A while back, we wrote posts here and here where people from the BuzzFeed Community shared the worst things that happened to them as bridesmaids. In the comments, readers shared even more bridesmaid horror stories, and honestly, I'm speechless.
Here are some of the wildest ones:
1. "I was asked to be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding. We planned things together and talked almost daily. Then, I found out at a mutual friend’s house that they all went and bought bridesmaid dresses without me. I said something about it, and the other girl said, 'Yeah, [bride] wanted me to tell you that you aren’t in the wedding anymore. She doesn’t think you’re pretty enough and wants good photos, but she would love it if you were the guestbook girl!'"
"I’m not friends with that bride or the mutual friend anymore."
2. "I was a bridesmaid in my brother's wedding, and at the time, I had cancer. I was in the middle of chemotherapy, was extremely nauseated, and very tired the whole time. The wedding was out of state and lasted over four days. I overslept the morning of the rehearsal, but I arrived only 10 minutes late. I was throwing up before the actual wedding, and I took a short nap in the nursery of the church before photos were taken because I couldn’t possibly stand up any longer. My brother came in, woke me up, and screamed at me that I was embarrassing, completely selfish, and non-supportive."
"My husband and THREE children were also there and in the wedding. Needless to say, we aren’t close."
3. "I was a bridesmaid for my ex's sister's wedding, where there was no budget. She was in Academy at the time, so her mom and I did a lot of the research and planning over the eight months she was there. When she got home, I was the only bridesmaid who went with her to all her appointments, fittings, shopping, and everything. I wasn't working at the time, so I spent two years on this girl — from planning the engagement and showers to every detail in between — while the maid of honor was pregnant and couldn't be bothered. A month before the wedding, she held a BBQ for everyone involved, including my ex's new girlfriend (he cheated on me, so we broke up, but I didn't want to let his sister down). After the BBQ, I was helping her with the bridal party gifts, and she said, 'Nobody wants you in the wedding, so you're out. You can go now.'"
"She didn't say thank you or anything. She's now divorced, and her wedding involved her doing ballet and reading the form letter response from President Obama to her wedding invite she sent him."
4. "I swear, it seems being a maid of honor can be the kiss of death for a friendship. At the time, I had a 1-year-old and 4-year-old, worked full time, etc. But I was happy to help my friend with planning her wedding until this happened..."
"1. She called me several times in the early morning hours — once at 2 a.m. because she couldn't decide what color her table sheets should be. And she knew I started work at 6 a.m.
2. Somehow, all her wedding things could never be on the weekends — always on the weekdays — and she expected me to take time off from work.
3. My husband couldn't come to her wedding, yet other peoples S.O.'s were. She never thought he was good enough (literally she told me he didn't meet HER requirements for ME).
Needless to say, we don't speak anymore."
5. "I was thrown out of a wedding because I have a chronic illness, and medication caused me to suffer two mini-strokes in a week. I was signed off work and in the hospital and wasn't allowed to drive or be unsupervised. I had to come off all my medication while we figured out what happened, so I was in a lot of pain 24/7. My friend became incredibly frustrated that I wasn't dedicating myself to her wedding, said it didn't seem like it was my priority, and I didn't reply to messages quick enough. When I was in the hospital, she got her mum to message me because I didn't reply to her!"
"Then, she was mad when I said I couldn't go abroad for her hen do because I wasn't well and couldn't afford it. I went to her house for a hen do (my mom had to come with and drive me), and she ignored me the whole time. Her mom quizzed my mum as she didn't believe I had two strokes. She ultimately emailed me to tell me I could be a guest, but I wasn't reliable enough to be bridesmaid. I told her to ram her friendship."
6. "The bride asked me to be a bridesmaid, and I told her I was self-conscious because my arms are bigger, and I know she wanted sleeveless dresses; she assured me not to worry and I'd be accommodated, so I agreed to be in the wedding. Cut to picking out the dresses, and she picked two styles, both sleeveless and told me, 'You'll do it because it's my day, right?' I felt cornered and agreed. I was so uncomfortable the whole wedding, especially being the only plus-sized bridesmaid in the party. There were other issues, but that one stuck with me the most. I was also in a bridal party where the maid of honor quit on her, but I had already been doing all the MOH stuff because the previous one didn't do ANYTHING."
