Guest shares horror story of tacky wedding: 'it only gets worse from there.'

"I was informed on the way to the airport that there’s no dinner at the wedding and it only gets worse from there..."

This past weekend, I attended my cousin’s wedding in another province (Canada). It would have been an 8-hour drive, so my wife and I decided to fly instead of driving, as we didn’t want to go again after our family reunion this summer. On the way to the airport, my mom informed me that there was no dinner, so we’d have to go to my aunt’s place between the ceremony and reception.

We were both surprised, as the invite and the disorganized wedding website didn’t mention this. My mom explained that they originally wanted to elope but decided to invite 150 people instead as her justification.

On the wedding day, I noticed that the times for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception were slightly different on two different parts of the website and also different from the printed invite.

The main page of the website didn’t mention a cocktail hour at all. We attended the ceremony, which ran on time. Then, everyone was asked to clear out as the intimate family dinner would begin. I believe it was for immediate family and grandparents.

I asked my aunt and uncle, who are the groom’s parents, about the cocktail hour, even though they weren’t involved in organizing. They gave me a time that differed from one of the posted times. My uncle, who started his own successful business out of high school and is now a multimillionaire, seemed a bit embarrassed by the whole wedding.

After the dinner, we headed back for the cocktail hour. It was a full-priced bar with drinks ranging from $7 to $9. There were no free drinks or wine on the tables because there was no dinner. I had joked at my aunt’s house earlier that we probably wouldn’t get cake because it wasn’t for the peasants.

I don’t know if there was a cake at the family dinner, but for the rest of us, there were a few different types of store-bought pies in plastic containers on a table where we could serve ourselves. It was better than nothing, I guess!

They ended up having a "midnight lunch" at 10 p.m., and it was tacos in a bag. They had thanked family and friends for helping cook the meat and move tables and chairs between the ceremony and the reception. However, the tacos were a major disappointment because there was no cheese! No cheese of any kind! That was the final straw for me.

We briefly interacted with the bride and groom a couple of times. My cousin (the groom) was very thankful that we attended, while his bride wouldn’t even look in our direction. I’m not sure what her problem was, as we had met her twice before and she had never said more than hello.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

ravencrowe said:

Wanted to elope, parents wanted a big wedding, so their compromise was to have 150 people travel to attend their wedding and then treat them like crap. Great compromise!

cerart939 said:

I draw the line at no cheese.

Wondercat87 said:

Ooof! That's really bad! I understand they wanted to elope, but they really should have. The way they treated their guests at this wedding was in poor form. No dinner, but they had guests flying in from another province?

Full priced bar. There were no details on the invite, and the details on the website were different in a couple of spots, which caused confusion. People need to do trading their guests as an afterthought.

_i_open_at_the_close said:

And on Thanksgiving weekend too. They should be ashamed.

Significant-Pen-3188 said:

They should have eloped. I don't know how such a mess happens. Two people that don't want a wedding for some reason went through with it.

OneSillyB said:

A wedding like this is absolutely a money/gift grab! Pathetic!