Worst thing/biggest faux paux or mistake you've seen at a wedding?

Jen4948

Well, at my brother's wedding, I think the reception was supposed to start immediately with cocktails and appetizers for the guests while the families and wedding party took photos, but due to an error on the venue's part, they didn't have things ready to go for something like an hour after the ceremony was over (it was in a different part of the venue), so everyone had to stand around in a cramped area waiting for the venue staff to get the reception area started. It wasn't ready to start even after all the photos were taken. Now as far as I know this was a venue error, it wasn't planned to happen that way, but still...

Same wedding: it was also the birthday of a great-aunt on my mom's side who buttonholed my dad at the reception and asked for a cupcake with a lit candle to be served to her so everyone could sing "Happy Birthday" to her. My dad is generally a pushover and I think he agreed to it out of surprise. He and my mom might have prearranged it with my brother and SIL if they'd known about it sooner. But anyhow, my dad, as FOG, immediately after she requested this, got buttonholed by other people wanting this and that so he forgot about the request and it didn't happen. The great-aunt in question was the second wife of my great-uncle and stepmother of his children (he was a loved and deeply respected member of our family) and she felt insecure in the family. She did have a reputation for being pushy and she wasn't very popular. In any case, she took very personally not getting the cupcake and assumed it was a deliberate slight against her, and left a really nasty message about it on my mom's sister's answering machine.

At my cousin's wedding, his mother was talking on her cell phone during the recessional and apparently took the call before the ceremony was over.

strawberrybee9

ohannabelle said:

short+sassy said:

jenna8984 said:

3rd wedding- 2 hour long Catholic Mass (no offense to anyone but that's torturous to non-Catholic me) then a 3 hour gap. We didn't know where to go and googled a random bar nearby.

SIB:

It definitely wasn't a "worst" wedding.  But the long Catholic Mass portion was a big fail for me for two reasons (neither one the couple's fault).

1) My Catholic b/f (at the time) should have warned me there would be a mass.  I had never been to a wedding that had one.  There I was, expecting the ceremony to be about wrapped up, when all of a sudden the priest starts going into sermon mode.  In my mind, I was like, "What?  WTF?  What is happening?"

2) To the priest.  Here's an idea, when you are orating a mass for a wedding, give just a touch of thought to the fact that a good portion of your audience might be Protestant or not Christian at all.  Your entire sermon was about the eucharist, a very Catholic-specific term.  It took me 20 minutes to figure out WHAT you were even talking about.  For other Christians, it is the same thing as communion.  For non-Christians, it is a Christian rite celebrating the body and blood of Christ that was given for us, usually using red wine/grape juice and bread/host.  Extra snark: Do you see how quickly I explained that?

One of my biggest wedding pet peeves...and I'm not even a guest for this one...is couples who hire the police department to escort and stop traffic in all directions...including the entire freeway (one side) sometimes...while the wedding guests are traveling from the ceremony site to the reception site.  It's not necessary, it's rude, and it is very dangerous.  So just STOP IT!!!  I realize this is region-specific and, fortunately, in most cities this kind of ridiculousness is not done or allowed.        

Here's a better idea: understand what you're asking, here, with your "suggestions."

A priest isn't allowed to change the rituals or traditions of mass or the sacraments of marriage to accommodate possible visitors. It doesn't go like that. The traditions and rituals are not optional. You don't wing it. No leaving parts out or changing things for your convenience.

You really really seriously can't possibly think that anyone should change the most sacred and holy rites of their religious traditions because visitors might not "get it?" Seriously? You're griping because a priest used a Catholic term in a Catholic ceremony in a Catholic Church? Give just "a touch of thought" to that.

Priests aren't there to entertain an "audience."  That isn't what it's about. You wouldn't go to a Jewish ceremony and whine about people speaking Hebrew but you don't, or go to a Greek Orthodox ceremony and complain that you didn't get the rituals, so they should change them to be more accommodating to Protestants or whatever to please you?

Here's a better idea. Before I go to another person's church, I do a little research and read up on what to expect and what I might be participating in. Ten minutes on Google, you should be good.

There are many many many things at weddings to snark about, but other people's religious traditions aren't one of them. 

Sorry, but this whole thing just sounded entitled. Everybody should change their religious traditions for me, because I didn't get it. 

Nope. 

She wasn't suggesting that -- she was saying his SERMON was about that. A quick sentence or two during his sermon would have solved that.

