Guest slams 'awful' wedding, gives 6 reasons why guests were 'an afterthought every step of the way.'

"I went to a wedding were the guests were an afterthought every step of the way..."

I went to a wedding and had an awful time, the couple did not seem to think about how their decisions would impact their guests. Left as soon as it was appropriate. The wedding was outdoors in the dead of winter.

Apparently it is cheaper to get married in January, I get wanting to save money, but maybe that is when you should compromise on your dream outdoor wedding if you can't afford it. To make matters worse, it was one of the coldest winters recorded for our area.

The wedding was right at lunchtime (I think 1:00pm) so most of us didn't eat beforehand thinking it'd be a lunchtime reception...it was not. We were hungry for hours until served dinner...at 5:30.

The wedding ceremony started over 1 hour late. We were waiting outside in the cold, with no heaters, no tent-like things, not enough chairs to seat everyone. That day I learned that even in freezing temperatures you can get an awful sunburn.

The ceremony lasted over 1 hour, I get religious ceremonies last long, but most people make the effort to keep it under 1 hour, specially when you don't have appropriate conditions for your guests plus are already super late.

Cocktail hour lasted a really long time buy the drinks and finger food were super sparse, I later learned from the caterer that they hired a cocktail hour for only 70% of the guests and they were trying really hard to stretch the food they had. This is bad on its own, but even worse when you've had people waiting for 3 hours without having lunch.

After we were sat it took a ton of time to get our first course, a ton of time between courses and a ton of time to start dancing after we were done eating. Like 2.5 hours for something that usually takes 1. It was like 8pm when we finally started dancing.

Turns out the couple asked for the service to be slow so they could take more pictures. I get it but having guests doing nothing but wait for the better part of 7 hours is just plain rude. The whole thing was a nightmare I left as soon as I could.

Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:

tropicsandcaffeine said:

I would have gone home and not waited. If anyone complained I would have told them to get frostbite on their own.

Mooseandagoose said:

Ugh. That sucks and I’m sorry to say that I can relate. Worst wedding I have ever been to was very similar. Outdoors, Asheville NC for an evening wedding in late October. There wasn’t any indication that this was a fully outdoor event, btw. The location had an indoor facility but this was literally in the field of a park that shared the same address.

Ceremony was outdoors at 5; it was breezy but tolerable - and then the sun went down. Cocktail hour was us standing around in the windy field for 2 hours. Reception started at 730, in a tent with the only heaters next to the bride and groom.

Food was served cold, no beverages but water after the wine was gone shortly after cocktail hour- except for the bride and groom. Even a trip to the portable toilets was a steep hike down a windy ridge.

We were all so cold that most of us didn’t last past 9pm and even the DJ had blankets wrapped around him. Most guests found each other afterwards at a restaurant back in town, huddled around the fireplace. I don’t think weddings should cater to guests but a truthful indication of the venue and some modicum of comfort isn’t selfish to expect.

michelle032499 said:

Lord I brought containers and sent guests home with leftovers! It was catered, but I over bought, I was so worried about there not being enough. We didn't come close to running out of booze and kept the ceremony to about 15 minutes. It shouldn't be a whole sermon!! Talk about main character energy...

valathel said:

I think I would have ordered pizza to be delivered. There's no way I'm having a hypoglycemic attack because a couple doesn't care about anyone else. They would get the message when they arrive and see an empty pizza box on each table.

WHYohWhy___MEohMY said:

I would have left at the 30 minute late part. That’s ridiculous.

the_greek_italian said:

Leaving your guests frozen and hungry for hours deserves an early leave time plus taking back the gift.