"Even though things were financially tight for me, it was extremely stressful. Essentially, I have come to the conclusion I am not bridesmaid material and can't take the guilting and stress. I won't do it ever again."
7. "My friend was kicked out of a wedding party because she couldn’t afford everything the bride was asking for. The bride had been in her wedding and all she had asked for was for her bridesmaids to buy their dress and shoes (she even offered to help pay for them.) So, this bride’s wedding is coming up, and she asks my friend to help pay for the hotel the night before the wedding, the bachelorette trip, hair, and makeup, on top of the dress and shoes."
"My friend didn’t feel comfortable going on the bachelorette trip also and offered to help with the wedding in other ways, but the bride refused and said that the bachelorette is required for weddings and a bridesmaid’s attendance is mandatory. After buying her dress and shoes (nonrefundable), the bride kicked her out of the wedding and went off on her."
8. "My now ex-best friend got engaged, and I was the MOH. She told me I could pick out any dress I wanted as long as it was the color gray. I showed her probably 10-15 dresses I liked; she said no to all of them, and then proceeded to pick out the dress I had to buy. The day of the wedding, there’s a huge fall festival happening in the town she chose to be married in, and she didn’t reserve any parking for the bridal party — just did it for her and her now ex-husband. So, I kid you not, I parked two miles away ON THE SIDE OF A ROAD because the town the wedding was in the middle of nowhere, and all the parking spots had been taken. During the reception, I walked, at 8 p.m., by myself in the dark to go find my car and move it closer to the venue."
"Also, after that adventure, I came back to the reception to be bugged the whole night by a guy friend of hers. He kept trying to get me to dance with him or hit on me, and my friend didn’t do anything when I told her.
9. "I was recently kicked out of a wedding for having a 'bitch face' during the bachelorette party. My nephew is sick with cancer, my grandfather was dying, and I’ve been working as a nurse through the COVID pandemic. Forgive me if I have trouble having a good time playing dumb games. The bride kicked me out of the wedding party right after and then tried to tell me I could still come to the wedding."
"Like, girl, no, goodbye. Our friendship is done. If she can’t have any compassion for things I’m going through, I can’t be friends. Talk about toxicity."
10. "I was asked to be a bridesmaid in my sister-in-law's wedding. Mind you, I was asked only as a backup. Someone else couldn't do it; I was asked months after everyone else. A week before the wedding, my SIL is texting my husband that he 'can do better' and that he's too good for me."
"I was also 7 months preggo at the time. I refused to be a bridesmaid — and she was mad at me."
11. "I was in the wedding of the dueling pyramid schemes. The bride was selling for a makeup MLM (multilevel marketing scheme) and insisted all the bridesmaids buy their wedding day makeup from her, 'so we can all match.' I spent an extra $90 on bad makeup I haven’t worn since."
"About a month before the wedding, the maid of honor was hosting the bridal shower and was all excited when she handed out party favors to the bridal party. It was makeup and drink mixes from a different MLM! The bride was livid. They ended up having a screaming match. Apparently, the maid of honor had refused to join the bride’s downline, and the bride was mad because her friend 'didn’t support [her] business.' The maid of honor had recently converted to Islam and said she couldn’t buy the bride’s makeup because it wasn’t halal. The bride said that didn't matter and she should have bought some anyway because that’s what friends do. They had been friends since kindergarten, and to my knowledge, they haven’t spoken since."
12. "My husband and I were asked to be a groomsman and a bridesmaid in a wedding. After agreeing and going to my dress fitting, I found out I was pregnant with our first baby. The dress could have easily accommodated my belly, but I was removed from the wedding party because it wasn’t appropriate to have a pregnant person in the wedding party (even though I was married)."
"The kicker is that I got removed, but my husband remained in the wedding."
13. "I have been in about 14 weddings (I come from a large family and I’m old!) The worst thing for me was when a bride asked me to get a spray tan. I'm really pale and a redhead, but I went along with it anyway. I didn't want to look like an Oompah Loompa, but the woman at the salon assured me that I'd look like I just came back from vacation. She tried a few different patches on my back and arm, and one of her associates tried a patch on my chest. Each color was worse than the last. The staff told me the color had to 'develop' and to come back next day to choose the best swatch. I took the subway home, and my body started itching — by the time I got home, I had very ugly, bumpy, itchy marks where the product was sprayed."