Calm down.

ohannabelle

strawberrybee9 said:

ohannabelle said:

short+sassy said:

jenna8984 said:

3rd wedding- 2 hour long Catholic Mass (no offense to anyone but that's torturous to non-Catholic me) then a 3 hour gap. We didn't know where to go and googled a random bar nearby.

SIB:

It definitely wasn't a "worst" wedding.  But the long Catholic Mass portion was a big fail for me for two reasons (neither one the couple's fault).

1) My Catholic b/f (at the time) should have warned me there would be a mass.  I had never been to a wedding that had one.  There I was, expecting the ceremony to be about wrapped up, when all of a sudden the priest starts going into sermon mode.  In my mind, I was like, "What?  WTF?  What is happening?"

2) To the priest.  Here's an idea, when you are orating a mass for a wedding, give just a touch of thought to the fact that a good portion of your audience might be Protestant or not Christian at all.  Your entire sermon was about the eucharist, a very Catholic-specific term.  It took me 20 minutes to figure out WHAT you were even talking about.  For other Christians, it is the same thing as communion.  For non-Christians, it is a Christian rite celebrating the body and blood of Christ that was given for us, usually using red wine/grape juice and bread/host.  Extra snark: Do you see how quickly I explained that?

One of my biggest wedding pet peeves...and I'm not even a guest for this one...is couples who hire the police department to escort and stop traffic in all directions...including the entire freeway (one side) sometimes...while the wedding guests are traveling from the ceremony site to the reception site.  It's not necessary, it's rude, and it is very dangerous.  So just STOP IT!!!  I realize this is region-specific and, fortunately, in most cities this kind of ridiculousness is not done or allowed.        

Here's a better idea: understand what you're asking, here, with your "suggestions."

A priest isn't allowed to change the rituals or traditions of mass or the sacraments of marriage to accommodate possible visitors. It doesn't go like that. The traditions and rituals are not optional. You don't wing it. No leaving parts out or changing things for your convenience.

You really really seriously can't possibly think that anyone should change the most sacred and holy rites of their religious traditions because visitors might not "get it?" Seriously? You're griping because a priest used a Catholic term in a Catholic ceremony in a Catholic Church? Give just "a touch of thought" to that.

Priests aren't there to entertain an "audience."  That isn't what it's about. You wouldn't go to a Jewish ceremony and whine about people speaking Hebrew but you don't, or go to a Greek Orthodox ceremony and complain that you didn't get the rituals, so they should change them to be more accommodating to Protestants or whatever to please you?

Here's a better idea. Before I go to another person's church, I do a little research and read up on what to expect and what I might be participating in. Ten minutes on Google, you should be good.

There are many many many things at weddings to snark about, but other people's religious traditions aren't one of them. 

Sorry, but this whole thing just sounded entitled. Everybody should change their religious traditions for me, because I didn't get it. 

Nope. 

She wasn't suggesting that -- she was saying his SERMON was about that. A quick sentence or two during his sermon would have solved that.

Calm down.

Yep,  I read it.  And nope. It's still reading as religious snarking. Just because someone didn't follow or understand a mass or sermon doesn't qualify it to be on a list of "worst thing, biggest faux pas or mistake." 

Not snark appropriate, in my opinion. 

It's the snarky board. We can snark snark. (Or snark the snark that snarked snark, like you did.) 

kinney0515

One of the weddings I went to was for a friend of mine who is quite Christian.  She had just met her fiancé 6 months earlier and they got engaged after like 4 months and married 2 months later (I will say- they've been together 4 years now- and seem to be a really good match and very happy).

The groom, who I generally like but thought this was in very poor taste, spent all of the wedding telling everyone they didn't want to stay too long- because he wanted to rush to the hotel for their first go at "hippity dippity".  He used that term the entire time over and over again- I swear.  The bride, my friend, would just laugh along with him as if it was cute.  

It was like a 3 hour wedding- a long church ceremony- and then very casual buffet food in the church hall area.  The entire time though- the groom kept laughing about how they were planning on getting out of there as soon as possible.  I thought it was so rude- and was honestly pissed that I had taken the Saturday off of work (a very important job I had to turn down) to go to a 3 hour wedding that they clearly didn't even want to be at.  

For the record- he spent the next 6 months on FB always making statuses like, "Date night with my wife.... then home for some hippity dippity!"  I can say 4 years later- he's completely stopped- and is a bit more tolerable to follow on FB.

