Photo: Getty Images
Here comes the bride… Or on second thought, maybe not. It’s the very last thing any to-be-wedded couple wants to think about, but canceled weddings do happen. Runaway Bride wasn’t just a movie, after all! Whether a bride or groom gets a case of the dreaded cold feet or disaster strikes, nuptials do get called off from time to time. It’s awful, but it’s reality for some no-longer brides and grooms. And sometimes, that reality sounds like something straight out of movie. For example, these real-life stories of called-off weddings are so jaw-droppingly dramatic, we’d be trying to sell the screen rights after getting our deposit back on the venue.
Our hearts go out to the brides and grooms behind these cancelled wedding anecdotes, shared by Reddit users and complied by People. But seriously, we’re mostly just happy that we’re not them…
“It was my own wedding. I was there waiting, and my bride-to-be texted me letting me know that she wasn’t feeling well and that she needed to go to the hospital. I got suspicious when I noticed that no one from her side of the family had shown up. Turns out, they had never sent out their half of the invitations and never bothered to tell me that there was no wedding. So there I was with my friends and family at a wedding that didn’t actually exist.”
“The groom left the bride at the altar. He just didn’t show up! He said he had cold feet. The couple stayed together, and then planned another wedding. He stood her up AGAIN! Somehow, they stayed together, and she agreed to attempt to marry him a third time. He showed up, they wed, and have now been together for over forty-five years.”
Photo: Giphy
“The groom’s mother spilled something on the bride’s dress. The bride flipped out and cussed out the mother-in-law. The groom was in a state of shock and demanded an apology, but his wife-to-be refused. He walked out. The guests tried to talk to the bride and groom, but they weren’t having any of it.”
“I was taken to a wedding by a then-girlfriend. I knew no one there. I was sort of just dumped with the groom and his wedding party, as my girlfriend was a bridesmaid. The groom and his buddies proceeded to get drunk and just bail. Not telling anyone, just leaving. So here I am, not knowing anyone. I had to go to the room the bride was getting ready in, knock, ask for my girlfriend and explain to her. She and I pretty much just had to break the news.”
Photo: Giphy
“My friend and his girlfriend had been dating for like five years, and they were going to get married. Everyone approved of this woman too, educated, smart and good-looking. The day of his wedding, he left his cell phone in his jacket in some room where the wedding was going to happen. Normally for an event like this, he’d be the first to turn it off and leave it somewhere, but I guess he needed to call his cousin who was late and in the wedding. When he got to the room, he found the bride hooking up with a friend of a bridesmaid.”
See More: This Reddit Thread About Horrifying Wedding Stories Is Killing Us
“This happened in Calcutta. The couple had been introduced to each other and after like six months of hanging out and getting to know each other, they got engaged. They had known each other for almost a year up to this point. The evening of the wedding, a group of people showed up and literally blocked the street so the groom couldn’t come to the wedding venue. Turns out, the groom had been sleeping with a female of said blockade, with the promise of getting married. Even going so far as to introduce himself to her parents and family, plan a future date for his parents to meet hers. For about an hour there was a stand off. When the information got back to the bride and her family, they called off the wedding. The guests were half in shock, half trying to eat and drink as much as they could before the inevitable cancellation happened.”
Photo: Giphy
“Last wedding I went to the groom was doing drugs with his friend in the back room right before the ceremony. He could barely walk down the aisle, and he passed out before they could get through their vows. The bride and her mom left crying. They actually got married for real like two weeks later and now have a two-year-old.”
“I used to work with a girl named Ashley. She was engaged to some guy I never met. He used to travel a lot for work, or so I was told. We became pretty close friends and a couple of us were invited to the wedding. A couple days before the wedding, I heard some coworkers talking loudly about something terrible that happened. I went over to hear what was going on and I found out Ashley had called off the wedding. Family and friends from Utah had already flown in. Turns out, the fiancé was actually an awful low-life. He had no job and was stealing from her. She decided not to go through with it. Silver lining: three months after the canceled wedding, Ashley and I started dating. She told me later she had doubts about the marriage and had feelings for me. Which I didn’t know I had them as well until after the ordeal. We have been married for five years now and have a son together. When people ask how we met, we leave that story out.”
Photo: Giphy