Bridesmaid shares horror story: 'my best friend's wedding was the WORST.'

Bridesmaid shares horror story: "my best friend's wedding was the WORST..."

I was a bridesmaid in my childhood best friend's wedding. I wasn't expecting it to be such a shit show but it was the worst 24 hours of wedding "festivity" I have ever experienced. She was not a bridezilla at all and let us choose our own dresses in the color she chose, which was great.

My parents were invited as was my family (husband and kids) but since we lived 8 hours away, I opted to go with my mom and dad and leave my kids and husband at home. So my dad drove me and dropped me off at a hotel the night before the rehearsal and I rode to the venue with another bridesmaid.

We were supposed to stay at the venue the night before the wedding since it was about 40 minutes outside of the city and in the middle of nowhere. I got to the rehearsal lunch and it was on the lawn outside of the venue and there was a potluck set up. Ok that's fine, I get that not everyone has a huge budget.

We do the rehearsal and eat this weird potluck meal and then the bride says to all six bridesmaids "don't forget to make yourself a plate for dinner and go put it in the fridge inside." I was immediately taken aback but I followed directions without objecting.

That night we were supposed to be having her "bachelorette party" so I was expecting to go out or at least order in a meal but instead we had funky potluck leftovers. Ok fine, whatever, it was one meal so I moved on.

Then, we all have to help set up tables outside and my friend says "I need you guys to make your bouquets, prepare food for tomorrow, and iron the table cloths, and set up chairs and tables. We spent six hours working our asses off and my back was screaming after Ironing these cloths with her sister.

Again, I get that budgets can be tight but there was no warning that we were going to be put to work and I was in a mini dress and heels doing hard labor and moving furniture. Her husband-to-be and his friends left right after the rehearsal and stayed in a hotel and got trashed. Not a scrap of help from them.

Come 8pm, we were all exhausted but we rallied and ate our crusty potluck food while the seven of us shared a solitary bottle of champagne. It was nice to catch up and chat.

The morning of the wedding, we all got dressed and did our makeup and then the other bridesmaids started freaking out because they didn't know how to do their hair and the bride said we all needed to try to do something with our hair.

As a mom of two daughters, I stepped in and did the hair of 4 of the bridesmaids and had to scramble to do my own before the ceremony. The bride had a hair stylist and makeup artist come in. If she had offered, I gladly would have paid to have mine done but it was not an option at that point.

The ceremony was fine but I was just ready to go home. Then we get to the reception. They brought in a BBQ truck to provide the food, which was forgettable, and they had a bar but I was told that we had to pay for our drinks. Again, ok that's fine, I'll buy my own damn Pinot Gris. Then I see the groomsmen getting progressively more tanked and they are at the bar every five minutes.

I asked the bride what was up with that and she said "Oh, _new husband_ paid for his groomsmen to have an open bar." Neat. These dudes were being so nasty and it was throwing the vibes off massively. The bridesmaids and I danced and enjoyed ourselves as best as we could with our self-purchased drinks and then finally it is time for the bride and groom to leave.

A huge limo rolls up and the bride is shocked. She says to me "omg, my parents said they had a surprise for us!" She then informed me that since I had moved away, her mom and dad had become multi-millionaires because they had invested in properties all over town so they could afford the limo.

I asked tactfully if they had been the ones who paid for the wedding and she said "oh yeah, all of it. They are loaded." You could have fooled me...The bride and groom rode away and then her parents came up to the wedding party and said, it's time to tear down.

The groomsmen were blitzed and slinking away and the other bridesmaids and I were so pissed. I finally just said no. I had my parents there at this time so I hopped into their car and hightailed it out of there.

It was the worst wedding I have ever been to and it made me so angry to find out that her parents are loaded and they just didn't feel like paying for their youngest child to have a nice wedding. She's somehow still married to her husband but I hate him so much.

They came to visit my family once a few years ago and he kept pulling my dog's tail, which confirmed my suspicions that he's just an ahole. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this story! It felt good to get it off my chest. Remember folks, if you can pay for help on a special day, don't be an ahole and cheap out!

Later, OP added more information:

1) No, we aren't really friends anymore. I'd maybe text her on her birthday and say "HBD" but I don't really keep in touch with her. I fully admit that I was quick to blame her family. I have realized that she was ultimately the one who made this situation awful for her bridesmaids, not her family. Sometimes Reddit is right and I'm wrong.

2) Pulling my dog's tail was the end of the line for sure. I actually just had to put my dog down a few weekends ago and I feel inclined to blame her cancer on her husband. Just because. My kids were so shocked when he did it and he did it MULTIPLE times apparently before I saw it and I was like "stop doing that."

3) Her parents did not give her the extra money from whatever budget you all think there was. They are literally just cheap as hell. Pinot Grigio is from Italy, which I also enjoy, but Pinot Gris is from France.

5) I absolutely would have left except for this wedding was in a rural area very far from town. My parents drove me to the nearest city and I got a ride to the venue from another bridesmaid. I was stuck there. Also, everyone else was accepting this awful situation so I figured I could survive 24 hours and then basically not see her again.

6) At the potluck, I think I got some very dry mac and cheese, a few crudite veggies, and a brownie. I stayed away from anything with mayo or meat because I was scared of getting food poisoning and generally hate potlucks.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

Yavanna83 said:

I can't believe she made the bridesmaids do all the work and then the groomsman get free drinks and you do not. That is so incredibly impolite.

WeddingAlternative89 said:

I wasn’t even there and reading it stressed me out like I was part of it. Sucks you guys had to go through that!

Superlemonada said:

You have a friend problem. Your friend took her bridesmaids for granted. It's HER WEDDING, HER AND HER HUSBAND'S EVENT. She is a crappy host and an even crappier friend. If I "hosted" a wedding like this my ancestors would rise up again and smack me in shame. If I were you, I would be going low to no contact with her.

GoldCaterpillar3662 said:

OP I am so glad you walked at the end of this wedding! You’re a guest at your friends wedding and she and her family and parents expected you and the other bridesmaids to tear down the reception? You went above and beyond doing it the first time plus doing the bridesmaid’s hair.

Mike_1970 said:

You weren't a bridesmaid, you were a roadie.

SpringtimeLilies7 said:

That IS a bridezilla...just of a different nature.