People Who Witnessed Interrupted Weddings Describe Their Experience
When you attend a wedding, you expect to see two lovebirds being bound together forever. You don’t expect the entire occasion to hit a speed bump with an interruption. These Redditors talk about the wildest interruptions they’ve seen (or taken part in) at a wedding. From the typical shouting to some uninvited guests, the couples and attendees will probably never forget these moments.
Fishing for Trouble
My husband and I got married in a public park near a bay that we grew up fishing in. Mid-ceremony, a little fishing boat motors on by with two guys in it. They’re probably about 80 yards away, holding beers. One says “Look, it’s a wedding.”
About a minute later, the other yells, “SHE DON’T EVEN LIKE YOU!” My mother-in-law yells back, “DON’T MAKE ME CUT YOU AT MY SON’S WEDDING.” Forever immortalized in my wedding video. That’s what I get for having a wedding in a public area.
It’s Time to Duel
When my neighbors got married, they had a semi pirate-themed wedding on a tall ship anchored in the harbor. They had met in fencing class and are also some of the most eccentric people I’ve ever met.
When the officiant asked the question, one of their fencing buddies stood up and yelled that the bride deserved better, and the groom was nothing but a swashbuckling good-for-nothing. So the groom challenged him to a duel, they fenced their way up the aisle and the groom threw him over the edge of the boat. They’ve been just as entertaining to live next door to ever since.
Take the Money and Run
My best friend, on the morning before his wedding, has his crazy uncle (you know, that one black sheep uncle that everybody seems to have) show up at his door. “You don’t have to do this. We’re a two-hour drive from Mexico. Here’s the keys to my car. The tank is full, and here’s $10,000 in cash.” My buddy laughs and closes the door on him.
Later, during this very fancy, very prim and proper Catholic wedding, it comes to the “anybody here” part. Immediately, that uncle stands up in the pew in the back, starts rattling his car keys as loudly as he can and yells “TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, BOY!”
Talk the Talk
The priest almost sounded like he was objecting during my sister-in-law’s wedding. When he got to the “If anyone wants to oppose…” part, he started talking about how normally the bride and groom would have come to a meeting with him prior to the ceremony, where he would ensure that there were no reservations, but this couple was too busy. So it was the first time he was unsure if they were going to last. He went on for several minutes about it during the middle of the ceremony.
Running Off With True Love
I was at a Hindu wedding. It was a three-hour ceremony that happened on a stage and there were 500 guests. At some point a group of young guys walked to the front of the hall. The bride walked off the stage and left through the side of the hall with the group of guys. The priest carried on chanting and with the ceremony.
The guests assumed everything was going on as per normal for the next 15 minutes. After that there were some sudden side conversations between parents, the priest, the groom, etc. It turns out that the bride-to-be left with her boyfriend. The marriage to the groom was arranged and the boyfriend was someone that the father did not like. The last I heard was that the boyfriend and the bride were still together.
What Was in Those Bagels?
My favorite was a wedding I went to for a friend where, when they asked this question, the father of the bride unloaded a fart that echoed off the church bench so loudly that everyone stopped and just looked at him.
The bride started laughing so hard that her face turned bright red and she had to sit down — 10 minutes of her laughing so hard she didn’t make a sound while the rest of the church laughed. Finally the dad stands up and says, “Look, I had a bagel this morning. It didn’t sit well.” The mother of the bride hit him but laughed and everyone laughed again. It was probably the best wedding I have ever seen.
Family Feud
At my cousin’s wedding, it was a full-on, two-hour-long Catholic affair with hymns, blessings, verse readings, etc. The priest asked the question and my cousin’s brother stood up, adjusted his shirt, stared at my cousin getting married for what felt like forever, grinned and then slowly sat down.
My cousin getting married went completely insane, ran down from the altar and socked him right in the nose, screaming, “WHY DO YOU HAVE TO RUIN EVERYTHING?!” And that’s how I was a part of a mass brawl.
Make More Room at the Dinner Table
The priest who was going to conduct my wedding ceremony discussed this with us. Of all the other clergy he knows, he knew only one person who had someone object at a wedding they were running.