NoneForUs

I have seen several wedding faux pas over the past few years.

Many couples throw fundraising parties for their weddings. These are referred to as "stag and doe" parties and I hate them. First of all, most of the "stag and doe" couples have the nerve to invite people to their fundraising party but not their weddings. They might as well send invites which read "Please come spend money to pay for our wedding that you aren't good enough to be invited to." I think that stag and doe parties stink of entitlement as well. Couples who cannot afford the wedding they want should just suck it up rather than expecting others to pay for it. For these reasons, I have never attended a stag and doe party and I never will. 

I had a cousin who gave only two weeks notice for his wedding which was six days before Christmas. I thought this was very inconsiderate; guests should have far more notice for a wedding...especially if the wedding is so close to a major holiday. His wife was TWO HOURS LATE for the ceremony which was terrible for obvious reasons. After that, guests had to wait over an hour for dinner and the wedding was on a Sunday. My husband and I finally had enough and left. Who the hell has such long delays at a wedding when people have to work the next day? 

NoneForUs

Jen4948 said:

Well, at my brother's wedding, I think the reception was supposed to start immediately with cocktails and appetizers for the guests while the families and wedding party took photos, but due to an error on the venue's part, they didn't have things ready to go for something like an hour after the ceremony was over (it was in a different part of the venue), so everyone had to stand around in a cramped area waiting for the venue staff to get the reception area started. It wasn't ready to start even after all the photos were taken. Now as far as I know this was a venue error, it wasn't planned to happen that way, but still... Same wedding: it was also the birthday of a great-aunt on my mom's side who buttonholed my dad at the reception and asked for a cupcake with a lit candle to be served to her so everyone could sing "Happy Birthday" to her. My dad is generally a pushover and I think he agreed to it out of surprise. He and my mom might have prearranged it with my brother and SIL if they'd known about it sooner. But anyhow, my dad, as FOG, immediately after she requested this, got buttonholed by other people wanting this and that so he forgot about the request and it didn't happen. The great-aunt in question was the second wife of my great-uncle and stepmother of his children (he was a loved and deeply respected member of our family) and she felt insecure in the family. She did have a reputation for being pushy and she wasn't very popular. In any case, she took very personally not getting the cupcake and assumed it was a deliberate slight against her, and left a really nasty message about it on my mom's sister's answering machine. At my cousin's wedding, his mother was talking on her cell phone during the recessional and apparently took the call before the ceremony was over.

A couple cannot prevent unforeseen venue errors but a bride can certainly refrain from being extremely tardy. Guests also had to wait 1.5 hours for the reception to start because of the obligatory pictures. We heard the food was awful because it had to be reheated several times. 

charcoalandblush

Most weddings I've been to have been a partial cash bar (the cheapest beer free and everything else cash, usually). One was a cash bar for everyone except open bar for the wedding party.

I've only been to one wedding where WP dates were seated at the head table. Most weddings I've been to had the dates at random tables. At FSIL's wedding DF was a groomsman and I was the "personal attendant." He was at the head table and I was between the pastor and her husband and two of DF/FSIL's second cousins (none of which I had ever met before that day).

At one of my BFF's weddings the ceremony and reception were both outdoors with no contingency plans. Luckily the weather was beautiful. Almost as bad - there were only about 10 chairs for the ceremony (for the old people and the bride & grooms parents, basically). Everyone else (~80 people) had to stand for an hour or more, depending on when they got there. There was no sound system, so people could barely hear anything (I was 3 people away from the bride and still barely heard the vows).

In college I was invited to a shower and not to the wedding. I've also been invited to multiple showers (3+) for the same person for at least two weddings.

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226

kinney0515 said:

One of the weddings I went to was for a friend of mine who is quite Christian.  She had just met her fiancé 6 months earlier and they got engaged after like 4 months and married 2 months later (I will say- they've been together 4 years now- and seem to be a really good match and very happy).

The groom, who I generally like but thought this was in very poor taste, spent all of the wedding telling everyone they didn't want to stay too long- because he wanted to rush to the hotel for their first go at "hippity dippity".  He used that term the entire time over and over again- I swear.  The bride, my friend, would just laugh along with him as if it was cute.  

