When C was a baby my cousin got married and only invited her immediate family to the ceremony and everyone to the reception afterwards. She told me to go ahead and come to the ceremony since my mom was officiating and she wanted to make sure I had a DD.
It was at a brewery another cousin invests in.
I get there with my kid and am told that I need to go hide in the back so that Corbin doesn't make any noice and ruin the ceremony. This was her second wedding and she has kids! Her niece who is a year older than C was in attendance.
Couple eloped, then decided to have a reception 3-4 months later (no big, I'm down for a party). Food was like grocery store deli sandwiches and dessert was cut up energy/protein bars. Bride/groom make the rounds telling us to be sure to stay for a "special presentation" after dinner and did we notice how awesome dessert was? Because it's the protein bars they sell through their MLM scheme!
We quickly realize what the "special presentation" is and jet out to go have a real dinner.
So yes, the entire reason they had a reception at all was to recruit people for their MLM company - they'd gotten involved with it about a month after the elopement. They also followed up with us at our house about a week later bc we had skipped the presentation at the reception!
I'm not done with the thread yet but this has to be the winner. (star)
My cousin was married by a family friend. It went okay, until he created some off-script part of the ceremony about how a man is not like Mr. Potato Head, in that you can't change him, and so if you want to change someone here is an *actual* Mr. Potato Head to change. He then handed her a Mr. Potato Head doll. Every time she tried to put it down he was like, "No, hold it up!" So all her ceremony pics have the stupid Mr. Potato Head in them.
I would be SO livid, I would have probably thrown it at him. And then of course, that story would also make it into a thread like this
Couple eloped, then decided to have a reception 3-4 months later (no big, I'm down for a party). Food was like grocery store deli sandwiches and dessert was cut up energy/protein bars. Bride/groom make the rounds telling us to be sure to stay for a "special presentation" after dinner and did we notice how awesome dessert was? Because it's the protein bars they sell through their MLM scheme!
We quickly realize what the "special presentation" is and jet out to go have a real dinner.
So yes, the entire reason they had a reception at all was to recruit people for their MLM company - they'd gotten involved with it about a month after the elopement. They also followed up with us at our house about a week later bc we had skipped the presentation at the reception!
I would say that the rudest thing we've experienced first hand is the couple who had a wedding at an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic, and put a note on the invitation that if you did not stay at that resort, you would be charged to attend the wedding. I had no interest in staying at that resort, so that was the end of "Should we go or not?" for me.
In the "(I hope) only in New York" category, we had friends who got married at a venue where the martini bar made a grand entrance during cocktail hour. It descended from the ceiling with the bartender riding in it, shaking drinks. Smoke and light effects too. This photo does not do it justice because it is almost all the way down at this point:
And the ballroom had a thing where the couple makes a grand entrance on a spinning platform that has their sweetheart table on it. One minute, there's just a wall there, then there are smoke and light effects, and then the wall spins 180 degrees revealing the couple sitting at their table. (This venue was on Four Weddings once, if this sounds familiar to any of you).
I've also been to a wedding where the couple made a grand entrance through the middle of the dance floor (there's an elevator that brings them up). If that makes no sense, here's a video of the venue (start at 2:55): www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTKO44XdwX4
I thought Russo's took cheese to a whole new level. But lowering the bartender is way worse!
I went to a dry wedding-that's fine. They didn't have dancing or anything. They auctioned off these big rose topiaries. They had the bridal party play games while we all sat and watched. A couple times the crowd got to be involved. FIL got pulled up there and had to tie panty hose with a ball at the end of the feet and swing it around to knock over stuff or move a ball or something...It was like shower games. They also did a 50-50...
There was literally nothing to drink at that point besides coffee. I was dying to drink water, or SOMETHING ELSE. But they literally had nothing besides coffee.
And the ballroom had a thing where the couple makes a grand entrance on a spinning platform that has their sweetheart table on it. One minute, there's just a wall there, then there are smoke and light effects, and then the wall spins 180 degrees revealing the couple sitting at their table. (This venue was on Four Weddings once, if this sounds familiar to any of you).
I've also been to a wedding where the couple made a grand entrance through the middle of the dance floor (there's an elevator that brings them up). If that makes no sense, here's a video of the venue (start at 2:55): www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTKO44XdwX4
LOL. My friends got married on Long Island 10+ years ago and came up through the floor with smoke and lighting. They were given the option and were like, why the fuck not? It was hysterical because they knew it was cheesy. It was also my first NJ/NY wedding - I'm from a small town in upstate NY and I was so confused during the cocktail hour because we didn't have our table assignments - I had no idea that it was not the dinner because there was SO MUCH FOOD. Super fun wedding.
I attended a wedding once where the "Little People" showed up without the B or G knowing who ordered them. They wouldn't leave and insisted on being on the middle of the dance floor for an hour. The bride was in the bathroom bawling. Turns out it was the mother of the groom.
Another wedding, in the middle of Nebraska, had a cash bar (unknown to me ahead of time but fine), except the bride and groom had given some guests tickets for free drinks and not others. So, there was like a 2-tier system where some guests got free drinks and others did not.