"The wedding was the upcoming weekend. I ended up getting a cortisone shot to relieve the discomfort from the reaction and didn’t go back to have the salon finish the job. I had patches of skin color that didn’t match my own, and I had a striped back for awhile (I scrubbed and couldn't get color off). I offered to step down from the wedding, but both the bride and groom insisted that I stay on."
14. "I was a bridesmaid at my sister's wedding...it got so bad that I moved out of the house and stayed at my boyfriend's just so I didn't have to see her. I was in my early twenties, and our other sister and I were told we could pick out our own dresses because we didn't have to match the MOH. I found a strapless sweetheart long dress that was flattering for me (plus-size) — however, the only size they had was an 8, and I was a size 12 with size 14 boobs. Obviously, it was a bit tight, and the chest was way too small, but in my size, it would have been fine. I was told that I couldn't wear that because I shouldn't be 'advertising' myself at her wedding."
"And she said that I couldn't wear my Spanx bodysuit under the dress and had to wear pantyhose. I also couldn't wear certain clothes to the rehearsal dinner. It was bridezilla central, for sure."
15. "I was 14 when I was asked to step in as a bridesmaid for my brother's wedding day. The bridesmaid was pretty much comatose from drinking the night before. I was the only one who could fit into her bridesmaid dress, even though I was four inches taller. We were getting ready in my sister-in-law's room when the bridesmaid came in, clearly still drunk. As soon as she clocked me in her dress, she demanded to know WTF I was doing in her dress. My SIL's mother immediately scolded her for 'ruining her daughter's big day' with her thoughtlessness. The bridesmaid defensively pointed out that she 'literally' woke up for the wedding. She said, 'I didn't have to get up, but I did. Didn't I?'"
"That left the mother speechless for a bit. Then, BOOM! Cue an angry row between them, which ended up involving almost everyone in the room. The bride, the maid of honor, the other four bridesmaids, and the hairstylist. During that entire time, the bride's makeup artist and I were in a corner, pretending we didn't exist."
16. "I was the MOH at my (former) best friend's DIY wedding. Her bridesmaids were MIA for 98% of it. I was the one who went dress and centerpieces shopping with her and did food tastings — her fiancé didn't even want to be involved. I almost lived at her house for months while we cut/hemmed table clothes, created the centerpieces, and did other DIY stuff and logistical planning. I took a week off to help cart all her stuff to his parent's house and to help make food for the rehearsal dinner."
"Due to wrist injuries, I couldn't help lift the tables, but I set up chairs and arranged the cocktail area. The day of, I put out several potential fires, so I was the last one to get ready. During cleanup, the bridesmaids disappeared, and I had to strike almost everything and sweep the reception hall by myself. I almost got locked out of the room where my clothes were! A year later, my friend told me that I wasn't very helpful during her wedding, and it made her sad."
17. "We wore strapless dresses. I didn’t realize my bra was showing slightly above my dress on one side, so the bride’s mother put her hand up my dress and lifted it right up to my bra in front of everyone at the wedding to pull my bra down a little. Wrong on so many levels."
18. "I was asked to be a bridesmaid in my sister’s best friend’s wedding. Seemed odd to me at the time because we weren’t that close but had the same group of friends. I went dress shopping with them and was actively saving up to buy a bridesmaid’s dress (I was in college at the time). Found out that I was no longer a bridesmaid and also not even invited to the wedding when I went to my sister’s house and saw her best friend’s save the date on the fridge."
"I asked her when she received it, assuming mine was in the mail. My sister acted surprised and was like, 'Didn’t she talk to you? You aren’t invited to the wedding?’ It was so rude!!! I called and texted this chick about it, and SHE NEVER RESPONDED."
19. "I was a bridesmaid in my older cousin’s wedding. When she asked, I was in the middle of a weight loss journey. I didn’t have to get my dress for another nine months, so it shouldn’t have been a problem. Fast-forward to my final fitting, and the bride came with us. At this point, I lost a little over 30 pounds, and the bride was furious. When I stepped out in my dress, she demanded to know what size it was and then freaked out when she saw it was the same size as her dress. The day before the wedding, she called to tell me I wasn’t allowed in the bridal party or at the wedding because: 'You’re just as skinny as I am, and now I won’t be the thinnest one.'"