In that case, it turned out that the groom had an unacknowledged child. The person objecting was the mother. She went to the back of the church with the groom, bride and priest to discuss the issue. The wedding was postponed.
Take a Bite out of Marriage
In two years of working at a wedding/banquet facility, I’ve only seen this happen once. Basically, as soon as the priest asked if anyone had a reason, the groom’s mother decided to take it as her chance to inform the entire congregation that her soon-to-be daughter-in-law wasn’t good enough for her son, and that she didn’t think he should settle for her. During all this, the best man came over to where a group of employees was standing, ready to usher people into the cocktail hour room. He asked us to remove the mother from the wedding. She bit two of us and elbowed another on her way out.
Mother Nature Tried Warning Them
The best one I have ever witnessed came at my best friend’s wedding. None of us really liked the woman he was marrying, but at that point we had all just decided to let him do it because he wasn’t listening to us anyway.
We got to the day of the wedding and we were all standing there watching (I was the best man). The preacher got to the part about “Speak now or forever hold your peace…” and at that moment lightning struck outside and knocked the power out with a large BOOM. We all stood there in stunned silence for a moment and asked him if that was proof enough for him. It wasn’t, and he married her anyway. They were divorced within a few years.
Harsh Words From Strangers
I got married on a very busy bridge with a lot of foot traffic. It was just me, my husband, the officiant and three friends. The officiant got to the “speak now” part and a ton of passers-by shouted “DON’T DO IT!” We did it anyway.
The Pain Is Still Fresh
A friend of mine in college had been seeing my wife before we got together. He was never too happy about that and wasn’t quiet about his disappointment that she broke up with him.
He was my roommate for a few years, so of course we invited him to the wedding. When the minister got to the “speak now” part, most of the people in the room turned around and looked at Steve. He raised his hands in a “Who, me?” gesture and said ‘What?” Luckily, it wasn’t more interesting than that, and he’s a good guy so no hard feelings.
Best Seat in the House
I went to a wedding where we all thought we were going to witness someone object. But instead, we were guests to the most uncomfortably, wonderfully, awkward event.
I was just the date of a friend, so I didn’t really know anyone there. It was an outdoor ceremony and we were all sitting in cheap sort of plastic white folding chairs. But it was a wonderful ceremony, and everything was going great.
Then the preacher fellow gets to the “speak now” part, and there is an audible squeak. Then dead silence. Everyone turns their heads and in the back corner there is a young man, half standing, frozen in awkwardness.
He mumbles, “Uh, the uh…chair… It’s broken… I was just adjusting…” You could see the color drain from his face. And then he just slowly sat back down in his broken, half-collapsed chair. His bottom was only about 6 inches off the grass. He sat that way for the rest of the ceremony.
Giving Birth to a Prank
My friend was getting married and she had a ton of guy friends who all said they were going to stand up and say they were carrying her love child. Well, the hubby-to-be thought that would be too embarrassing, but one guy friend’s wife was very preggo. So they all decided she would do it alone. They got their pastor in on it (also a guy friend of the bride). Many lols were had, and the bride still laughs about it.
Can’t Trip Over Those Laces
My first cousin got married just last month. It was supposed to be a very simple wedding with only the immediate family in a small church. However, it quickly morphed into a full-scale wedding. Nearly 120 people, a massive church building the likes of which I’ve never seen, a catering service — the whole shebang. The one to “speak now” was her father. I expected it to happen, since he’s been a phenomenal practical jokester for as long as I can remember.
As the words leading up to “speak now” were being uttered, I could see her and my aunt shooting their deathly gazes at my uncle, and then there was an almost dastardly grin creep across his face. As the preacher spoke the words “Speak now, or forever hold your peace,” he stood up, turned around (gasps ensued all throughout the church), bent over and tied his shoe. He stood up tall and proud, and simply said, “I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” Absolutely priceless.
Interrupted by a Bird Brawl
We got married at the zoo, and during the ceremony two macaws alighted on a tree above a pool that was right beside us. As we said our vows, they decided to duke it out for top macaw in the flock, I guess. They started vocalizing and headbutting and generally loudly carrying on.
