was some sort of power flex, or what.

#37 A Happy Ending

I’ve attended quite a few weddings that have ended in divorce and I swear you can tell at the wedding. I have attended all three of my uncle’s weddings. With the first two, it seemed to me that we as a family had more fun than the brides. The divorces did not take long. The second wife literally permanently left the country and told my uncle not to follow her.

She was a perfectionist and could not deal with the fact that my uncle's business was failing. My uncle is one of those guys with his head in the clouds. Not incredibly ambitious. Kind of like a puppy. Wife #3 is great! He is happy! They had a kid. Both their first and basically what he has always wanted. Happy ending.

#38 My Big Fat Greek Wedding

A big Greek wedding. The groom kissed the bride with his eyes wide open every time. I knew as soon as I saw that it wasn't going to last. Also in the reception, the bride's brother's best friend started to cry uncontrollably. The marriage lasted only two and a half months.  I should have mentioned that he also didn't touch her. Just went in for the kiss, eyes wide opened. Not one hand on her like she had girl germs or something. Not just at the church, but every time they kissed at the reception. Yes, she did hold him, but he didn't touch her.

#39 Nature's Warning

My second wedding. The officiant asked, “if anyone had any reason these two should not be wed.” A storm was coming, and at that exact moment, a very low pitched rumble of thunder came from the sky. Everyone just kind of stopped and looked up. I said, “Maybe try that again?” Everyone chuckled, he asked again and nothing. I found out five months later that she had been cheating on me for a while. We aren’t together anymore.

#40 Under His Nose

The bride was constantly on her phone and very often had to “go to the bathroom” with it, like a lot. She did this a lot during the year of the wedding, and on the day of something didn’t seem right. So someone followed her, she went into one of those family bathrooms that only had one toilet in it, and she forgot to lock the door. One of the bridesmaids opened the door and the bride was on FaceTime with an ex-bf. The wedding obviously was stopped at this point. The groom was furious. It turns out, she had been cheating on the groom pretty much the entire time they had ever been together.

#41 Just Bored

The husband disappeared two hours into a six-hour reception because he was bored. He just went into the house and hung out on his phone. It was a chill ranch thing with games, drinking, and dancing. Adults only. Also, I didn't meet him until the wedding while we (me and the bride) hung out pretty frequently. So there was some lead up to that that didn't help. He wasn't cheating, just watching golf videos.

#42 Under The Table

One of my wife's sorority sisters got married recently. We're not that close and I don't know the groom, but every time I've seen her she's been tipsy. At her wedding reception, she blacked out and thought it would be funny to hide under a table. But then she spilled wine on her dress and started crying. Her new husband tried to get her to come back out and socialize and she ended up smashing a glass into his face and sending him to the ER. She almost bragged about it when she told the story. Like a "no one tells me what to do" kind of thing. They were going to get a divorce but ended up getting pregnant instead...

#43 All The Red Flags

Same wedding: there was a lightning strike of church night before, the pastor forgot and ended up in another state day before, and the bride had slept with six of the groomsmen throughout high school without the groom ever knowing. The marriage lasted three years and two kids before she fled to be in the military.

#44 She Wasn't Ready

The bride was hyperventilating while walking down the aisle, making her veil blow out almost horizontally. Later that night, after the reception, the wedding party was chilling in the hotel hot tub, and the bride and groom surprised us by joining us. They were supposed to be shagging all night, right? After they got in the hot tub, the bride tried to kiss my BELLY BUTTON. In front of her new husband (my best friend). I laughingly screamed at her and pushed her away. Lasted two years.

#45 Something's Off

It was my cousin's wedding. They were together for a few years before getting married. The wedding was just off, they were not interacting, dancing or anything. My cousin was only worried if the cook and waiter were going to steal something. 10 years later, they had two daughters in an abusive marriage that ended with a messy divorce.

#46 The Evidence

My sister was getting married and found her soon-to-be husband's phone. It has text messages to a girl saying: “If you tell me to leave her, I will right now.” Mind you, it was the day or their wedding. She went through with the wedding because she was pregnant. Eight years later they are stronger than... Oh, wait no, they divorced.

#47 A Word Of Caution

#48 That's Not Funny

The bride (who we all thought was a bit of a gold digger, to begin with) laughed uncontrollably at the "for richer or poorer" part during the rehearsal. She promised to get it together during the ceremony. She didn't get it together and burst out laughing again. She never said it. I mean, I started giggling at "in sickness and in health" because I have an autoimmune disorder, but my husband was giggling along with me. At the rehearsal, we had said "in sickness and in more sickness." But that was a joke that we shared because of all the times we'd been through together. I can't imagine laughing at part of your vows as she did. The poor groom...

#49 Out Of Excuses

My friend made up excuse after excuse why they couldn't LEGALLY get married, but still had the ceremony. They lost the officiant right before the ceremony because he said he "didn't want to be apart of their play" since it wasn't legal. Finally, after she ran out of excuses she confessed she was scared to get married. They're still together but not legally married still, it's been about a year.

#50 The Icing On The Cake

The first sign was that the bride had cheated on the groom multiple times during the relationship, and the groom knew about it. The second was all of his friends did not like her. The third was that it seemed like they were in a constant fight because the bride didn't trust the groom. The icing on the cake was when the groom's father gave a speech at the reception and ended it with, "I just hope my new daughter in law can learn to be faithful." The look on the bride's face was priceless.

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