It was like a 3 hour wedding- a long church ceremony- and then very casual buffet food in the church hall area.  The entire time though- the groom kept laughing about how they were planning on getting out of there as soon as possible.  I thought it was so rude- and was honestly pissed that I had taken the Saturday off of work (a very important job I had to turn down) to go to a 3 hour wedding that they clearly didn't even want to be at.  

For the record- he spent the next 6 months on FB always making statuses like, "Date night with my wife.... then home for some hippity dippity!"  I can say 4 years later- he's completely stopped- and is a bit more tolerable to follow on FB.

Ew, that is so gross!

kinney0515

hicoco said:

kinney0515 said:

One of the weddings I went to was for a friend of mine who is quite Christian.  She had just met her fiancé 6 months earlier and they got engaged after like 4 months and married 2 months later (I will say- they've been together 4 years now- and seem to be a really good match and very happy).

The groom, who I generally like but thought this was in very poor taste, spent all of the wedding telling everyone they didn't want to stay too long- because he wanted to rush to the hotel for their first go at "hippity dippity".  He used that term the entire time over and over again- I swear.  The bride, my friend, would just laugh along with him as if it was cute.  

It was like a 3 hour wedding- a long church ceremony- and then very casual buffet food in the church hall area.  The entire time though- the groom kept laughing about how they were planning on getting out of there as soon as possible.  I thought it was so rude- and was honestly pissed that I had taken the Saturday off of work (a very important job I had to turn down) to go to a 3 hour wedding that they clearly didn't even want to be at.  

For the record- he spent the next 6 months on FB always making statuses like, "Date night with my wife.... then home for some hippity dippity!"  I can say 4 years later- he's completely stopped- and is a bit more tolerable to follow on FB.

Ew, that is so gross!

 Is it not?!?! I was throwing up in my mouth on and off the whole wedding.

short+sassy

hicoco said:

thisismynickname said:

short+sassy said:

One of my biggest wedding pet peeves...and I'm not even a guest for this one...is couples who hire the police department to escort and stop traffic in all directions...including the entire freeway (one side) sometimes...while the wedding guests are traveling from the ceremony site to the reception site.  It's not necessary, it's rude, and it is very dangerous.  So just STOP IT!!!  I realize this is region-specific and, fortunately, in most cities this kind of ridiculousness is not done or allowed.        

Holy fuck no. I've never seen this and people get bent out of shape when POTUS ties up traffic. A holier-than-thou wedded couple would get shot. And no, I'm probably not exaggerating for my city when I say they'd probably get shot. 

Only funerals and POTUS get an escort. 

Do you live in Chicago??

Nope, New Orleans.  Is the blocking traffic for weddings a Chicago thing also?

short+sassy

db1984 said:

ohannabelle said:

short+sassy said:

jenna8984 said:

3rd wedding- 2 hour long Catholic Mass (no offense to anyone but that's torturous to non-Catholic me) then a 3 hour gap. We didn't know where to go and googled a random bar nearby.

SIB:

It definitely wasn't a "worst" wedding.  But the long Catholic Mass portion was a big fail for me for two reasons (neither one the couple's fault).

1) My Catholic b/f (at the time) should have warned me there would be a mass.  I had never been to a wedding that had one.  There I was, expecting the ceremony to be about wrapped up, when all of a sudden the priest starts going into sermon mode.  In my mind, I was like, "What?  WTF?  What is happening?"

2) To the priest.  Here's an idea, when you are orating a mass for a wedding, give just a touch of thought to the fact that a good portion of your audience might be Protestant or not Christian at all.  Your entire sermon was about the eucharist, a very Catholic-specific term.  It took me 20 minutes to figure out WHAT you were even talking about.  For other Christians, it is the same thing as communion.  For non-Christians, it is a Christian rite celebrating the body and blood of Christ that was given for us, usually using red wine/grape juice and bread/host.  Extra snark: Do you see how quickly I explained that?

One of my biggest wedding pet peeves...and I'm not even a guest for this one...is couples who hire the police department to escort and stop traffic in all directions...including the entire freeway (one side) sometimes...while the wedding guests are traveling from the ceremony site to the reception site.  It's not necessary, it's rude, and it is very dangerous.  So just STOP IT!!!  I realize this is region-specific and, fortunately, in most cities this kind of ridiculousness is not done or allowed.        

Here's a better idea: understand what you're asking, here, with your "suggestions."

A priest isn't allowed to change the rituals or traditions of mass or the sacraments of marriage to accommodate possible visitors. It doesn't go like that. The traditions and rituals are not optional. You don't wing it. No leaving parts out or changing things for your convenience.

