Wedding Professionals Say These Are The Warning Signs A Couple Won’t Last

“Wedding photographer with 20 years of experience here…one that stands out was when the bride’s parents’ speech included this line regarding the groom: ‘You weren’t who we envisioned for our daughter, but you have children together, so I guess we’re stuck with you.'”

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“I was a photographer for a wedding on a golf course. The bride had a very specific vision — she wanted her husband to drive up on a golf cart to see her for a first look. Well, he got one look at her from the top of the hill and vaulted the cart, ran down the hill, picked her up, and twirled her around to tell her how gorgeous she was. We caught it all. It was the best first look ever. Once he set her down, she straightened herself and looked back to us. She said, ‘Okay, I don’t want that. Let’s do the golf cart now,’ and sent him back up to do it ‘correctly.'”

“In a recorded interview, I asked the groom why he asked her to marry him. He said he did it because of ‘the pressure to get married.’ They lasted less than two months. I hadn’t even finished editing the video and they were over.”

“Photographer here. The MOB (mother of the bride) gave me a $700 tip for not walking out. The groom gave vows that were just about perfect, and the bride just said, ‘I love you,’ and finished. She was holding hands with the best man all through the wedding, and the groom looked so sad. A few months later, I was a photographer for the groom and the maid of honor’s wedding. Ultimate karma.”

“In her speech, the maid of honor very drunkenly told the groom to call her once the marriage was over. A couple of her friends said that in their speeches, actually. The best man told the bride the groom’s phone passcode in his speech, because ‘she was going to need it.’ Those two lasted maybe a year. The bride ended up moving states for a new job, which made sense to me after seeing how shitty her friends and family were during that wedding.”

“I used to be a wedding photographer in Las Vegas at several hotels and downtown wedding chapels. I’ve got so many of these stories. On Monday the week of the wedding, I got booked to shoot it. On Wednesday, the hotel called me to cancel because the bride backed out. The next day, the hotel called again to rebook me because the wedding was back on. Get this — it was the same groom, but a different bride. Two days later (Friday), I shot the wedding with the new bride, who was about 18 or 19 years old (the groom was early 20s). It was clear they barely knew each other. The bride just kept saying, ‘This is so wild, I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ Yeah, neither could I.”

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“I’m an artist, and I do wedding sketches when I feel like freelancing. I will never forget one of the first weddings I did back in college. It was a 250-person wedding in a big ballroom, so another artist and I were super busy. The sketches were quick, but every couple wanted one, and there was a bit of a line/crowd around our table, with people waiting and watching. The bride and groom were slowly making their way to us when I saw the groom grab the bride’s hand and shake his head, pointing to the back of the line. The bride shook her head.

“The couple got married and were on their way to the reception at our banquet hall when one of the bridesmaids told the bride that the groom had slept with the stripper hired for his stag night. The bride arrived in tears, went to the restroom, and wouldn’t come out. When she finally did about an hour later, they had dinner, but there was no first dance, cake cutting, etc.”

“While shooting video, I attached a microphone to the groom for audio and proceeded to prepare for the ceremony. Just as I was about to adjust my audio settings, the groom stepped into another room with a friend. As I put on my headphones, I overheard the groom confiding in his friend, describing the wedding as a ‘wedding of convenience’ and reassuring his ‘friend,’ saying she should not to be concerned about what would happen in their relationship. I knew they wouldn’t last.”

“Wedding videographer here, I think my favorite moment was when I was sitting at the miscellaneous table with all the randoms and the girl next to me, the grooms ex, drunkenly admitted to sleeping with the groom a few months prior.”

“As a wedding photographer, I’ve seen so many. Once, a groom had been on a 24-hour cocaine party spree and was gurning and making faces all the way through the ceremony, so much so that I had to wait until his mouth was closed as my indicator to take a picture. Another time, the bride was proper hammered after the wedding and was dirty dancing with everyone, and I mean everyone. In particular, the saxophonist. They both disappeared for about 40 minutes and then returned to a very angry husband. I left before the aftermath.”

“I used to work at a David’s Bridal. The bride came in with tons of friends, we did the Say Yes To The Dress thing, and an hour later, she was standing there in $3,000 worth of stuff and didn’t have any money with her or in her account. She decided she wanted to apply for the store credit card. I ran it through the system, and she got denied. She then called the groom for his info (which, to be fair, people did all the time), and he told her no. She threw a HUGE fit on the phone with him, standing on the bridal stage, literally demanding, ‘WHY NOT? WHY?! WHY!!’ like an actual child over and over again. I’ve never seen a 30-year-old age backward so quickly.

“One of the bridesmaids cried the entire time, from makeup to reception. She would have nothing to do with the groom the entire wedding and kept wanting photos of just her and the bride. I could tell something was seriously off. Eight months later, the bride and groom separated, and the bride eloped with the bridesmaid.”

“I worked as an on-site wedding hairstylist for about four years and have seen many interesting couples. The company I worked for was hired to do hair and makeup for this super high-end wedding for a couple from out of state. The morning of the wedding, while we were getting everyone ready, the bride kept calling out everyone by name who had gone to get seconds at the rehearsal dinner and laughing like she just couldn’t believe it.

“I was a photographer at this bride’s wedding, and she was such a monumental bitch that her mom gave me a $500 tip for not walking out. She was treating everyone (even her now-husband) like a piece of shit employee. She snapped when she wanted someone to do something for her. She berated the DJ for grabbing a sandwich when he’d been there for about eight hours. She even told him that he should’ve brought his own lunch and that she would be taking the cost of the food (which was an open buffet style) out of his paycheck. The couple was divorced within three years, but not before having three kids with stupid names.”

