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Normally, when we hear of a called-off wedding, we assume some catastrophic drama has occurred. But, as always with humans, the real causes might be a lot more mundane. Someone asked people to share the most unhinged, absurd, and bizarre reasons couples have canceled their weddings.
From hating the number of the year to visions of the future in dreams, some marriages didn’t even get off the ground for the most inane bases. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorite examples, and be sure to share your own stories in the comments section below.
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#1
Totally real and legitimate but crazy. Scheduled to get married in 2021. During lockdown, fiancé was out of work and went Q-Anon crazy. Didn’t want his future wife to get vaccinated. She did. That night she woke up to him running a magnet over her body. He said he was seeing if she was chipped or magnetized by vax and was happy that she wasn’t. She asked what he would do if he found it and he said “cut it out of you”. And that was the last straw, thank god. Wedding was couple weeks away at that point and they lost ton of money but she escaped the crazy.
#2
I had to cancel mine because the dips**t failed to mention he was still married to his second wife.
#3
The best man said in his speech that he slept with the bride about 2 weeks before the wedding. All hell broke loose. The groom demanded that the marriage be cancelled. It took a few days to get the truth out & for the groom to finally listen. The best man thought it be a great prank. The groom was apologetic to the bride, but she didn’t forgive him. Because he believed in others’ lies & won’t let her talk.
#4
I was working in the china and crystal department/bridal registry of a department store while going to school. A few days after 9/11 some people started returning wedding gifts off of the same registry. We assumed it had been called off but it wasn’t until the bride’s angry aunt came in to return her gifts that we got the story. The groom was a pilot who had lost some friends during the attacks and then the airline laid him off. The bride then called off the wedding because she was only with him for the free flights. Aunt said that their entire family was disgusted with the bride and doing their best to support the poor groom.
#5
My Italian uncle cancelled his wedding because the bride's family (not Italian) would not serve lasagna at the wedding reception.
He ended up marrying an Irish woman whose family was okay with serving lasagna at the reception.
#6
My wife’s cousin (M) fiancée cancelled the wedding because they couldn’t agree on where to put used towels after showering. She would put a wet towel in the hamper after each shower. He couldn’t get past the fact that (a) she was putting wet towels in the hamper, and (b) that she only used the towel once.
Though he is crazy, I’m with him on this one.
Pittsburgh rare 10 months ago
As a laundry fanatic, you don't put anything wet in the hamper. I'm with him as well
#7
I got sick on Christmas, I was in the hospital Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after. I was alone (my family lived out of state) about 85% of those 3 days. (Aside from nurses and doctors, I had no personal visitors.) He went to Christmas at his family’s house, went to the gym, went and got food, you name it, he did it. Everything except visiting me. I finally went home but was still very ill. He told me on New Years that this isn’t what he signed up for and he didn’t want to take care of me. So it ended because I got sick.
#8
One of my marines has one that takes the cake. His marriage was cancelled because his spouse's parents had a dream that he would become abusive and an addict. She left him because of her parents dream. He's now a multi millionaire....that's an abusive addict.
#9
A friend of mine cancelled her wedding because her bridesmaids (I being one of them) couldn’t afford to buy the dresses she picked out for us. She called off the whole thing and they ended up breaking up anyway. Glad I didn’t waste my money.
Sev Frazer 10 months ago
Wish I would've gone this route, a friend's to-be-wife insisted we bridesmaids buy $300 dresses, I was just so happy I went along even though it was financially hard for me. Just after their first anniversary she decided to jump on a coworker's....****. They're divorced now and I still have the stupid dress that I wore once, because I don't know what to do with it 😅😡 every time I see it I'm filled with rage but it was such a financial sinkhole (and actually a pretty dress) I can't just get rid of it....
#10
I was going to be a guest at a wedding and found out it was canceled 2 weeks before the date. The bride found out that the groom had gotten a significant discount on the price of the venue and she was insanely angry that anything at her wedding cost less than premium.
Keep in mind, this was her dream venue that she had chosen. She was just mad that her fiancé was “cheap”. Or something.
I was never super close to either of them, but the last I heard they never ended up getting married.