You really really seriously can't possibly think that anyone should change the most sacred and holy rites of their religious traditions because visitors might not "get it?" Seriously? You're griping because a priest used a Catholic term in a Catholic ceremony in a Catholic Church? Give just "a touch of thought" to that.

Priests aren't there to entertain an "audience."  That isn't what it's about. You wouldn't go to a Jewish ceremony and whine about people speaking Hebrew but you don't, or go to a Greek Orthodox ceremony and complain that you didn't get the rituals, so they should change them to be more accommodating to Protestants or whatever to please you?

Here's a better idea. Before I go to another person's church, I do a little research and read up on what to expect and what I might be participating in. Ten minutes on Google, you should be good.

There are many many many things at weddings to snark about, but other people's religious traditions aren't one of them. 

Sorry, but this whole thing just sounded entitled. Everybody should change their religious traditions for me, because I didn't get it. 

Nope. 

1)  He may not have known it was going to be a full Nuptial Mass.  It is possible to be married in the Catholic Church without a full Mass.

2) No, it's not the same as communion in other Christian churches.  We Catholics believe that the wine and Host are actually the Blood and Body of Christ.  This is why no one is allowed to partake unless they are practicing Catholics in a state of grace.

You're right, db1984.  It is one of the big differences between Catholics/Greek Orthodox and Protestants.  Is it not ever called communion in Catholicism?  I assumed it was called both.  If not, I am little more understanding why the priest may not have thought to explain it better.  Though it would still have been really helpful for him to have said something like, "similar to communion".

@Jenna8984, although in a later post you said you knew what I was talking about in regard to it being about the sermon...not the rite itself.  But then the above post, it doesn't seem like you did.  I'm not saying that at all to be snarky, just wanted to make it very clear that I most certainly don't expect a church/synagogue/temple to change their rites or traditions because people not of that particular tradition/faith will be in the audience.  For example, I didn't complain (nor did it bother me) that some of the service was in Latin because...like your Hebrew being spoken in a temple example...that is a revered and long standing part of the Catholic tradition.

No, a sermon is not necessarily for "entertainment", but it is meant to inform and give the audience a greater understanding of God's word.  I was merely saying it would have been a courtesy and a real nicety to have been given some context at the beginning of the sermon, so that non-Catholics could have also received the message and nuances of what the Priest was saying.  I certainly wouldn't expect that for a normal Mass, but for Masses where a good chunk of the audience might not be Catholic or even Christain, a little helpful explanation can go a long way.  I have seen that done at other services.

And now that I have taken the original posting way off subject!  I just wanted to apologize if my post came off anti-Catholic.  Those are not my feelings nor was that at all my intent.  I was merely relaying the annoyance I had at the time for how the sermon...and just the sermon itself...was handled.  And, re-reading it now, more harshly than I should have.

Epiphany.  I actually just realized why it made me so upset when it should have, at best, irked me only a little.  I had my religion constantly belittled by that b/f's mother, so it just felt like more icing on the cake that "non-Catholics are wrong and don't matter".  Although I know logically that was her attitude...not the priest's...I still (irrationally) feel that way about the sermon.

short+sassy

ohannabelle said:

I just don't think it's okay to snark on religion. 

I apologize if I sounded snappy, but I don't think anybody's religious practices or beliefs should be on a thread of faux pas, mistakes, and things that were wrong. I think it's just wrong.

 If I wasn't a cranky old overtired broad with a backache I might have actually said it diplomatically, instead of getting all crankypants on the post, and should have known an uncomfortable conversation would follow. For that, I apologize.

It's one thing to say, damn, that Mass was long, or I was completely lost during the parts that were in Hindustani, or whatever unfamiliar religious service. 

It was the "maybe just think about it and get a clue" tone that irked me. Not that the service was long and unfamiliar. No non Catholic (myself included) could possibly understand all the five bajillion layers of symbolism and tradition and law of the Catholic Church. If we start with semantics, we could be here twenty years, and probably still need additional reading material. Though it's really really interesting and a huge part of religious history.  Fascinating. Which isn't the point. 

I'm not obligated to fully understand it, I am obligated not to criticize what I don't understand, and to be respectful.

That was the point. That was what my post should have said. Just that. 