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“‘It’s my fourth marriage and his fifth, it took us a while to find each other, but it was worth the wait!’ I was the photographer. She called me six months after the wedding to ask me to take her daughter’s senior pictures. Then, unprompted, she launched into the story of how she followed the groom and caught him sneaking out of the bedroom window of some other woman’s house. These people were like 60 years old….shenanigans.”

“I could tell during the engagement session with the clients. The couple was in from out of town because the bride had just taken the bar exam to become a lawyer. At the end of the session, I gave them a prompt which asked them to share something they were proud of each other for. He couldn’t think of a single thing.

“I knew this one couple wouldn’t make it during our initial ‘do they want to hire me’ coffee meeting. They argued bitterly the entire time, and eventually, the groom just sat back in his chair with his arms crossed and wouldn’t speak to either of us. The next day, I emailed them the old ‘something suddenly came up’ excuse and told them that my schedule had unfortunately changed. Red flags aren’t just for the people in the relationship. Vendors, see them and heed them. 🚩”

“Two examples, both times I was working the wedding. The first groom was 17, and the bride was 15. In my state, that’s legal with parental consent on the 17-year-old’s part, and court consent on the 15-year-old’s part. I had no idea until I showed up at the venue. The second: Both were adults this time. The bride wanted a princess wedding. No problem, she’s been dreaming of this her whole life, probably. The groom and most of the groomsmen showed up absolutely shitfaced. The groom had to be helped down the aisle, he was so drunk. At the reception, one of the already-drunk groomsmen tried to keep giving me shots because he thought my camera was awesome.”

“My mother was a wedding photographer until I was about 18 or 19, and I helped out on many of them. This one stands out the most. We were at a campsite where both the wedding and reception were being held. About halfway through the reception, I heard the groom start laughing maniacally. I peaked over his way and could see two groomsmen hauling the thrashing and screaming bride toward the lake. They threw her into the freezing cold water with her veil and dress still on. “When she got out of the water, I genuinely thought she might shoot somebody. Saying she looked like a drowned rat would have been an insult to rats. Her hair and makeup and probably the dress were ruined beyond repair. The fact that the groom laughed and didn’t do anything stuck with me as being a dog shit move, even as a teen. Apparently, she thought so, too, because if I remember correctly, they didn’t even make it six months.”

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“I’m a wedding photographer, and this one wedding I worked was an absolute nightmare. The groom kept running off with his friends to get drunk, leaving the bride alone. She couldn’t even talk to her bridesmaids because they were also getting drunk. This was all before the ceremony, too. During the ceremony, the bride was visibly upset as the groom kept slurring his lines, and it was clear he didn’t really care. When I asked them to get closer a little bit, they didn’t want to and just stayed a few inches apart. After, the bride was just completely bawling. They didn’t make it to three months.”

“At the rehearsal dinner, every toast to the bride was some euphemistic variation of ‘I’m so glad you finally found someone to put up with your bullshit.’ They barely made it to the six-month mark.”

“Oh man, I was a wedding photographer for about five years. I get being awkward on camera and not wanting to do any public PDA — I’m very awkward myself! But when prompting couples for fun poses like whispering obscenities in each other’s ear for a laughing shot, nuzzling close together, etc., most couples eventually let their guard down and enjoyed holding each other. It was so sweet to watch. A few times, though, I had couples that visibly didn’t want to be near each other at all. Once the shot was done, they went back to standing a foot apart. They would complain about each other and make fun of each other in front of me the entire time. It always left me with a bad feeling in my gut — and most of the time, the marriage didn’t last long, either!”

“I’m a minister and wedding officiant. One of the things that I do with wedding couples that I do not know well personally is ask them a bunch of questions about what their relationship and their partner mean to them. I ask them these questions individually, without the partner present. One particular couple has always stuck in my mind, because when I spoke to the groom, every single answer he gave was about how he could serve the bride and her needs. And when I spoke to the bride…every single answer she gave was about how the groom could serve her and her needs. It was bad enough that I took the groom aside and asked him whether he really wanted to do this, and he said that he did. I gave them six months, in my mind.”

“At the ceremony, the minister asked the bride’s friends and family to say some affirmation (like ‘we do’ or similar) about how they supported the marriage. Those people said the affirmation and cheered loudly. The minister then asked the groom’s friends and family to do the same thing. There was dead silence. The minister, very flustered, said, ‘Hey, how about I give you folks another chance!’ and again asked the groom’s friends and family to affirm their support of this marriage. Once again, dead silence. The minister continued on with the ceremony. The couple lasted maybe a few years before getting divorced.”

“I’ve been a wedding photographer for 10 years. Had several couples that gave me ‘uh oh’ vibes. One where the bride had a major tantrum and her bridesmaids were telling her, ‘Don’t do this, not today, behave yourself today.’ Her groom stopped the pre-reception photos, saying we should take photos of him only, not her, as he didn’t want any images of ‘that bitch’. She called him ‘you arsehole’ every time I tried to get cute photos of them. She threw her bouquet at him, he cursed her… total disaster!”

And finally, “Videographer here. I’ll never forget this particular wedding. The groom thought he was such hot shit — he wore sunglasses during the whole ceremony. For the vows, he wanted his young kids to come up and be next to him for some reason. So, while the bride gave these wonderful, long, thought-out vows, he ignored her and paid attention to the kids, who were fucking around with the lapel mic I put on him the whole time. When she was finished, he laughed at her. He started his vows by saying, ‘I mean, imma wing it. I just knew about this last night…’ They were so short, and he put noticeably less effort than she did.”