Weddings are supposed to be joyful, love-filled celebrations, but sometimes the stress of planning turns brides (and sometimes even their families) into full-blown nightmares.
From outrageous demands to jaw-dropping meltdowns, the stories people share about “bridezillas” are both shocking and oddly entertaining. While it’s natural to want your special day to be perfect, some brides take it to extremes, leaving everyone around them wondering if the wedding is about love or just control.
These real accounts range from cringe-worthy to downright unbelievable: bizarre rules, ruined dresses, family drama, and moments that belong in wedding disaster compilations.
Here are some of the most unforgettable bridezilla horror stories that will make you laugh, and maybe feel grateful for a low-key ceremony.
1
At one wedding, guests weren’t allowed to speak to the bride. All communication had to go through her mother or maid of honor.
2
My best friend’s coworker doesn’t want anyone “born out of wedlock” at her wedding, including my friend, whose mom was a teen when she had her.
3
A friend told me I couldn’t take my lupus medication on her wedding day. She thought I’d be “too out of it” to do my maid-of-honor duties. I spent ten hours in agony before driving eight hours home.
4
On the way to the reception, my sister’s ball gown got caught under a golf cart tire. When her new husband hit the gas, the skirt ripped clean off, leaving her sobbing in her undergarments.
5
One bride handed out “bridesmaid contracts.” Break a clause, and you’d be kicked out, even if you’d already bought the dress. I declined and enjoyed the wedding stress-free.
6
My best friend made her bridesmaids sew their own dresses from a 1950s pattern. Mine turned out fine, but it was a nightmare to make.
7
A bride was furious when a flood in South America delayed her flower shipment. She said her whole wedding was ruined without the “perfect” centerpiece color.
8
I dyed my hair red and cut it short a year before a wedding. The bride freaked out, saying I’d “ruined” her big day because all the other bridesmaids still had long blonde hair.
9
The bride’s mother asked if the officiant could marry her and her fiancé during the ceremony too, “It won’t be a big distraction.”
10
My fiancé’s coworker is a notorious bridezilla. She called vendors daily, screamed at them, and planned a wedding in Lake Placid with $200-per-night hotel minimums. Then she yelled at guests who said they couldn’t afford it.
11
My sister bought a green dress for her brother-in-law’s wedding. The bride demanded she wear pink to match the theme. My sister refused, though she paid for her daughter’s pink flower girl dress.
12
The father of the bride gave a 15-minute toast describing, in detail, the night his daughter was conceived. Nothing about the couple, just a play-by-play of that night.
13
My mom’s limo driver had cleaned the seats with leather cleaner. When she got out to walk down the aisle, there was a huge brown stain on her gown. Luckily, we managed to bustle it to hide the mark.
14
At a wedding I attended, the couple tried the Dirty Dancing lift for their first dance, right next to the cake. They toppled straight into it.
15
My sister-in-law asked her bridesmaids (including me) to gain 5–10 kilos so she’d look thinner in comparison.
16
The groom’s father gave a heartfelt speech, but kept calling the bride by his son’s ex-wife’s name.
17
At my grandmother’s wedding, the photographer got lost after the ceremony. No pictures of the reception, cake, or first dance exist. They staged a “cake cutting” the next day, and I didn’t find out for decades.
18
At a barn wedding, a cow gave birth loudly throughout the ceremony.
