18 wedding planners dish on the biggest bridezillas they've ever met

Some of them are just bonkers

Bride Wars
Bride Wars
(Image credit: Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

Some of them are just bonkers

There's a lot of pressure to make getting married an immaculate affair, from the fairytale engagement to the Instagram-worthy ceremony.

Some people cope well with the sky-high expectations, while other brides and grooms react with levels of tulle-covered rage their friends and family previously thought impossible. 

Below, courageous wedding industry workers share their craziest encounters with such bridezillas and groomzillas, via Reddit.

1. ‘I had a really high strung groom who yelled at a one of his young guests(the kid was 12) for sitting out of his assigned seat. He told the kid and his parents to leave. Later that night, the bride's father (who was single) made out with one of the bridesmaids, and the groom punched him. We had to call an ambulance, and the groom was arrested.’

2. ‘I'm not a wedding planner, but my cousin's bride wouldn't let him take a picture with me by himself because she was jealous. I was eight years old, their flower girl,and also HIS COUSIN.’

Source: Crave TV via Giphy

3. ‘I had one horrific couple that didn't care about anyone. The groom was 30minutes late for the ceremony, but it was no big deal, because the bride was two hours late. After the ceremony, we had to shorten cocktails to make up for lost time. The couple got wasted in their limo, and both ended up falling asleep. They were both so late for their own reception that I had the venue serve dinner without them. Their parents were furious. The brides parents left early, and the couple didn't arrive until 11 at night. Half of their guests left before they arrived, and they yelled at me for allowing dinner to start before their arrival. This was a 400 guest wedding.’

4. ‘I had a bride rent our facility for her 'classy' wedding. She was a b***h with a capital B. She refused to make eye contact with any staff member, got people's attention by snapping her fingers at them, and made a complete and total fool of herself when she and her groom showed up plastered to the reception. A rumour had started to spread that she was pregnant, which is why they were getting married. She furiously denied this in a speech to everyone gathered at the wedding. The baby was born five months later, a healthy 10 lbs.’

5. ‘I work as a Hotel Manager and we see bridezillas all the time. The worst was when a bride was so upset that she couldn't fit all of her bridesmaids on one shuttle back from the reception (they took two vans on a 10 minute trip back to the hotel and it only seats 12) that she tried to physically assault the driver. He left her on the side of the road when she tried to bite him. The kicker? When the groom and her parents found out and came to get her they found her trudging back down the highway, realized she was acting crazy and heard her s***ty attitude so they left her there too.’

Source: Velvet Pale Moonlight (tumblr) via Giphy

6. ‘I'm not a wedding planner, but I do work in the industry and my friend is the wedding planner I'm telling this story about. He is a good looking, straight male that has an amazing eye for design and detail. He can do everything from wedding dress design and execution, flowers, you name it. And his services are not cheap. He had a bride who called him up a few days before her wedding and told him she couldn't go through with the wedding because she was in love with someone else.The conversation went something like this: Bride: 'I can't marry him, I just don't love him any more, I think I'm in love with someone else!' Him: 'What do you mean you're in love with someone else!? Your wedding is in 5 days!' Bride: 'Well.... I'm in love with you. You just GET me! I've never met anyone else like you!' Him: '... Do you know how much your parents are paying me to get you?!' She ended up getting married 5 days later and it was never mentioned again.’

7. ‘We had one groom who was an hour late. His bride laid down on the floor,pulled the back of her dress over her head, and started singing nursery rhymes to herself until he could be located.’

8. ‘My most recent bride was having what was obviously her second or third wedding. She kept trying to use everything for free, even though she had signed a very specific contract that stated what she could and could not do. She pitched a fit over that. Then, on the day of the wedding, she threw a nuclear meltdown fit when her bridesmaids got tired of taking photographs after three hours and went somewhere to get warm. She started screaming at the photographer that she was going to keep taking pictures and to hell with all of them.’

9. ‘A bride once called having a melt down because her friend got engaged as well and was planning to get married in the same year as she was. Apparently it was her special year and not just a day. She threw a huge fit that this girl was only getting married to 'steal her thunder.' Her friends date wasn't even in the same month or season. Hers was in October and her friend's was in June.... Brides sometimes don't think rationally.’