 I would feel the same if the snark towards the officiant, and how he needed to clue in, was directed at a Wiccan, or a fundamentalist Baptist, or a Sikh or a Buddhist. Or even a Unitarian. 

Just please no to religious snarks. 

I stand by the majority of what I wrote, but I totally agree with this and apologize.  I'm not going to lie, it was my exact thought at the time, but was an inappropriate thing to write in an open forum.

I apologize again to anyone I may have offended.  It was definitely an unnecessary snark about a sensitive subject.

I definitely try to make my posts both informative and helpful.  But that portion of it was regrettable and a big fail on my part.

thisismynickname2

short+sassy said:

hicoco said:

thisismynickname said:

short+sassy said:

One of my biggest wedding pet peeves...and I'm not even a guest for this one...is couples who hire the police department to escort and stop traffic in all directions...including the entire freeway (one side) sometimes...while the wedding guests are traveling from the ceremony site to the reception site.  It's not necessary, it's rude, and it is very dangerous.  So just STOP IT!!!  I realize this is region-specific and, fortunately, in most cities this kind of ridiculousness is not done or allowed.        

Holy fuck no. I've never seen this and people get bent out of shape when POTUS ties up traffic. A holier-than-thou wedded couple would get shot. And no, I'm probably not exaggerating for my city when I say they'd probably get shot. 

Only funerals and POTUS get an escort. 

Do you live in Chicago??

Nope, New Orleans.  Is the blocking traffic for weddings a Chicago thing also?

I'm in Chicago, yes, and had never heard of blocking traffic for a wedding party. My initial impression of what was being described was more akin to POTUS than what was later clarified. I still think it's gross to treat a wedding party procession like a funeral procession though. 

short+sassy

kinney0515 said:

One of the weddings I went to was for a friend of mine who is quite Christian.  She had just met her fiancé 6 months earlier and they got engaged after like 4 months and married 2 months later (I will say- they've been together 4 years now- and seem to be a really good match and very happy).

The groom, who I generally like but thought this was in very poor taste, spent all of the wedding telling everyone they didn't want to stay too long- because he wanted to rush to the hotel for their first go at "hippity dippity".  He used that term the entire time over and over again- I swear.  The bride, my friend, would just laugh along with him as if it was cute.  

It was like a 3 hour wedding- a long church ceremony- and then very casual buffet food in the church hall area.  The entire time though- the groom kept laughing about how they were planning on getting out of there as soon as possible.  I thought it was so rude- and was honestly pissed that I had taken the Saturday off of work (a very important job I had to turn down) to go to a 3 hour wedding that they clearly didn't even want to be at.  

For the record- he spent the next 6 months on FB always making statuses like, "Date night with my wife.... then home for some hippity dippity!"  I can say 4 years later- he's completely stopped- and is a bit more tolerable to follow on FB.

Mortifying!  I would just be cringing if I was the bride.

Albeit a reality show, in that "90 Day Fiance" show, there was one couple who were waiting until they were married to have sex.  They were cool about it, but their friends and family would not SHUT UP about it.  It was included in the Best Man's speech.  The groom's sister was peppering the bride-to-be with questions about her "future plans" with the brother.  Talking about her brother!?!  I wanted to be the bride just for that moment and say, with a puzzled look, "I'm sorry, but why is that your concern?  I like to keep sex life and future sex life private.  Thanks."

majorkira

hicoco said:

majorkira said:

I went to a wedding that was supposed to go from 1pm to 1am but all they had was cake. No booze, no snacks, nothing. And then they were surprised that people left early and no one danced? The strangest part is that they had a seating chart and place settings and everything set up to look like there would be a plated meal when there was none. So we all sat down and waited...and waited...and waited and then the Mother of the bride informed everyone no food was coming.

Did you ever find out why they didn't serve food? For an all day event that seems strange to me.

No budget for it. The rumor is they ran out of $$ but the bride wanted photographs of a formal sit down dinner. This girl was waaaaaay into her wedding being pinterest-able

NoneForUs

kinney0515 said:

One of the weddings I went to was for a friend of mine who is quite Christian.  She had just met her fiancé 6 months earlier and they got engaged after like 4 months and married 2 months later (I will say- they've been together 4 years now- and seem to be a really good match and very happy).

The groom, who I generally like but thought this was in very poor taste, spent all of the wedding telling everyone they didn't want to stay too long- because he wanted to rush to the hotel for their first go at "hippity dippity".  He used that term the entire time over and over again- I swear.  The bride, my friend, would just laugh along with him as if it was cute.  