Sonja 10 months ago
Never marry such a stupid and ridiculous person! This is completely unreasonable. She got exactly what she wanted and threw a fit because it cost less than expected? WTF? I once had a friend like that. She was a piece of work. She tried to convince me my husband didn't love me because he had excitedly shared that our favourite restaurant had now a club that would get us one free dinner if we joined and she tried to convince me if he loved me he would always want to pay. This was a constant pattern thorough all of the interactions with her. She would win a tournament but choose a cheap useless price because she already owned the better prices instead of offering the valuable price to a friend who didn't have it and let them buy her something nice in exchange. She'd refuse to accept any gifts if the item had been on sale any time close to her birthday. Horribly egoistical and entitled that one.
#11
My friend's former fiancé was a nice dude. Firefighter, easy to talk to, treated her well and got her a nice ring. Every now and then the ring would go missing but he would eventually find it, safe and sound.
She had a good job, too, and was giving him thousands of dollars a month to fix up a house they had bought to live in after they'd gotten married.
Turns out, dude was living two lives or attempting to at the very least: he's married for 10+ years and had two kids, the engagement ring was his wife's and he stole it back every now and then to "find" it for her. There was never a house, he never bought one, and used all the thousands he had been given solely on cocaine.
Needless to say, they cancelled the wedding.
Sev Frazer 10 months ago
....wow, words cannot say just how slimy and gross and despicable this is. Those poor women and poor children 😞
#12
Bride cancelled the wedding a week before because she was a hardcore Disney adult and she was offered a temp job at disney and felt she "couldn't miss the opportunity of her dreams."
#13
One of my friends was engaged and is Catholic. Her husband had to convert and he had a dream where he was in a Catholic Church but not getting married, he was a priest. So he had a vision of becoming a priest and now the wedding is off.
#14
Guy I went to school with called off his engagement when his fiancé admitted she was pregnant with her dad's baby and it was a very consensual situation.
#15
My sister called off her wedding a month or so prior to the scheduled date as she didn't want to have pizza and watch movies every Friday night the rest of their lives. Her fiancé was in charge of Friday night plans: after a long work week, he wanted to unwind with her and their dog. So he's pick up pizza, they'd rent a movie, and just chill.
In hindsight, I think there was either another guy in the picture, or she secretly wanted the attention of calling off her wedding. I've heard her ex is now married with kids. He was awesome and he dodged a bullet.
#16
My friend’s brother was supposed to get married in a different country. About 4 weeks before the wedding, he got COVID, and got it pretty bad: he was hospitalized. As a result, he couldn’t travel and it was starting to look like he might not make the wedding, but unclear.
The bride and/or bride’s family was miffed at this and supposedly said, if he wanted to he would.
And the whole wedding got called off.
#17
My mom was engaged to be married to her high school sweetheart, let's call him Bob. Bob went to her doorstep two weeks before their wedding and told her he had joined the military and wasn't ready for marriage. He flew to Germany the next day. Fast-forward 30 years and two divorces later, my mom was single with five children from two marriages. She runs into her old high school sweetheart Bob. He is also single and recently divorced. They fall in love and have been together ever since. Spoiler Alert: Bob is actually his name.
Sonja 10 months ago
It's very likely they would have divorced too if they'd married back then. So I'd say this was the best reason to cancel a wedding. It allowed him to mature and commit later. Their failed marriages are not proof 5hat they should have married right away. They're proof they both should have waited and look for each other later
#18
She found out that he had a birth mark in a place that she didn't like.
#19
The dude was living a double life. Had a whole another family in a different state and said he traveled for work, but was actually going back and forth between family and fiancé.
#20
My cousin had a dream that her fiance cheated on her. She thought this was a "sign", so went on a deep dive to prove that he was being unfaithful.
She checked his phone, social media, emails, browser history, store receipts, etc. Put a tracker in their shared car. She even went so far as to get a friend to follow him from his work to the pub, sit there all night whilst he had drinks with his colleages, and follow the designated driver back to his home.
There was absolutely no proof he was cheating. There weren't even any inconsistencies with his timetable.
Anyway, the *morning* of the wedding, she paid a "psychic" to turn up and give her a tarot reading whilst getting strapped into her dress. The bloody psychic said a very wishy washy "maybe keep your romantic options open" comment, and my cousin took this as a divine revelation that she shouldn't marry the guy.
So she left. Without telling the groom. Just took off her ring, called an uber, and f****d off with her mum in tow, still wearing her dress.
#21
The groom had a fake SSN because he was dodging child support from a previous marriage. He told bride he had neither an ex wife or child. The SSN was figured out at the courthouse when they were applying for a marriage license. He’d created fake documents at a Staples that morning.
Lyone Fein 10 months ago
So he was a cheat, a liar and a criminal. Not absurd to cancel on finding out about him.