Post by pantsparty on Apr 21, 2015 16:10:04 GMT -5
When my cousin got married, we all had to "work" at the reception. Not passing out food, but my aunt and uncle asked everyone to bring their chairs from the ceremony site to the reception site (which was across the lawn, so it wasn't horrible, but seriously...who wants to move chairs in their dress clothes), and THEN at the end of the reception they asked everyone to BREAK DOWN THE TABLES. They had a shuttle that went back to the hotel, but the shuttle left before the clean-up crew was done. A few of my cousins actually squeezed into my uncle's car trunk to get back to the hotel because there was no other way to get back.
My aunt, the bride's mom, has always been a stickler about etiquette. When I got engaged, she sent me an article that was basically a reminder that I needed to send out thank-yous after the bridal shower and wedding. So it was even more shocking given her general attitude.
It's now become a big joke to everyone else in my family. Another one of my cousins is getting married, and I said to her, "Okay, in order to eat dinner, exactly how many tables do I need to break down?" Lolz.
The last wedding I went to was totally unejoyable. It started with the RD - fancy country club in LA. Buffet dinner, which, fine. But they chose really poorly given that there where several vegetarians in attendance and it was a Friday during lent and both sides of the family are Catholic. They served ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, and a baked potato bar. But they ran out of food after about 1/3 of the guests had gone through the buffet line. I ate crackers.
They chartered a bus to take us from the hotel to the church and then back to the hotel (catholic wedding, gap between ceremony and reception). But the bus was not big enough for all the guests. About 20 people had to call cabs at the last minute to avoid missing the ceremony.
Then on the way back, the bus dropped us off at the reception instead of at the hotel, but, it was still another hour before cocktail hour started. And cocktail hour was 1.5 hours instead of 1. They had about 30 chairs for 200 guests in the cocktail hour space, so the rest of us had to stand, me pregnant and in heels, for the full 2.5 hours, the first hour of which there was no food or drinks because it wasn't cocktail hour yet.
It got better after that - the food was good and they had tons of desserts, but I was already grumpy from standing so long during cocktail hour and didn't feel like dancing because my feet hurt.
Also, H's cousin's wedding peeved me. Super $$$$ venue in NYC, cousin and wife both financiers on Wall St. with wealthy parents, so plenty of money flying around. H and I were engaged and the time and BIL had been dating the same girl for 3 years. Neither BIL's GF nor I were invited. FIL called his brother (FOG) to clarify that it was just an oversight, to which FOG said they couldn't afford to invite any more people. Maybe they could have foregone the saxophonist who led everyone through midtown Manhattan from the church to the venue in favor of including entire couples.
I am too lazy to read all these. Can someone tag me when we get to the part where people start saying that they go to weddings to see their friends on their special day and don't need alcohol to have fun? Because we haven't done that in a while.
My personal favourite is "If you need alcohol to have fun at a wedding you're an alcoholic and need treatment immediately".
The one where the ceremony was 3 minutes long, the bride's dress didn't fit, and her stepmom had to take her screaming 2yo out in the middle. Cash bar for mostly college students, and they started carding people halfway through. The groom was in tears on the dance floor when I left.
The MOG drowned her sorrows over her son's nontraditional wedding by getting wasted and disruptive at the RD. And was hung over for the wedding. The photos were bitchy, all post ceremony photos were in an alley, and there was only vegan food starting at 9pm. I could go on but I think I hit the highlights.
The outdoor wedding where we all got a sunburn waiting for the bride to arrive, and we got Communion out of a Tupperware container.
The open bar until 8pm. My brother got 12 glasses of wine at 7:55. You can imagine how his night ended
My own. My mom and I created a really nice wedding. But my stbx and his family created such a mess of it.
Starting with my xMIL sitting at the table after dinner telling stbx, his brother, and FIL how I was a spoiled brat. You know because my parents paid for her 5 star hotel room, we got are nails all done together, and had hair appointments together. And the next day I had to sit through a family brunch with them all. And I'll I did was glare at her and silently cry. It was god awful. Stbx also left that day to spend the day with his family and I refused to go.
Also XBIL was best man. Who two years before tried to black mail us over a speeding ticket he received driving our car. He threatened to call the U.S. Embassy.
Two days before he hit me in the face with the palm of his hand in the car. While my MIL sat in the back seat. He twisted the story to make me out as the bad person.
There is a reason he is a stbx. He was a manipulative abuser. Goes to show it can take awhile for the victim to fully snap out of the cycle of abuse. Blergh. Life is much better these days.
I've been to only a few but this was one of a very close relative (you can probably figure out)...invites were a postcard, they "registered" only at one of those cash for honeymoon websites, the wedding took place in a house of a celebrities son who was a "friend" but said son did not attend. Everyone was standing around in the living room with drinks in hand like a cocktail party and the bride walks in & they say their vows in front of a JOP in about 3min. Nothing about it felt like a wedding. After ceremony Bride spent the majority of the time for next hour posing for photos with friends ala those sexy girls night out type pics. Family pics were not important at all. I had kids, my 5yr old knocked over & broke a huge vase while the photographer put her in front of it for photos. We left even before the BEst man toast...we felt very out of place & undesired/unwelcome (we drove 12hrs with 3 kids for it).
