Family 'Embarrassed' After Bride & Groom Skip Their Own Wedding Reception Despite All Their Invited Guests Being There
It was a last-minute decision, but it’s their day… right?
Ozgurcankaya / CanvaPro As beautiful and moving as weddings are, they are also inherently stressful and anxiety-inducing. Bridesmaids, groomsmen, new in-laws, even distant acquaintances — everyone in attendance likely has an opinion on how a wedding ceremony and reception should look.
Ultimately, everything about the special day is the bride and groom’s decision, even if they decide to forgo the festivities altogether, as one bride and groom spontaneously decided to do.
After their wedding ceremony, the newlywed couple decided to start their honeymoon early and skip their planned wedding reception — despite having hundreds of guests.
"My brother got married yesterday, but [he] and his wife skipped their own reception," the groom’s sister wrote in her Reddit post. "No one even knew they were going to do it except for one of their friends, so it was a complete surprise and really embarrassing, to be honest.
The plan was for the bride and groom to attend the wedding reception following the ceremony, being introduced as a married couple for the first time by their friend. After a scheduled time for mingling, drinks, and photos, the reception would officially begin with dinner an hour later — the bride and groom being the stars of the show.
However, things didn’t happen that way because the bride and groom never showed up. “Their friend who was supposed to introduce them told everyone that my brother and his wife had left," she explained. They thanked everyone for attending, and then the food got served right away.”
The family couldn’t help but be embarrassed when the bride and groom failed to show.
Not only could you feel the tension in the room, but you could almost touch the discomfort — how strange is it to dance to the “Cha Cha Slide” and sip champagne when the people you’re celebrating aren’t even in the vicinity?
“The photographer had been sent home," the groom's sister added. "My parents were angry, and they talked to the friend because my brother and his wife weren’t answering. Their honeymoon was supposed to be in a couple of months." Apparently, they canceled it and switched their plans to leave immediately.
Leaving their phones with their friend, the bride and groom fled to the airport — ready to start their honeymoon and leave the stress of the wedding reception behind, despite having already paid for it.
Bogdan Sonjachnyj / Shutterstock
Although the couple's actions appear illogical, it turns out they had a surprising motivation for ditching their wedding celebration.
A rumor about a ‘shotgun wedding’ from the groom’s brother was the reason the bride and groom decided to skip.
“Apparently, the whole reason for this is that my other brother’s girlfriend is pregnant," the Reddit poster revealed. "They were going to announce it and that they want to get married at the reception.”
"Only my parents had known. I didn't even know. I don't know how my brother, who was getting married, found out," she continued. Someone (I don't know who) told my aunt and uncle about it, and they started spreading it around to the other guests, which upset my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend."
The sister questioned why the couple would skip the wedding reception they’d spent so much money on and time planning, a question many commenters reiterated. Other Redditors emphasized just how angry they'd be if a sibling planned to do this on their wedding day.
It's both tacky and an unspoken rule not to get engaged (much less married) at someone else’s wedding, as it takes away attention from the people you’re supposed to be celebrating.
It's understandable that this couple didn't want to deal with this overstep when they should be basking in their newlywed vibes.
Commenters were passionately perplexed — arguing that the skipped wedding reception was both justified and a waste of time and money.
“The type of people who want to announce a surprise pregnancy at a sibling’s wedding reception are the type that need attention on them at all times,” one user commented. “I bet there is a lot of sibling rivalry drama simmering under the surface, and this was the last straw.’"
Of course, family drama is ever-present in many people’s lives, but planning a pregnancy announcement and surprise wedding at another person’s reception seems too outlandish to be true.
“I’d skip my reception if I knew this was happening,” another person said. “The other option is making a fool of myself and ruining our relationship… if I’m there.”
Some users argued that this couple shouldn’t have left their guests confused and waiting, especially if they’d traveled from out of town. Others suggested the wedding reception was a complete waste of money that they could’ve spent on their honeymoon, each other, or their futures.
Regardless of the thousands of opinions under the post, the bottom line is that this was the bride and groom’s day — nobody should be trying to take attention away from the couple or piggybacking off the money, time, and energy they spent preparing.
Frankly, it should go without saying: Don’t be that person at the wedding reception. Even if the moment seems “perfect” to get down on one knee, do not do it.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.