Source: WiffleGif via Giphy

10. ‘The worst I've personally witnessed was when a groom's baby mama (and ex fiancé)came to the reception uninvited. She grabbed the wedding cake, chucked it at the newlyweds, and began screaming about how he was a deadbeat dad while she grabbed table wine bottles that she smashed on the ground. We called the police, and she was charged with assault, assault with a weapon (from waving around a wine bottle and clocking a grooms man,) and destruction of private property (both from the couple and the venue.) What a charmer.’

11. ‘I had a mother-in-lawzilla one time, who, after seeing and approving of the chairs that we provided, caused a scene of epic proportions after she decided that the chairs weren't good enough any more. The bride was sobbing by the end of it, being consoled by monster-in-law who simply kept telling her' It'll be alright, even though everything is ruined by these GREEN chairs.'’

12. ‘Just worked a wedding this past Saturday. They had booked for 100 people.When they gave me the guest list (I work at a country club with a security gate so we need everyone's names so they can get in the gate) there were 117 people. I told them that I would have to charge them for 117 because that's how much food we would have to prepare. Cue annoyed phone call from the bride being all 'every time we talk to you it seems like there are more charges.' Well yes, but every time you talk to me you add something, like guests or bar packages.’

13. ‘We had a bride that booked her ceremony in August, in Georgia, outside on a paved patio. Then she was 1.5 hours late. We were worried some people were gonna get heat stroke.’

14. ‘Friend is a photographer. Does weddings. Got punched in the face by the groom because the groom decided that the photographer was 'taking too many photos of the bride.' Weddings seem to bring out the worst in humanity.’

Source: Giphy

15. ‘My mum worked in a bridal salon when she was in college. Sandra came in to try on gowns. She tried on the large sample dress, had it pinned to see how it would look on her if it was her size. She said this was it, so my mum took her measurements, and figured out what size she needed to order.

‘My mum told her her dress will be a size 8 based on her measurements. Sandra threw a fit. 'That's impossible! All of my other dresses are size 4! I have been a size 4 since I was 14. I am not an 8! Order me a 4!' My mum explained that sizes vary from designer to designer and that, while she may be a 4normally, with the designer of her dress her measurements are considered an 8,and it's just a number, and if it's too big it can be taken in, but a 4couldn't be taken out... Sandra took none of that. Despite all protest, she demanded a 4. A couple weeks before the wedding her size 4 dress arrived. It wouldn't zip (duh). Bride had a meltdown. Mum had to apologize and reorder a larger dress at the bridal salon's expense.’

16. ‘I'm a hairstylist, but I had a bride SCREAM CRY because her sister got her make-up airbrushed. The bride felt only she should get hers airbrushed so she' stands out.' I had to explain to her that she would be wearing a big white dress and would be the focus anyway. When I say scream cry, I'm talking uncontrollable sobbing, hyperventilating, had to get her ice to put on her eyes because they got so swollen.’

17. ‘Worked at a luxury hotel and was close with our wedding planner. New Jersey couple decided to have a destination wedding at our hotel.Two-hundred-and-fifty person wedding was for Saturday evening. I'd say 90% of the guests flew from New Jersey. After the rehearsal dinner on Friday night,the wedding party and families get back to the hotel, plastered, and start a fight in the lobby. A fistfight, between the bride's family and the groom's.Security involved, cops called, the whole nine. Wedding was cancelled. All guests were on their own and we heard from the bride's father (who had to foot the $70k+ bill) that the bride moved out and never spoke to the groom again.’

18. ‘Worked a wedding where the whole ceremony was on this beautiful lawn on the coast of the Massachusetts south shore. The bride was insistent that she and her future husband be the only ones to see the water while the ceremony was taking place... She told all in attendance not to turn around out of 'respect' to her.’

Stories have been edited from Reddit for length and clarity.

From the editors of People

The leading destination for fashion, beauty, shopping and finger-on-the-pulse views on the latest issues. Marie Claire's travel content helps you delight in discovering new destinations around the globe, offering a unique – and sometimes unchartered – travel experience. From new hotel openings to the destinations tipped to take over our travel calendars, this iconic name has it covered.