#22
My uncle and ex aunt called off the wedding because “god told them to wait” a month before the wedding. They lived across the country so my parents had to fly with three children under 10 years old and the tickets were non-refundable. My uncle called my dad with the new date, about 6 months after the original date. Ny mom called him later and when he asked if we would be coming to the wedding she said that she spoke to god and he told her to bring her kids to Disney instead. My parents still joke about it today and my uncle divorced that wife a year or two later. Happy ending though, he married his best friend about a decade later and they are truly perfect for eachother. She really is a wonderful woman and we couldn’t be happier for them.
#23
While dating the man for over 5 years, my egg donor called of her marriage to a MILLIONAIRE because she didn't like he didn't chew his food very well and she didn't ever want to be embarrassed in public if he choked.
#24
They didn't have enough donations from friends and family.
They set a date, and when they sent out the invitations, they included a line stating invitations returned without the required minimum would not get seated in the hall, another not allowed into the wedding. The bride and groom would make an appearance outside in the parking lot so they could have a chance to congratulate them, though.
They received... $0.00!
Why? Their minimum was $100. $250 if you wanted food. $500 included "cake service." For alcohol $50 got you 6 drink tickets, and I think the cheapest drink was 2 tickets, and some were 10.
#25
Groom was in a relationship with his "best man." Only people unaware were the bride and her family.
#26
I was at the bachelor party when the text came in she was calling off the wedding that was in one week. Because we are super nerds we decided on going to Arcade hopping around LA instead of bar hopping, I drove because I am the sober friend. She was at her Bachelorette party in Vegas at the same with like 8 of her "closest friends". We all meet in the afternoon and drove to the earliest closing arcade, fiance was texting pics of the girls at a Vegas show. He start texting pics back, it was cute. They both kept it up throughout the night.
At about 8pm she stopped, we figured they were at a show where cameras should be away and he kept sending fun pics. At 9:30 he got like 4 long a*s texts in a row while I was driving to a barcade, everyone was a couple beers in for the night as the last place was also a barcade. Turns out after group discussion with the girls she did not want to raise a "child husband" and he would have to give up video games and D&D and get adult hobbies. There was some long explanation that I feel like was being fed to her by her friends. He said they should talk when back and it was not something to figure out that night while they were out having fun. She said agree or no wedding, he said no wedding. An arcade adventure with the guys got his wedding canceled. She was big mad he would not discuss it when she got back and tried to tell him she was drunk and someone else sent the text and she didn't mean it. But man that was a wild ride that night.
LadyRougarou 10 months ago
Giving an ultimatum ab someone enjoying their hobbies is a huge red flag. Mine is a gamer and it's one of the reasons I love him. I'd never tell him to give up gaming for us to get married. Playing video games, arcade games or table top games isn't childish. Sounds like she allowed her "friends" to ruin a good thing.
#27
A friend a couple of years ago. They just met and rushed to marry.
The very first time they actually slept in the same place was the hotel a few days before the wedding was planned.
He canceled the wedding in the morning.
Quoting: "She snores like a sport bike with open exhaust but not tuned and bad connectors. She also backfires in her sleep".
#28
Bride is Italian, groom Jamaican. The dad told her if she marries him he’s going to go to the wedding dressed like a banana. He bought a yellow tuxedo and a banana hat. The risk of embarrassment made the bride cancel.
#29
Groom called off the wedding **just days before** because the bride said he wouldn’t be the first person she would save from a burning building (first person was her little sister that she basically raised). He said if he’s not her ***first*** priority, why are they getting married at all?? He’s the one who asked the hypothetical question of the top 5 people she would save from a burning building,and she said he would be the second person she would save, but he freaked out when he wasn’t first.
WindySwede 10 months ago
She dodget a bullet, what if they themselves gotten kids. Was he still most important to save from burning building?
#30
One of the most absurd reasons I've heard of someone cancelling their marriage was because the groom insisted on wearing a costume from his favorite superhero movie to the wedding. The bride had envisioned a traditional and elegant wedding, but the groom was adamant about walking down the aisle dressed as a fictional character. The disagreement over the costume led to such a heated argument that they eventually called off the wedding entirely.
#31
My brother played baseball for a minor league team. Never made it pro but he made about 65k a year and he loved it good for him. His fiancee called it off about a month before the wedding was she figured he would quit is " silly sports hobby" once he was a husband and get a real job.