It was like a 3 hour wedding- a long church ceremony- and then very casual buffet food in the church hall area.  The entire time though- the groom kept laughing about how they were planning on getting out of there as soon as possible.  I thought it was so rude- and was honestly pissed that I had taken the Saturday off of work (a very important job I had to turn down) to go to a 3 hour wedding that they clearly didn't even want to be at.  

For the record- he spent the next 6 months on FB always making statuses like, "Date night with my wife.... then home for some hippity dippity!"  I can say 4 years later- he's completely stopped- and is a bit more tolerable to follow on FB.

speakeasy14

majorkira said:

hicoco said:

majorkira said:

I went to a wedding that was supposed to go from 1pm to 1am but all they had was cake. No booze, no snacks, nothing. And then they were surprised that people left early and no one danced? The strangest part is that they had a seating chart and place settings and everything set up to look like there would be a plated meal when there was none. So we all sat down and waited...and waited...and waited and then the Mother of the bride informed everyone no food was coming.

Did you ever find out why they didn't serve food? For an all day event that seems strange to me.

No budget for it. The rumor is they ran out of $$ but the bride wanted photographs of a formal sit down dinner. This girl was waaaaaay into her wedding being pinterest-able

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226

@short+sassy, I live in Chicago and when POTUS comes back to his house, it's always a huge mess, road blocks, his neighborhood closed off, etc so that's why I was wondering! @thisismynickname can attest to that, I'm sure

thisismynickname2

hicoco said:

@short+sassy, I live in Chicago and when POTUS comes back to his house, it's always a huge mess, road blocks, his neighborhood closed off, etc so that's why I was wondering! @thisismynickname can attest to that, I'm sure

Yup!

I just give up trying to go home from work at rush hour. I go out to eat downtown and wait out the mess. 

short+sassy

hicoco said:

@short+sassy, I live in Chicago and when POTUS comes back to his house, it's always a huge mess, road blocks, his neighborhood closed off, etc so that's why I was wondering! @thisismynickname can attest to that, I'm sure

Oh my!  I wasn't even connecting the dots that Chicago is where his home is.  Could you imagine having a home on the same street with him?  Total nightmare.

I'm lucky that NOLA isn't exactly the hot bed of high stakes politics, so we only get a POTUS visit about once per term.

In my neck of the woods, the son of the guy who started Popeye's chicken used to have a huge and crazy X-mas display every year.  There would be lines of cars every night criss-crossing through his residential neighborhood.  One of our clients was his neighbor on the same street and he would rent a short-term apartment for the month of December just to have somewhere else to go!

wrigleyville

short+sassy said:

hicoco said:

thisismynickname said:

short+sassy said:

One of my biggest wedding pet peeves...and I'm not even a guest for this one...is couples who hire the police department to escort and stop traffic in all directions...including the entire freeway (one side) sometimes...while the wedding guests are traveling from the ceremony site to the reception site.  It's not necessary, it's rude, and it is very dangerous.  So just STOP IT!!!  I realize this is region-specific and, fortunately, in most cities this kind of ridiculousness is not done or allowed.        

Holy fuck no. I've never seen this and people get bent out of shape when POTUS ties up traffic. A holier-than-thou wedded couple would get shot. And no, I'm probably not exaggerating for my city when I say they'd probably get shot. 

Only funerals and POTUS get an escort. 

Do you live in Chicago??

Nope, New Orleans.  Is the blocking traffic for weddings a Chicago thing also?

No, the shooting people thing is.

hellohkb

I have a story that I was just reminded of when I was looking through old threads on Invites and Paper.

The invitation FH and I received for a summer wedding said "begins promptly at 5pm". I assumed by the invite that they would be on time and that we should get there a little bit early, especially since we had no idea where the venue was. I did not want to risk being lately to this wedding that was going to start promptly! Well, we got there a little early and were one of the first guests to arrive. More and more guests start showing up. 4pm comes and goes. All the guests are forced to wait outside in the sweltering July heat (it was almost in the 90s) and no one is allowed inside except for the bride, the moms, and BMs. Poor groomsmen were wearing full suits with jackets with sweat POURING down their faces. Guess when the ceremony started? Over an hour after the invite said it would. So much for being prompt.

