ceebeegee | Wedding Etiquette Hell

From the website etiquettehell.com:

The wedding party had been called to assemble at the church fully dressed for pictures at 3:00 the day of the wedding even though the wedding itself was not to start until 7:00 that evening. Everyone looked fine, and the pictures were taken without incident. The session took about ninety minutes. The wedding party then discovered that they were all dressed up and had nothing to do for the next two-and-a-half hours. They all figured they would not have time to change into regular clothes, go somewhere, do something, come back, change again, and be ready on time. They therefore were stuck in a church with nothing to do. One of the groomsmen decided to provide some entertainment, and went out to his car to get some of the bottles of Jack Daniel's and other spirits he had brought for the reception. Although our denomination does not frown upon the consumption of alcohol, our church does not allow alcohol in its buildings, so the groomsmen had planned a "tailgate" bar for the parking lot during the reception.

All of the wedding party (still dressed for the wedding) eagerly joined in the impromptu party the groomsman set up in the bride's room, and by 6:00 - as none of them had eaten that day, and no mixers were provided - all were intoxicated. The wedding coordinator said she arrived to find several of them "sloppy drunk" and one bridesmaid vomiting in a sink. She said not one of them could speak without slurring words. The parents returned and were just as horrified.

The parents and the coordinator along with a few relatives did their best to get the now disheveled people cleaned up and ready for the wedding. Hair had to be restyled and makeup reapplied. Vomit and spilled drinks had to be washed off of two gowns and one tux. Despite their best efforts, most of the clothing remained wrinkled, but the party at least looked somewhat better. The minister (rightly!) felt it wrong for people to take their wedding vows while drunk, and had to be convinced that the couple was not too wasted to understand what they were doing.

The coordinator stated that when the processional music started, she truly feared that some of the bridesmaids would not make it down the aisle on their high heels, and that some were visibly wobbly as they walked. She also stated that the bride started crying and hung onto her father's arm looking as if she would be sick at any moment. There was no hiding the "aroma" of booze with the underlying scent of vomit as the wedding party passed the congregation. A few of the groomsmen and bridesmaids giggled through the whole thing. The bride cried for most of it.

Everyone made it without passing out or acting too unruly. The coordinator stated that both the bride and another bridesmaid got sick surreptitiously during the reception, and some of the groomsmen's remarks were off-color, but nothing too upsetting occurred. The atmosphere was rather tense, though, and the bride continued to suddenly cry at random. The planned parking lot bar never happened. The couple still is happily married today, so the final outcome was good. I understand that the pictures were beautiful even though the couple has little memory of the actual ceremony.

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Man, I was laughing so hard, tears were coming out of my eyes. I love the bridesmaid vomiting into the sink--that mental picture is killing me. And the bride randomly crying during the reception.