"Needless to say, she’s an estranged cousin now."
20. "My best friend got engaged when we were 20, and she asked me to be her maid of honor. I spent six months planning with her, going to bridal shops, florists, venues, tastings, the works. I requested certain days off to accommodate her. I threw her a bridal shower ... everything seemed fine. Fast-forward to three weeks before the wedding, we are supposed to go together for our final fitting at noon, and I text her at 10 a.m. saying I’m excited — nothing. Text again at 11 and 11:30. I’m starting to worry and I keep calling her. She finally answers and says it’s hard, but she doesn’t want me to be her maid of honor or even a bridesmaid because I haven’t helped her enough. I’m shocked and angry and just tell her to have a good wedding and hang up. I got the deposit back on my dress and obviously didn’t go to the wedding."
"About nine months later, she called me multiple times, and I finally agreed to go meet with her. She replaced me with her hairdresser who got trashed and was flashing people at the wedding in front of everyone. She told me how, when she looked at the wedding photos, she hoped to see me in the background and couldn’t believe that I didn’t at least come. I was literally speechless and left. I haven’t talked to her since."
21. "I was asked to be a bridesmaid for a close friend of mine from college. Then, five months before the wedding, she asked me to step down because a groomsman’s wife felt uncomfortable with me walking down the aisle with her husband. Her husband and I’d known each other since I was 18, and I’ve known him and his family before she was even in the picture. Needless to say, I felt bad for my engaged friend for being the messenger, so I stepped down. The night before the wedding, the engaged friend showed up to my hotel room where my boyfriend, another bridesmaid, her boyfriend and I were drinking, and she drank half our liquor."
"She then proceeded to drunkenly tell me that her wedding was a mess, the groom had disappeared, and she shouldn’t have listened to that one girl. I’m still friends with everyone except for the woman who didn’t want me to walk down the aisle with her husband. 😂"
22. "A friend of mine got a surprise haircut from the bride. My friend has very full curly (4A) hair, and she and the other bridesmaids were at the salon trying different styles for the bride's approval. The bride suggested that my friend straighten her hair, cut it, or wear a wig so she looked like the other bridesmaids."
"My friend said she couldn't do it, so the bride took it upon herself to help motivate my friend, and she just picked up the sheers and cut a huge chunk of my friend's hair! My friend was horrified and refused to be in the bridal party. The two have not spoken since."
23. "I was a bridesmaid for a destination wedding at a beach. We had to pay for everything: flights, hotel rooms, dress, and food. The bride didn't hire a wedding planner but instead asked us to make decorations and organize everything. Nothing went OK. The ceremony lasted 10 minutes, the judge was late, the father of the bride decided he was against the marriage, no one had their seat assigned at the venue, the venue didn't know the wedding was planned at a different time zone and from a different location, so the service was late, the food was cold and bland, and half the guests didn't eat it. On top of that, the bride and groom didn't register for presents but instead asked for cash."
"At the end of the night, the bride got mad because many people were disappointed by such a terrible event that she said, 'Well I don't care if you're happy or not, it's MY wedding and you can leave whenever you want.' Needless to say, I no longer speak to that person anymore."
24. "I was asked to be MOH for one of my high school friends, and although I was poor and in college, I still went all out for her events. I offered to buy her a bottle of champagne at the club for her bachelorette party, and she was so appreciative. I didn’t mind, until I got the bill — she had picked two bottles of the most expensive champagne they had, and I was on the hook for an extra $600."
"What really hurt about her wedding, though, was that I contacted everyone with a 'day of' itinerary and reminders for the big day about two weeks in advance of the date, and copied her on the email. She emailed me back, saying, 'I don’t know why you sent this out. The bridesmaids have had an email chain about this for a month.' Turns out, all the bridesmaids were making plans without including me. Needless to say, we’re no longer friends."
