Bride Leaves Groom At The Altar After Hearing His Private Conversation With His Sister
They had been together for 18 years.
Nicoleta Ionescu / Shutterstock After hearing a conversation between her fiancé and his sister, one bride decided to break off their 18-year relationship by abandoning him at the altar.
The groom's sister took to Reddit to express her guilt for alerting the bride to the private conversation.
In a Reddit post, the woman explained how her brothe had been engaged to his fiancée for eight years. They were going to get married three years ago, but the groom backed out. After a lot of therapy and counseling, the couple once again made the decision to get married.
“Today they were meant to get married but, as Abby and us bridesmaids were about to enter the church Ben was nowhere to be found,” the sister wrote.
After waiting for hours, the bride went back to her hotel room and asked everyone to call her when they found her groom. The sister’s other brothers and brothers-in-law eventually found the groom at a bar and they were persuading him to go to his own wedding.
Not a fan of her brother's actions, the woman decided to let the bride overhear their conversation.
The woman called one of her brothers-in-law who was with the groom and asked him to put him on the phone so she could hear what he had to say.
“The drunk fool started saying [stuff] like he didn’t think she was the one and he is only with her because they’ve been together [too] long and he is scared to be alone,” the woman wrote.
The bride started crying and yelled at the groom to come to the church in an hour or they would break up. The groom showed up in 20 minutes — but by then it was too late. The bride decided she no longer wanted to go through with the wedding, leaving the groom at the altar and going on their honeymoon alone.
That was the end of their 18-year relationship and the groom’s sister felt she was to blame.
“I’ve been disowned by everyone [except] two siblings (sisters) and I had to get Abby’s maid of [honor] to collect my suitcase from outside the hotel (mom dumped out when she found out),” the woman added. "I’m the full blame for ruining their relationship and 98% of my family hates me."
While the manner in which the breakup occurred was painful for all involved, ultimately, it was also in everyone's best interests.
It can be difficult to let go of a relationship that you've already invested so much time and energy into thanks to the sunk cost fallacy, which Jeff Guenther, LPC, explained on TikTok is "when you've invested so much time and effort into a relationship that you feel like you just can't walk away."
However, Guenther explained that no amount of time spent in a relationship is worth continuing on being unhappy. While it undoubtedly hurts to walk away, moving on is better than forcing something that's not meant to be.
As one person on Reddit told the groom's sister, letting the bride hear how the groom really felt "did her a favor."
“Honestly, it was best for her cowardly jerk of a brother too," another person added. "He didn’t really want to be in that relationship. They both needed the truth to be told.”
Deciding to get married shouldn't be based on the amount of time spent together.
Instead, dating coach and author Amy Nobile told The Knot that the decision to get engaged and eventually married should be based on shared chemistry, alignment of core values, emotional availability and, finally, both partners being ready to commit to marriage.
Sanika Nalgirkar, M.F.A. is a writer who covers entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.