Most disastrous wedding. Ever.

[Scout1071]

Lovely outdoor fall wedding last night on a farm outside of the city. They had large charter buses to bring everyone from the hotels in town.

Anyway, as the bridal party were making their way to the altar, it started to sprinkle. By the time the vows were in progress it really started to pour. Soooo, the wedding party reconvened in one of three large tents. As they continued their vows the thunder, lighting and rain grew louder and louder as they got closer to the "I do's". Everyone were clearly relieved when they were finally pronounced husband and wife.

Fast forward a few hours later of intermittent rain, heels sinking in wet grass, power going in and out and some mighty stiff drinks from the bar and the party was kickin' despite the rain.

And then it happened. The skies opened up again with some of the most ferocious lightning I've ever seen. We were in three big top type tents. We notice a large bulge of water in the middle tent - where the bar was located. A couple of geniuses decided to poke it with a chair trying to get the water off and relieve some of the tension and strain on the tent. Bad idea. Instead of rushing off the tent, the water moved to another puddled area and really started to bulge. I yelled "the tent is going to go - get out!" and boom. That sucker collapsed right on us.

The power was out, people were yelling for their children and spouses. Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt. I've got couple of nasty bruises on my arm and shoulder from the metal tent beams crashing down. Small bruise on my forehead. But that seems to be the extent of injuries.

At that point the entire wedding party crowded into this relatively small house on the property because the rain and lightning was so intense and too dangerous to be standing on wet ground under metal poles.......on the prairie.

The charter bus finally arrived and we all braved the rain to board. Everyone was so relieved when the bus began to move and the driver went to turn around.......and it suddenly stopped. That freakin' bus sunk in the mud so deep that I nearly had to step UP to get off.

My friend and I were lucky enough to hop in a total strangers car - one of only about 5 cars left - and get a lift back to town. Everyone else showed up at the bar about an hour and a half later looking terribly frazzled - just in time for last call.

So, there you have it. Officially the most disastrous wedding I have ever been to in my life. I feel so bad for the bride and groom, they are great people and they tried so hard. Mother Nature just had different ideas.

[Guy Fawkes]

1. Look at it this way...

they'll have a great honeymoon by comparison, no matter what happens.

[Scout1071]

3. That's a nice thought. And it sure as hell was memorable.

[grannylib]

2. That sounds rather freaky...glad no serious injuries; could have been much

worse!
We got married outdoors and got lucky, beautiful day, but we had a back-up plan in case of bad weather.

[Scout1071]

5. The back-up plan was the tents, but nobody anticipated a storm like that!

[Elidor]

4. Holy shit! That is the barometer of bad!

The gods do not smile on this union. I hope the rest of it goes better.

[Scout1071]

6. No kidding. The funny part was the bartenders left as soon as the tent

collapsed and the crowd looted the bar area. I was able to bring a nice bottle of Syrah back to the hotel bar! I saw quite a few people with bottles of champagne boarding the bus.

Incredible. Couldn't have a written a scarier scenario for a wedding!

[Elidor]

9. The Syrah is the best part!

You went for the good stuff. It would make a good movie scene.

[Scout1071]

10. Funny thing is that both the bride and groom are in the movie biz.

Could very well turn into a scene in a movie. If you ever see that scene, remember you read it here first!

[KitchenWitch]

7. The midwest during the fall is not the place to plan an outdoor wedding

MrKW and I got married in the early fall and a lot of poepole were trying to convince me to have an outdoor wedding. I am so glad I didn't.

[Scout1071]

8. Agreed. You just never know. At least not on a farm with no other

options. And it isn't so much a farm as a house with some land. No barn or anything like that on the property.

The bus driver totally freaked out. The poor people who own the house. Geez, their carpet is going to need to be cleaned in every room in the house. The were worried about their sump pump as well. Yikes.

[CanuckAmok]

11. No, the most disasterous wedding ever...

...I mean, there's always thiose ones you hear of in the Middle East and in the Third World, where people are killed, and those are the worst.

But as far aw "worst"...