25. "When my brother got married, I was added late as a bridesmaid — meaning, he picked too many friends, and so his future wife needed an extra girl for her side. The bride arranged for my hair to be done separately from the group, and she told me what time to arrive at the venue. We pulled up on time and found her and the girls out back, taking their wedding party photos without me."
"The marriage lasted four months before they separated, and two years later, I paid the court fees to file the divorce because my brother had yet to file."
26. "My bridesmaid dress was stolen off my porch a week before the wedding. Awesome. I had to spend even more money and order a new dress. They stopped carrying the style that my friend had picked for her bridesmaids. Great. Thankfully, my friend was okay with a different style that was similar, but it was a close call because the dress didn’t arrive until the day before the wedding. After that wedding, I decided I didn’t want to be in weddings anymore."
27. "I was a bridesmaid for a really close friend. The maid of honor and I opted out of staying at the lodge the bride and groom got because they uninvited my husband to make room for one of the groomsmen's girlfriend at the time. So, we stayed at a hotel. When the MOH and I got to the lodge, the other two bridesmaids and the bride acted weird around us and eventually went missing. We couldn't find them for an hour. Fast-forward to the day of the wedding, and nothing is ready."
"The MOH and I ran around in our dresses, trying to get things ready and getting yelled at by the other bridesmaids...for not doing things the way they wanted. The final straw was when the bride's grandma came up to us and asked for help pouring the champagne. Both our husbands helped us get things ready, and we made an announcement for people to come when one bridesmaid starts yelling at us...We left after that."
28. "I was a bridesmaid in my brother's wedding. His then-fiancé knew when they asked me that I had mermaid hair, wasn’t planning on changing it, and had been planning for months to get a side shave for an event — they said I could keep my hair the way I wanted. Fast-forward to a few months before the wedding, and suddenly my hair is a huge issue and I need to color it or get a wig. I decided to go blonde, but the person who did it massively messed up, and my hair started to melt from the bleach, so I ended up needing to cut most of my length off (nearly 10 inches). Turns out, it ended up being ~too~ blonde, and I was asked to find a lace-front wig on a budget, a week before the day, which I couldn’t do."
"I also found out later that the dress and shoes I bought that she had okayed, she actually hated. If you’re a bride, don’t ask someone to be in your wedding if you want them to change everything about themselves to fit your 'vision.'"
29. "I've been a bridesmaid several times and have seen many sh*t shows. Usually, it's the parents causing trouble because they're so damn stressed. I've also had a chillzilla who was so indecisive about things, it caused big problems. Almost all the issues are caused by lack of planning/CLEAR communication. I've been informed the morning of the wedding that I was expected to stay until midnight cleaning up. Nope. Other issues stem from our societal (commercialistic) push to HAVE — whether it be the perfect pics, dress, cake, etc."
"I learned so much that when it was my time to get married, my husband and I left all the clowns at home and eloped to St. Lucia. It was gorgeous (no decor needed) and super relaxing. Please don't let commercialism and the pursuit of perfection ruin your day and your relationships."
And finally...
30. "I had a (former) friend who did nothing for her upcoming wedding and phoned me crying asking for help. I just had my baby a few months ago and had a postpartum brain disorder but she begged me, so I agreed and did EVERYTHING. I got her my own wedding dress seamstress on short notice, ordered her second dress, and for everything else, she would call me in the middle of the night. She didn't want to do invitations or a guest list (for a venue!) — which was a huge fight — so I printed all her invites on my printer, bought/made all the centerpieces, and stored everything at my house."
"She was horribly late for every appointment, complained about everything, and when I had to leave for a month after my brain disease diagnosis, she flipped out (even though everything was done) because I couldn't do her playlist — and she kicked me out as her bridesmaid. When I got back, she and her cousins showed up at my house and took everything.
I wasn't invited to the bridal shower, and although I did go to the wedding, I made a speech about how the first time I met her was when she had bought me a roast beef dinner when I forgot my lunch, and I always remembered her when I had roast beef. She never spoke to me again and a mutual friend said it was because of my 'horrible speech,' and her family was mortified. She later said her 'real' wedding was her Toronto wedding, not the one I had helped with. She told everyone at work I took over her wedding and even ordered her second dress 'in my own size.'"
Yikes. Do you have a bridesmaid horror story? Let us know in the comments below!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.