We asked the BuzzFeed Community what kind of horrible things they've seen happen at weddings. Here were their most cringe-inducing responses:
1. The most romantic vows:
I was at a wedding for my boyfriend's cousin, and during the ceremony, the priest was grilling the couple a little bit, and he asked each of them why they were marrying one another. The bride went off on this whole tangent about how much she loves him, as would be expected. Then the priest asked the same question to the groom. He pauses for a second and then just looks up and says, "She's the best I could do." Never cringed harder in my entire life.
2. The forgetful father:
As my dad was giving a speech toasting our happiness during the rehearsal dinner, he promptly forgot my husband’s name and after a few stalled attempts, filled in the blank with, “To Stephanie and.... and.... everyone!”
3. The bathroom boy:
At a family wedding, my cousin and I were in the women's bathroom when an unfamiliar 10-year-old boy ran in. His mother just laughed as the boy used the bathroom with the door wide open, giving us a full view of...everything. She didn't do anything as he ran out of the bathroom without washing his hands. Gross, right? Well it got worse...10 minutes later, we witnessed the same boy using his finger to lick frosting off the (not yet cut) wedding cake. Needless to say, we did not have cake when it was cut later.
4. The premature kiss:
Several years back, I was officiating a wedding. The couple was doing a unity candle during the service, and we had practiced this several times the night before. The groom got very nervous during the service. When the music started, I gave him the nod to go over to the candle. He looked at me and said, “Now?” I nodded my head yes. He pulled the bride in and kissed her then dipped her. The entire crowd gasped, and the bride (completely taken off guard) pushed him off and said “NO!” He jumped up and realized what he had done. Well, at least it’s a great story to tell the kids one day.
5. The unpopular groom:
I was a guest at a wedding where it wasn't exactly a big secret that the groom wasn't very liked. What was most shocking was how much HIS guests seemed to dislike him. The most awkward and uncomfortable thing happened. Middle of the wedding, groom stops the music, and makes his "best man" get up and give a speech, and the best man didn't know this was supposed to happen. He gets up, and all he says is, "I was shocked, I mean absolutely SHOCKED, when Groom asked me to be his best man. I mean, we're barely friends, but congratulations I guess." And he sat back down.
6. The latecomer:
I was at my great aunt's wedding, and she started to walk down the aisle, but her groom wasn’t there. He was still talking with friends and had no idea his wedding was starting.
7. The mic hijacker:
The best man at a wedding I was DJ-ing got really drunk, grabbed my microphone, and loudly told the new groom, "If you can't cum in her, at least cum on her!"
8. The ring rumble:
As guests at a small wedding, we pulled up, and the bride was outside smoking a cigarette in boxers and tank, crying because the maid of honor lost the ring. Then they decided to use one of her other random rings and forget all about the “missing” ring. The reception was bar hopping with the bride and groom as the designated drivers. The bride disclosed to me she believed the maid of honor stole the ring, so at the last bar, there was white tulle flying as the maid of honor and bride got into a fist fight.
9. The #1 dad:
The father of the bride didn’t know his daughter’s name! She went by Ginny her whole life, and he thought her name was Jennifer. It was actually Genevieve.
10. The ex speech:
The bride had dated her groom's best friend for two years in high school. After they broke up, she started dating the groom, and they got married about five years later. The ex-boyfriend/best friend was the best man in the wedding. There was an underlying awkwardness throughout the evening, but all us guests figured they had all gotten over things. Then came the best man toast, which went something like this: "Congrats to my very best friend! I'm so happy for you guys, and I just want to say....YOU STOLE MY GIRLFRIEND! She was my first love, and you stole her from me!" I have no recollection of what was said after that.
11. The stranger:
My brother and sister in law had a wedding, and they live near her family, six hours away. Because of this, we don’t know her extended family well, and she didn’t know ours either. They did the traditional bouquet and garter tosses, and her sister caught the bouquet, and a man I didn’t know caught the garter. The man is then supposed to put the garter on the woman who caught the bouquet. While this man was under her dress putting the garter on, my brother and his wife quickly realized neither of them knew the man and he had crashed the wedding...let’s just say it didn’t end well for that guy.
12. The puke puddle:
I was in a wedding, and at the end of the night, the wedding party was on a bus taking us back from the reception venue into the city. As we pulled into the hotel driveway, the cliché drunk groomsman proceeded to try to get off the bus asap, but didn't make it and puked down the steps of the bus. The entire wedding party had to step through the pile of puke to get out as there was no back door or other exit.