#32
My grandfather was stationed in Italy during the war and met a girl there. He even flew his parents out to Italy for the wedding. The night before they wedding all the guests and were having a good time and his fiancée stuck her chewing gum in his hair. The end.
#33
One of my former friends called off her wedding because she was convinced the guy was either cheating or would cheat in the future. He wasn't cheating on her and hasn't cheated on the woman he ended up marrying years later. The former friend found a new man, got married, had kids. The man has cheated on her from the very start of their relationship, but she refuses to hear about it..
#34
My ex cancelled our wedding because his brother called me a s**t and a terrible person for becoming an adult creator.
I started it to pay for our sons spinal surgery in the USA. My ex was fully on board, was absolutely stoked when the money started rolling in, and even created content with me, but became utterly spineless when his brother said something about me, and didn’t stand up for me at all.
#35
Cos the man was gay and she was just his test to see if he could love a girl. She was heartbroken, but had her suspicions about him.
#36
Grooms mother had a bad dream about her teeth falling out. Mind you he was 32 and his mother had that dream when he was around 5 years old. But literally an hour before the wedding he just randomly thought about his mom talking about that dream at the breakfast table all those years ago and well, yeah. Left the bride waiting at the altar. Afterwards he tried convincing everyone (especially those of us who wanted our damn money back from him.) He was right and why. The fallout was massive! However it was really a lucky thing for the bride because she has a much better life going on with a far better husband than she would have ever had with the groom. Seriously, he's my cousin and and just been nothing but complete dumpster fire trash since.
#37
He bought her a ring with "one ring to rule them all" engraved in Elvish.
#38
My grandmother cancelled her wedding a day before because he was 30 minutes late picking her up for something. I like to say i got my pettiness from her.
Sonja 10 months ago
I wonder if it was truly pettiness or a straw that broke the camel's back. Sadly you see very often that some men don't take their partners seriously. They act very dismissive against their needs. I had so many male acquaintances complaining to me that their gfs ditched them for 'something silly'. But when poking a bit more they reluctantly admitted they'd constantly forgotten about things their partner had asked them to do or outright dismissed them without actually telling their partners. And I told them that their gfs didn't ditch them for forgetting to buy milk but for repeatedly making promises they didn't keep, not communicating fairly if they couldn't keep up a commitment or outright lying they would or wouldn't do something while never actually planning to do as they said because they thought it was not important. The worst thing is that they don't understand what they're actually doing although they wouldn't lie or ignore their bosses, colleagues or friends in that way.
#39
My grandmother broke off an engagement because the man was losing his hair. When she was older she told me she wished she stayed with that man instead of marrying my grandfather :/
Edward Finger Hands 10 months ago
Sounds like she gave him the chance to find someone who valued him for who he was not how much hair he had.
#40
My cousin called it off 3 days in advance because the bride and groom couldn't agree on whether to hyphenate their last names, or use his.
In retrospect, there was a significant class/ culture divide of which that was merely one symptom.
What do you think ?
Multa Nocte 10 months ago
In a lot of these it sounded as if one or the other partner had decided to call off the wedding and then just made up some flimsy excuse for getting cold feet.
whodunnitfan2013 10 months ago
Just look at all this s**t I'm avoiding by not getting married!
Tiffany Marie 10 months ago
Had a very cheap wedding in Reno. Fast too. Not even a wedding dress. Didn't even change my last name. We ate onion rings after. -Married 17 years with no kids so far.
Just Me 10 months ago
I paid around $400 for my dress and veil. My grandmother made my bridesmaid dresses. My aunt made the wedding cake. The reception was a BBQ in my parents backyard. Still married 30 years later. I attended a wedding of a friends daughter a while back. Wedding cost around $100K, they were divorced 10 months later.
Load More Replies... Multa Nocte 10 months ago
In a lot of these it sounded as if one or the other partner had decided to call off the wedding and then just made up some flimsy excuse for getting cold feet.
whodunnitfan2013 10 months ago
Just look at all this s**t I'm avoiding by not getting married!
Tiffany Marie 10 months ago
Had a very cheap wedding in Reno. Fast too. Not even a wedding dress. Didn't even change my last name. We ate onion rings after. -Married 17 years with no kids so far.
Just Me 10 months ago
I paid around $400 for my dress and veil. My grandmother made my bridesmaid dresses. My aunt made the wedding cake. The reception was a BBQ in my parents backyard. Still married 30 years later. I attended a wedding of a friends daughter a while back. Wedding cost around $100K, they were divorced 10 months later.
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