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
I attended a wedding once where the "Little People" showed up without the B or G knowing who ordered them. They wouldn't leave and insisted on being on the middle of the dance floor for an hour. The bride was in the bathroom bawling. Turns out it was the mother of the groom.
Another wedding, in the middle of Nebraska, had a cash bar (unknown to me ahead of time but fine), except the bride and groom had given some guests tickets for free drinks and not others. So, there was like a 2-tier system where some guests got free drinks and others did not.
I forgot about the little people. Was this at a Chicago south side wedding? I have been to a lot of weddings on the south side and they made an appearance at quite a few of them. So odd!
Post by ellipses84 on Apr 21, 2015 21:31:45 GMT -5
This one is probably just terrible to me because I was personally involved. 6 months away from the wedding I had been planning for a year, my sister decided she was going to get married in 2 months. It was her second marriage, 1st was a JOP, and she was broke and guilted my mom into paying almost everything along the way because she never got a first wedding. They didn't even pay for their marriage license. My mom had not agreed to pay ahead of time and did not help with our wedding (aside from paying for flight and hotel for sis and her new family). Everything was poorly planned and disorganized.
They had almost 2x too many guests for the venue so there were not enough seats at the ceremony or reception rooms, no room for a dance floor but they moved tables out of the way to make room. The day before the wedding we went to buy alcohol and she refused to buy, or even let us buy, more than 4 bottles of wine and one case of beer because she "didn't want drunk people at her wedding" even though I told her that wasn't even enough for each person to have a drink for a toast. Not to mention a family barbecue with our dad's side alone consumes more alcohol (and nobody is ever drunk to the point they misbehave at that). If you want to have a dry wedding, fine, but don't provide alcohol that runs out in 10 minutes. She realized she was wrong and had a relative leave the reception to buy more (which she did not pay for).
Me and my other siblings couldn't wait for the end of the night because we had to do a massive amount of setup and cleanup, and were exhausted. Thankfully some other people stayed to help. They had a hook up on food though and it was some of the most amazing wedding food guests had ever had, so that's what most people remember. They are divorced now, sigh...
I attended a wedding once where the "Little People" showed up without the B or G knowing who ordered them. They wouldn't leave and insisted on being on the middle of the dance floor for an hour. The bride was in the bathroom bawling. Turns out it was the mother of the groom.
Another wedding, in the middle of Nebraska, had a cash bar (unknown to me ahead of time but fine), except the bride and groom had given some guests tickets for free drinks and not others. So, there was like a 2-tier system where some guests got free drinks and others did not.
I forgot about the little people. Was this at a Chicago south side wedding? I have been to a lot of weddings on the south side and they made an appearance at quite a few of them. So odd!
Yes! I wish I could remember the exact venue, but it was years ago. It was actually the wedding of a very popular morning radio DJ.
I am too lazy to read all these. Can someone tag me when we get to the part where people start saying that they go to weddings to see their friends on their special day and don't need alcohol to have fun? Because we haven't done that in a while.
My personal favourite is "If you need alcohol to have fun at a wedding you're an alcoholic and need treatment immediately".
I am too lazy to read all these. Can someone tag me when we get to the part where people start saying that they go to weddings to see their friends on their special day and don't need alcohol to have fun? Because we haven't done that in a while.
My personal favourite is "If you need alcohol to have fun at a wedding you're an alcoholic and need treatment immediately".
Yeah, OK.
I will admit, liquor laws play a part in some of the booze silliness. My poor mother was _shocked_ that we couldn't just have several open bottles of wine on each table, for the guests to be able to pour themselves a glass or three during supper... The concept that booze could _only_ be served by a state-licensed bartender blew her mind...
We solved it by footing the cost to have a couple extra staff members circulate the seating area with wine bottles before and during the meal service - the caterer we were using had the forethought to get almost all of their staff members the appropriate license to serve alcohol.
I can understand no alcohol at a cake and punch type afternoon reception. But if it's evening, I expect there to be alcohol available. Even if I end up the DD and don't drink, I'm still surprised if there is no booze for an evening reception.
Roaches on the buffet table. A rabbi that told jokes during the ceremony. One where it was 100 degrees and no shade - my uncle got his fishing umbrella out of his car for our table and the bride was throwing up in the bathroom for half of the reception.
Post by humpforfree on Apr 22, 2015 13:37:57 GMT -5
Bride has a history of medical issues and not taking care of herself/them. Refused to wear her insulin pump on the wedding day, also didn't eat or drink anything all day besides coffee. She passed out on the dance floor during the BM speech while everyone stood around it. MOB took over to get her sugar but other people freaked out and called 911. EMTs came and as they were en route another dude passed out next to the dance floor thanks to a combo of drinking and seeing bride pass out. After the EMTs left, bride proceeded to sit at the head table while continuously puking into a bowl. Eventually got some on herself and went to the hotel to change and then came back. There was only open bar during cocktail hour before all of this. She still pretends like nothing happened at the wedding & that it was the best day ever, several years later.