13. The free concert:
It was a rooftop wedding in a downtown neighborhood. Right as the priest began the very religious ceremony, a rap concert began on the next roof over. The rappers had a MUCH better sound system, so the priest was completely drowned out by an impressive variety of obscenities!
14. The rogue arch:
The weirdest thing happened at a wedding I attended. It was outside on a fall evening, and the groom had made a wooden wedding arch. As soon as the couple leaned in for the kiss, a gust of wind knocked the arch down, hitting the bride in the head. I would've taken it as a bad omen, but I guess they're still happy!
15. The stage dive:
The best man got really drunk DURING the ceremony; the entire audience watched him chug out of a flask the entire time. Then, he went to do his speech and just said, "Good luck with the kids and pets and shit," and then passed out, fell head first off stage, and clobbered the bride's grandmother while dumping beer all over her. Needless to say, it was the talk of the night.
16. The Great Plague:
At my cousin's wedding, the entire bridal party got the stomach flu. The night of the rehearsal, several people were feeling iffy, but no one was saying anything to the bride because we didn’t want to worry her. We came to find out that the groom's brother had the stomach flu about two days before and gave it to the groom, who gave it to my cousin, and it kept spreading from there. They were determined not to cancel anything, so we all had to show up to the ceremony, wobbly and feverish and trying not to puke. I passed out during the first song. Then two other bridesmaids passed out. The ceremony continued. The bride's mom is a nurse, and by the reception, she was giving the bride Phenergan suppositories to try to keep her from vomiting long enough to get one dance in. I missed my flight home because I couldn’t even stand, and spent three days at my other cousin's house recovering. The ENTIRE extended family ended up with the stomach flu. Her brother even spent three days in the hospital. It was a nightmare. But they are still happily married 11 years later, and their third child is on the way!
17. The hungover officiant:
At my cousin's wedding, the person officiating the ceremony was hungover and puked all over the bride before fainting and knocking over the whole archway.
18. The Gob Bluth groom:
I once worked for a serving company that would get hired by caterers for fancy events/weddings. One time at a wedding reception, the groom, drunk out of his gourd, walked up to the mic and announced to the entire crowd, "I just made a huge mistake." Everyone gasped, and he took off, and I had no idea what to do, so I just continued to walk around awkwardly offering people drinks from my tray of champagne flutes.
19. The homophobic priest:
This happened at our wedding — a big Polish Catholic church filled with family. During the sermon, he took a left turn and started talking about divorce and how awful it was and how people should be ashamed. My parents were divorced, my husband's parents were divorced, and my husband's sisters were divorced. Everyone seemed to be divorced!
The best part was when we were saying our vows, though. Right in the middle of them, he apologized for the sermon. He went on to say that he was thinking about a conference he just attended and how all of the priest attendees should announce to their parishioners that they should boycott IKEA because they have homosexuals in their advertising.
People still talk about our wedding — 25 years later!
20. The oversharer:
During the ceremony, the groom gave a speech about struggling with porn addiction in college.
21. The slip-up:
I was at a wedding with my family for someone I only knew distantly. The best man got up to give his toast and accidentally called the bride the groom’s ex-wife’s name. The bride dissolved into tears and left the reception. The best man promptly ended his speech and excused himself from the entire reception. The bride's whole family was PISSED. The bride took an hour and came back to continue celebrating, but it was madness!
22. The loud talker:
I went to a wedding where the bride refused to come out and kept screaming, "No I'm not going to do it." All of the guests heard because she was in the antechamber, which was where she was supposed to make her grand entrance. They went through with it.
Really dry chicken at the reception.
23. The ring borrower:
I didn’t find out about this until after the reception was over, but at my wedding, one of our friends asked to see someone else’s wedding ring and tried to propose to his girlfriend of about three months. She threw the ring at him and stormed off and then he disappeared for a while. It all worked out because they actually got married a couple years later.
24. The cake smasher:
One of my closest friends married her high school sweetheart when we were 18. During the cake cutting, the groom smashed the white cake with raspberry filling so hard into the bride's face that she fell over into the dirt. She stood up, shocked, with raspberry filling all down the front of her white gown. He was laughing a little, and she full-on slapped him. With all her might. Then she cried behind a tree for a bit. Needless to say, they're divorced now.
25. And finally, the guy who was actually kind of hilarious:
The best man at my wedding recited the famous speech from Independence Day for his best man's toast. Word for word. Everyone was super confused!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and clarity.