There also weren't enough chairs and people had to stand during the ceremony, which took place outside. Bride made the very long and dramatic vows all about her and her life story. Barely mentioned the groom at all. After the ceremony during the cocktail hour which was ALSO outside there were maybe 3 benches to sit on. Couple didn't do a receiving line or go around talking to the tables. Speeches took a VERY long time. Never received a thank you note. 

Lurkers: Never put "promptly" anywhere on an invitation. If something were to come up for any reason and you were even two minutes late, I would be internally laughing in a very snarky manner. If you're that worried about late guests, have the doors locked so no one can walk in mid-ceremony.

princessgracekelly

short+sassy said:

 

One of my biggest wedding pet peeves...and I'm not even a guest for this one...is couples who hire the police department to escort and stop traffic in all directions...including the entire freeway (one side) sometimes...while the wedding guests are traveling from the ceremony site to the reception site.  It's not necessary, it's rude, and it is very dangerous.  So just STOP IT!!!  I realize this is region-specific and, fortunately, in most cities this kind of ridiculousness is not done or allowed.        

Oof. I was flipping through a bridal magazine and I saw a picture of a bridal party walking in a V-formation in the middle of a busy downtown Atlanta street that, I assume, they had hired the police to temporarily close off. Closing off streets for a marathon is one thing, closing them off for your wedding is another. The world ain't gonna stop turning just because it's your ~*special day*~

shellabells

I was a bridesmaid in a wedding where there were not enough seats for everyone at the rehearsal dinner. It's not that the venue screwed up, or more people showed up than they expected - they knew there wouldn't be enough seats, but just thought it was no big deal if some people had to eat standing up. 

emanon321

The last two weddings I've been to the guests had to pick up the trash, put away the tables and chairs, etc. Yuck.

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226

emanon321 said:

The last two weddings I've been to the guests had to pick up the trash, put away the tables and chairs, etc. Yuck.

I was in a close friend's wedding in May and the couple was responsible for clearing all the centerpieces, favors, etc. That turned in to the bridal party helping along with whoever else was still left. I dropped a candle and broke it and my friend was NOT pleased.

blueeyedkat

I went to a dinner reception for a wedding. The couple threw this together on FAcebook, calling it a No Host Dinner Wedding. I had to google what that was! Ceremony was 2 blocks away at a park, and their friend married them, I was 5 min late (horrible traffic) and the ceremony was already over. On to the steak and seafood restaurant we go, only to find out that even though you had to pay for your own dinner, it was prix fixed, at $40/person, and then whatever the entire group/party drank for alcohol, would be added to main bill an split per guest. Bride's family started boozing it up, my SO and I tailed it out of there. Cheap and tacky wedding and reception. It threw most of the guests that weren't immediate family for a loop.

charcoalandblush

blueeyedkat said:

I went to a dinner reception for a wedding. The couple threw this together on FAcebook, calling it a No Host Dinner Wedding. I had to google what that was! Ceremony was 2 blocks away at a park, and their friend married them, I was 5 min late (horrible traffic) and the ceremony was already over. On to the steak and seafood restaurant we go, only to find out that even though you had to pay for your own dinner, it was prix fixed, at $40/person, and then whatever the entire group/party drank for alcohol, would be added to main bill an split per guest. Bride's family started boozing it up, my SO and I tailed it out of there. Cheap and tacky wedding and reception. It threw most of the guests that weren't immediate family for a loop.

I also had to google this. What in the actual hell?

peachy13

Pretty much 85% of the weddings I've been to have had a cash bar. It's seriously at the point where when I mention we're doing an open bar, people usually give me a look as if I was telling them we're having an elephant as an officiant. Actually, before coming on TK I didn't know a cash bar was considered rude. I always wanted an open bar at my wedding someday so that everyone would have a good time and let loose, but I'm obviously also happy that it's the polite thing to do. 

adettma32

peachy13 said:

Pretty much 85% of the weddings I've been to have had a cash bar. It's seriously at the point where when I mention we're doing an open bar, people usually give me a look as if I was telling them we're having an elephant as an officiant. Actually, before coming on TK I didn't know a cash bar was considered rude. I always wanted an open bar at my wedding someday so that everyone would have a good time and let loose, but I'm obviously also happy that it's the polite thing to do. 

Same here, @peachy13! I always joked that I was going to have an "open bar with a wedding on the side" because I wanted to make the reception part of the day about taking care of our guests and encouraging them to have free fun and I didn't realize at the time that a cash bar wasn't proper hosting.