The preacher just kept going (I guess he’d heard worse), but when he got to the “…or forever hold your peace” part, one of the macaws rotated around the branch until it was hanging upside down, and then SLOWLY let go. We’re talking one claw at a time. The upside-down macaw fell off and down into the pool 10 feet below with a huge splash.
The remaining macaw proceeded to do what can only be described as a victory dance, hopping up and down on one leg and then the other whilst squawking at the top of its lungs.
Here Comes a New Challenger
I was at a wedding once when a girl hiding in the curtains popped out when the officiant said “speak now…” She said, “Don’t say yes. Run away now. I’ll meet you when you’re out of the church at the back door.” Everyone had horrified looks on their faces because no one knew who she was. She was escorted out of the church and the wedding continued.
Dropping Some Truth
At one wedding, the bride’s mother stood up and objected. She said, “I love you, [groom], and I don’t want anyone else as a son-in-law. But my daughter is exactly like me, and I wouldn’t be able to let this wedding continue if I didn’t warn you about the mess we make out of the lives of people we love. Make sure you want this.” Then she sat back down.
Who Knew Poetry Could Lead to This?
When I was about 11 or 12, my cousin, in her 30s, had recently been divorced and was getting married again. Her friend stood up and recited a poem as part of the celebrations, and the ceremony was about to begin. The groom stood at the altar, watching as the bride walked down the aisle in white. (She had two kids. I don’t know if that’s irony or what.) She reached the altar and joined the groom. Just as the minister began to speak, my uncle (let’s call him Moose; it’s his nickname) stepped forward, bible in hand, and pointed to my cousin, shouting, “This woman should not be married! She has a husband who is still alive (just barely; he was dying of lung cancer) and —”
At this point, he was cut off by the angry mob (technically, it was three guys, but, hey, two’s company, three’s a mob) that began to remove him from the room. “Don’t push me!” he shouted. “Push him down the stairs!” shouted someone else.
As my cousin ran back up the aisle, crying, the others were quickly trying to keep order. Eventually, order was maintained and they started again. They asked the woman to recite her poem again, and she began with, “Perhaps you’ve heard this one before.”
Blundering Priest
I got married one month ago. The priest was very old, like in his 80s, and started misspelling my and my fiance’s names. We started to be very nervous because of the mistakes done by the priest, and in the part where we said vows and accepted each other as wife/husband, the priest asked me to do it twice. He never asked my fiance to do it and continued with the celebration.
Suddenly, an uncle of my fiance stood up and said, “Priest! Wait! She hasn’t said her vows, and you are misspelling their names. They are not getting married correctly to God’s eyes. Please start again!” It felt like being in a soap opera. The priest was very embarrassed and asked us if that was true. We said it was correct. With a face full of confusion, he did the ceremony again.
Celebrity Anguish
I was working at a wedding in Auckland (NZ). A Kiwi celebrity was getting married, and the venue was jam-packed with the “who’s who” of Hobbit-land. Everyone was standing for the ceremony. The room was quiet until what sounded like someone struggling to breathe turned into all-out sobbing. Then, when the celebrant asked The Question, it culminated in this woman crying and screaming hysterically, “Because I still love you! I still love you! How can you do this to me?”
Awkward. No one really knew what to do. The celebrant continued, and then she started again. Thank goodness someone had the mind to escort her out. She tried to stay, but a few others stepped in also. The ceremony continued, with the sound of faint/distant screams of despair outside. Thankfully the press weren’t allowed inside.
They’re Waffly Versatile
I was at the wedding of a close work friend. It was a beautiful wedding; everyone was very happy. There were lots of cute young bridesmaids who were wearing lovely two-piece outfits (a top and a skirt) but together they looked like a dress. One of the girls (about 3 years old) kept running out into the aisle in the church and lifting up her skirt. Her parents, bless them, were quietly trying to make her stop doing this and sit back down. They were successful for a bit.