About three years ago, a guy I worked with attended a wedding in Nanaimo BC, and the reception was held at the couple's mountainside home. About 30 people from the wedding party were standing on the rear deck, when it collapsed. People fell about 30 feet, and 22 people were seriously injured, including the bride, who received a compound fracture of one femur.

People had to be airlifted by Air ambulance and the Comox Search and Rescue Squadron... it was pretty serious!

[Scout1071]

12. You win.

But we were only one bolt away from tragedy. And believe me, I could see those bolts striking all over the place in the near distance.

[Orrin_73]

17. Have to agree with you here

In Turkey people have the habbit that when they are drunk to shoot guns in the air. Most wedings happen in open streets, so when someone watch the wedding from the balcony they get hit by a bullit it many times happened where people died. Or they shoot while on the dance floor, a few years ago someone shot the groom on the head accindentaly while dancing. The groom died.

Each time Turkey wins a major soccer match people take their guns and shoot in the air sometimes killing people.The government is doing everything to stop this madness but to no avail.

[Scout1071]

13. Kick for the morning crowd!

[matcom]

14. that is AWESOME!

and to think.... i THOUGHT i hated weddings :D

[Scout1071]

27. I remembered your wedding thread and I knew you'd like this story.

At least it was eventful and memorable!

[SOteric]

28. What? You mean I never told you about

the wedding I catered where the mother of the bride turned the hose on her ex-husband and his new bimbette?

[Scout1071]

29. oh, that's excellent.

[BikeWriter]

15. I'm so glad you weren't more seriously injured, Dear!

That really was dangerous.

[xmas74]

16. Must have been a wedding weekend.

My brother got married Sat at the RenFest.

[mnmoderatedem]

18. I think I've got that beat

OK, so I didn't actually attend this wedding, but I once had a coworker who attended this particular wedding, and she's swears up and down hand to God this is a true story:

it seems that the night before this partucular wedding, the groom had his bachelor party, and chose to sew his wild oats one more time, with the bride's best friend and maid of honor. Word of the little tryst got out, and the bride found out before the ceremony. The bride turned to the congregation in the middle of the nuptuals. She thanked everyone for attending. Then she also said she wanted to thank her maid of honor for sleeping with her husband to be the night before the wedding, and then promptly stormed off the pulpit, leaving the whole audience rather stunned to say the least. Needless to say, the marriage did not proceed.

I remain skeptical to this day, but my coworker insists it's a true story. She was there when it happened.

[ghostsofgiants]

20. Sounds like the beginnings of an urban legend, to me...

I'm doing a folklore course this semester about urban legends and that fits the criteria perfectly. Not saying it didn't happen, but it fits the urban legend mold quite well. (Perhaps this is the beginning of a new urban legend, haha.)

[Samurai_Writer]

23. That actually happened to me...

but I didn't find out until AFTER the wedding, unfortunately. Needless to say, the marriage did not last long.

[mnmoderatedem]

25. Geez you'd like to think things like that would happen

but I guess they do.

hope you found out before too much time elapsed to minimize the damage. Sorry you had to go through that...

[kick-ass-bob]

26. I have heard that story before.

Most likely, your coworker is pulling your leg.

(I've seen it go around in an email)

[anarch]

19. I dunno...I heard somewhere that rain on a wedding day is good luck,

so maybe that's just a whole lot of really violent good luck....

Anyway, glad nobody was seriously hurt!

[Arugula Latte]

21. Oh man. Outdoor weddings.

We had ours in Colorado in late June. Well, it poured and there was lightning WHIRLWINDS on the day of the wedding. I was seriously bummed. Then, shortly before the ceremony the skies cleared and we had a triple rainbow! In spite of a slippery deck, with two people biting it, everything else went smoothly. It was a great wedding.

I feel so badly for this bride and groom. That just sucks. I hope somebody captured the tent collapse for one of those "disastrous wedding" video shows or America's Funniest Home Videos.

[Wapsie B]

22. That sounds horrible.

To make all those plans and have it ruined like that. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

[no name no slogan]

24. That is why weddings should be in God's House--

NOT out in the great outdoors with God, nature, critters, weather :silly: