Reddit user u/Justhearmeoit asked the wedding planners/workers of the community: "Have you ever seen a couple and immediately thought: 'This [will] end in divorce?' Why?"
Well, they didn't hold anything back, and have truly SEEN some things while on the job. They had some pretty juicy encounters with engaged and married couples, and knew from the start their unions wouldn't last forever.
So, here are some shocking stories straight from wedding planners/workers:
Note: Some stories include topics of verbal abuse. Please proceed with caution.
1. "A bride was nervous on her wedding day, so she got drunk before the ceremony (she had to be helped down the aisle). Then, when the ceremony was over, instead of kissing the groom ('we now pronounce you man and wife'), she licked him from chin to eyeball. She fell during the recessional and knocked over a waiter carrying champagne. She couldn't be in there during the post-ceremony photoshoot because she kept falling. When it was time to cut the cake, we couldn't find her. Our staff went to her hotel room and found her covered in her own vomit, still in her wedding dress. She had the audacity to ask for a refund after all of this. They're divorced now..."
2. "I worked in a hotel, and an engaged couple had a huge rehearsal dinner which spilled out into the lobby. Everyone in the lobby found out that the bride hated the groom's parents, she was pregnant, and she had no idea who the father was. Half the guest list packed up and checked out the next day. They still got married."
3. "On the night of the wedding, I (the wedding planner) brought the bottle of champagne up to the room along with some other things we did for a wedding night. I quickly opened the door and walked straight in. The bride was bent over a chair with her wedding dress over her head, having sex with the best man."
4. "I heard from a friend who did calligraphy for a bride's wedding invitations. It contained the usual wording: 'The bride's mom and dad and the groom's mom and dad invite you to the wedding of the bride and groom.' The bride didn't want the groom's parents' names on the invite. My mate did an invite mock-up, called the couple for a check-in, and the groom lost it (apparently, the groom's parents were the ones paying for most of the wedding). They didn't need any invites after that."
5. "I remember one couple who really wanted an over-the-top wedding that would be good enough to be featured in a popular luxury wedding magazine. They spared no expense. They became so obsessed with this that they were even choosing members of their bridal party based on their looks rather than their relationship with them. The bride had two brothers — one brother looked like a model for Hugo Boss, and her other brother who looked a little bit like Thor. Well, only the 'Hugo Boss' brother was selected to be a groomsman (things like this caused a lottttt of tension between family members, as well as fights between the couple)."
"It was awkward a lot of the time. I knew for sure this couple wouldn't make it for long. Interestingly enough, the couple divorced a week before their wedding was featured in that luxury bridal magazine."
6. "I remember I worked catering at a wedding that involved the groom getting rather 'handsy' with the maid of honor during the reception. Both were drunk and a bit too close. The bride was on the dance floor flopping around, drunk to the point that she had to be escorted to a restroom to freshen up. Honestly, it always seems like when the bride and groom get trashed during the reception, something happens that will cause them to split shortly after. Not always, but it's just something I've noticed during the weddings I've assisted with."
7. "I have helped out a friend with a few weddings. During one of the weddings, the bride and groom hardly talked the entire wedding. It was like they had nothing in common. Then later on, the groom pretty much fucked off halfway through and went home because (and I quote): 'He was tired.' So he just left his bride taking pictures with the wedding guests on her own. He never came back that evening, so she had to greet everyone off — about a year later, I heard they filed for divorce."
8. "I’m a photographer, and I’ve shot three weddings — I hated them (bless the people who do it). Anyway, at one of the weddings, the groom called the bride unattractive (she was stunning and used to model — he was cute, but generically cute). He kept taking shots of vodka with his boys, and asked for a full-on photoshoot with his mom. He was definitely a mama’s boy because his mom was hovering the whole time (and you know it’s bad when his mom suggested he take photos with his wife). He told me to STFU every time I redirected, so after the third time that happened (and flashed me his junk?), I started packing up. When he started yelling at me, I told him no one talks to me like that, and I’d send them a refund. I knew right then the marriage wouldn’t last."
9. "It was a quick engagement and marriage, and I got the feeling maybe too quick. The wedding and reception were at the groom's parents' place, and his mom had a lot of input (as did his sister). The bride got shut down whenever she talked. On the day of the wedding, I arrived to shoot the bride getting ready. She was alone with the hair and makeup person. I thought that person was her friend, but she wasn’t (her bridesmaids weren't even there). Two hours went by, and she couldn't get a hold of them. The makeup person left, and I helped her put on her veil and shoes. I felt so bad for her — this was supposed to be her big day, and there she was: having a stranger put on her veil and telling her she looked great."
"The bridesmaids finally showed up (the maid of honor was the groom's sister). When the bride questioned them, the sister said they went out for breakfast — the bride then asked why they didn't tell her, and they got mad at her.
The groom was also invited to breakfast along with the groomsmen, and they were all drinking at 11:30 a.m. The kicker? None of the bridesmaids were dressed or had their hair and makeup done, and the wedding was in 30 minutes.
We were supposed to go to a nearby beach for photos, but it never happened because the groom talked to every person in attendance in the longest receiving line situation. He kept drinking as the sun was setting — I told the couple I had zero photos of them alone, and we needed to go.
He responded: 'Yeah, yeah, after the speeches.' He made a speech after several of his friends did (and most of his had nothing to do with his bride). When he finished, I approached the bride — she looked at me and said: 'You can go home now.'
The groom was in the middle of a group of people, chugging a beer and laughing loudly while his beautiful new bride sat alone, seemingly wondering what the fuck she got herself into. I saw her six months later at a restaurant, and before I could ask, she told me she left him."
10. "I worked in the catering business for over 20 years, so I worked a lot of weddings and receptions. I once heard a bride at the reception during the toasts say that she actually thought she was asking out the groom's twin brother on their first date, and how the twin was more compatible. Then, she ended the toast with: 'Well, as nice as you are, you'll make a great first husband.' I walked past the camera man, and you could hear me on tape saying: 'Did you get that? Tell me you got that.'"
11. "I worked at a hotel in the kitchen, and we did a wedding where the cake was brought in from Walmart. The groom was caught making out with a bridesmaid in a conference room, and we saw the bride throw her ring into a storm drain across the street."
12. "I ran a fairly upmarket hotel and restaurant that sometimes hosted weddings. I made a rookie error and booked a wedding on Christmas Eve. This should've been a warning sign, as it showed a pretty significant lack of consideration for friends and family making them travel across the country on one of the most irritating days of the year. They turned up three hours early, and the battle axe of a bride proceeded to shout at us for not being prepared (surrounded by her incredibly embarrassed but not unsurprised family). There were various other red flags throughout the night, but the main one was when the husband got super drunk on whiskey and asked me to go to his hotel room with him and 'break him in' as a married man. I politely refused."
13. "Many years ago, I had a side hustle doing cakes and would often get orders for wedding cakes. Long story short, the bride-to-be threw a full-fledged tantrum and locked herself in my bathroom. She refused to come out because the groom was 'unreasonably insisting' on having a say in what the cake flavor was going to be. I said through the door: 'Get out of my bathroom!' and all I got was a whiny, defiant little: 'NoooOooooooOooooooooO!!!!!!' She was about 22."
14. And: "I heard from a wedding planner that the bride and her bridesmaids went through at least 10 bottles of champagne the morning of the wedding, and were ridiculously drunk. Two of the three bridesmaids fell and had trouble getting up on the way down the aisle, and the bride and the maid of honor made it down the aisle but with great difficulty. The groom was basically holding the bride up for the entirety of the ceremony, and she loudly refused to sit in a chair. The wedding planner said the couple argued the night before over whether they were going to drink before the wedding. The groom wanted to stay sober until the reception, but the bride disagreed."
Note: Some stories have been edited for length and/or clarity.