When it got to the all-important “speak now or forever hold your peace” section, the girl slipped out of her parents’ grasp, ran into the aisle, pulled up her top, stuck her belly out and yelled, “WAFFLES!” The entire church cracked up into hysterics, bride and groom included. What’s best is that it was all being video recorded, and the photographer managed to get a photo of it happening. The girl is about 8 now, and they are saving the evidence for her wedding/21st birthday party!
Stand in the Place Where You Are
I was at a beach wedding. The officiant was using a small microphone/speaker setup but (a) it was set too low and (b) the wind was blowing pretty hard so it was difficult for everyone to hear her.
So at the beginning of the ceremony she asked everyone to stand and she went into her speech. And yeah, it dragged on a little bit. So after four or five minutes with everyone still on their feet, she got to “and if anyone has any objections, let them speak now or forever hold their peace…” In the silence that followed, one woman’s shrill voice rang out from the crowd: “Can we sit down now?”
Heads or Tails?
Our groomsmen stopped the wedding during the whole “does anyone object?” portion. During this time they huddled up and flipped a coin, and gave me the go-ahead. My wife loved it, as she said, “Wouldn’t have expected less from y’all!”
Though during the huddle we had time to realize the maid of honor left my ring in the back. I tossed her my graduation ring while people were distracted. Good times.
Sneaky 911 Call
The bride’s nosy sister couldn’t keep her mouth shut. So during the thing, the bride’s dad accidentally set down his chair on my foot. He just speared me with it, and he’s a heavy dude. So I was thinking I might have a broken foot, and I don’t mess around with that kind of thing. So my plan was to just take the pain and call an ambulance once it was all done. Sadly, the spearing had done damage and my foot started just swimming in my shoes. So, new plan. Get an ambulance right now and by the time it gets there we’ll be close enough to be done that I can sneak out.
So I fished my phone up to try to call medical emergency. Then the bride’s sister (sitting in front of me) went off about how I needed to put the phone away. I told her to stop drawing attention to it and to frankly shut the hell up. Then we got to the part where people could complain. She very smugly said, “Maybe Keskekun with his phone out has something to add.” So now I had to tell them I needed an ambulance and it became all about me for about 45 minutes on a day that was supposed to be all about my friend.
Pants on the Ground
The best man at a random wedding I went to interrupted the ceremony at this stage. He then pulled his pants down and told a joke while waving his butt. Fortunately, the bride, groom and eight of us at the Registry Office thought it was mildly funny.
The Priest Tried to Talk Them out of It
I attended a wedding a few years ago for a couple that no one really thought should be getting married. I can’t remember if the (very conservative) minister asked if anyone objected; what I do remember, very clearly, is how he went on at length about how “If you want to back out, now is the time!” and “Divorce isn’t an option, but walking away now is!” He must have said the word “divorce” four or five times, trying (I guess) to make the couple change their minds. They are now divorced.
Intrusive Train Horn
I was at a childhood friend’s wedding. It was out in the middle of nowhere, some small town none of us heard of beforehand. Aside from some train tracks right next to the venue, it was scenic enough. When the priest said the line, a train horn blew and passed by, and nobody could be heard over it. It took a good five minutes before the ceremony could continue.
The Wrath of Grandma
I attended my cousin’s wedding. He was getting married to a woman who was all about the money and glamour and preferred going out and drinking to taking care of the daughter they already had. But they tied the knot anyway.
As soon as the “speak now” line was spoken, my grandma made the loudest “Ha!” and mumbled something. It was well-known that Grandma didn’t like the bride one bit. The acoustics of the church didn’t help at all either; it was so loud. The bride and her mother both stared daggers while the rest of us tried to contain our laughter because it was Grandma and that’s what she does.
The next day both the bride and her mother went to my grandma’s house uninvited and they had a verbal brawl. Someone got shoved out the door and a pot was broken. The silly woman left my cousin two years later. Good riddance.
Learning Objection Early
My godson objected at my wedding. He screamed “Nooooo!” at the top of his voice once the registrar asked the question. Luckily he was only 1 at the time so we all had a good laugh and carried on. The photographer managed to get a great picture of the exact moment everyone started laughing. Poor little bugger.
