11 Perfect Wedding Days That Fell Apart at the Last Minute

A wedding day is supposed to be one of the happiest moments in life. Months of planning, dreaming, and hoping all lead up to that special day. But sometimes, things don’t go as planned.

We have gathered stories of wedding days that took a shocking turn at the very last moment. Some are heartbreaking, some are hard to believe — and all will leave you speechless.

• My cousin’s backyard shotgun wedding. She changed her mind because they got in a fight that morning. My uncle still made BBQ, and it just turned into a typical family hang out.
  They got married the next weekend anyway. Not a very exciting story.
  They are still married like 22 years and three kids later, though, so that’s something. © Suitable_cataclysm / Reddit
• I once worked at a hotel where a wedding was canceled just a few hours before it was supposed to happen. The only information we got was the manager telling us that the father of the bride let him know that it was off, but only said, “There’s no way she’s marrying him.” We guessed it was a bachelor party incident, but never found out for sure. © tacknosaddle / Reddit

• We called it the “non-wedding.” It was a very small, backyard do and when we showed up, a relative of the groom ushered us out back and whispered that the wedding was off, but they had all this food and to help ourselves.
  Apparently, just that morning, the groom found out that the bride cheated on him at her bachelorette party, but his family said they’d already spent all the money on the party so they’d just tell people when they arrived.
  It was one of the most awkward experiences of my life because the groom just sat dejectedly in a chair while people tried to cheer him up. We ate a little out of obligation and then got the hell out of there. © Empkat / Reddit
• A colleague of my husband’s texted him about a week before the wedding saying something cryptic like “If I’m in Key West on Friday, the wedding isn’t happening” so he was clearly having thoughts prior to. But social media showed that the rehearsal dinner happened the night before the wedding, and he was there, so we figured he had gotten over it.
  We had family in town and weren’t planning to attend the wedding anyway, but my husband texted a congratulatory message later on the day of. Guy replied from Key West. He did not show for the ceremony.
  His excuse was that she wouldn’t sign the prenup. The reality was that he was already seeing someone else. © AppropriateAmoeba406 / Reddit

• My friend did this like 20 some years ago. She was engaged to a guy from a very well off family. The wedding was in California, but they were living in Seattle. Very posh, very expensive. But the MIL didn’t treat her good.
  Right at the beginning of the reception, the MIL came up and said some nasty things to her in a whisper, thinking she would just take it again. She lost it, families got involved, and she ended up on a plane back to the PNW that night.
  Her family had already started moving her things out of the apartment that evening. Never spoke to him again. © snail_juice_plz / Reddit
• My brother went to this engagement party, everything was great, nothing out of the ordinary.
  Wedding comes around three months later, he shows up... and it’s a totally different bride. Same groom, same date, same invite, just... new bride. No explanation. © zzibhai / Reddit

• My sister-in-law called off her wedding 1.5 months out because she was going through a deep depression. It was so tough, but her fiancé understood that it wasn’t because she didn’t want to marry him, it’s that she couldn’t find any joy in life at that stage, and it was the wrong time to get married.
  They’re still together and have 2 kids now and are very content with life. © -WhyIs- / Reddit
• I have a worse version of this. Had a family member get married, and they got pregnant afterwards. Seemed all good.
  The day of the birth, the dude decided he didn’t want to be a father and left to never be seen again. Never even saw the kid. © Alki_Soupboy / Reddit

• It was my wedding day. I was all dressed up and about to walk down the aisle with my dad toward my fiancé. As we stepped forward, he gripped my hand tighter and leaned in. Chills ran down my spine when he whispered, “I saw him leaving with his car.”
  My fiancé had left and just left a note in the groom’s room. I went to read it myself. It said he couldn’t marry someone who didn’t want kids. We had talked about it and I thought we were on the same page, but apparently not.
  He waited until the last possible moment, then walked away. I didn’t cry. I just changed out of the dress and left. We haven’t spoken since.
• We had just finished the ceremony. I had never felt more sure of anything in my life. We made our way to the signing table. That’s when my bride’s phone buzzed on the table beside her bouquet.
  She glanced at it. Then froze. Her hand trembled as she picked it up. Her eyes scanned the screen once, twice... then she slowly turned to me and said, “I have to go.”
  I thought it was a joke. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. She left the venue. Just got into a car and disappeared.
  I found out hours later that her ex had just texted her not to get married. She said she owed it to herself to see him again. We never signed the papers.

• My friend did this—just turned off his phone and didn’t show up at the ceremony. When I asked him about it, he said, “Well, I just woke up that morning and thought to myself, ‘Nah, no way.’” © Tight-Bumblebee495 / Reddit

If you want to take a break from all these sad stories, let’s dive into the real-life tales of devoted dads who would walk through fire for their children.