Wedding Disasters: Readers Share Their Big Day Stories

"Plan for the worst, hope for the best" is not necessarily a phrase you want to think about in relation to your wedding day. But sometimes, you've got to.

That's because unexpected horrors happen at weddings all the time--a torn dress, a missing bouquet, a drunken speech from your father-in-law. So when we asked our Twitter followers about their wedding day disasters (#weddingdisaster), we knew we'd uncover some real treasures. We just didn't know how bad the Big Day could really be for some of you.

Click through the slideshow below to see readers' top 15 wedding disaster stories, then share your own nuptial "fails" by adding a slide.

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• Sara Calvin

• Devon Sundberg

• Cait

• Donna Green

• Heidi Rogalla

• Samantha G. (Dixon)

• Katie Mercury

• Coffee Dollee

• Shari L

• Craig O'Malley

• Stephanie Grimm

• Casper Ghostwriter

• Stephanie Alboum

• Darlene Stimson

• Kevin Griffin

• Wedding Disaster

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/fins814"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/fins814">fins814</a>:<br />

• Wedding Disaster

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Lauren_Young2"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/1547323411/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Lauren_Young2">Lauren Young2</a>:<br />We had to reschedule our wedding because Hurricane Irene Hit us, Best Man couldn't make it because his wife said no because it was their anniversary, Original photographer cancelled with one month till the wedding because she was pregnant and ended up in the hospital...and the list goes on

Comments

[jrakansas]

04:08 PM on 10/28/2011

3 parter:
1. Rehearsal dinner was supposed to be a low-key BBQ in my parents' backyard. 20 minutes before the food was ready, it started to downpour. Ended up shuttling everyone and the food to the local armory that my dad had managed to get opened up for us.
2. 15 minutes before the ceremony at the church, one of my friends came in to the bride's room and asked if we weren't gonna decorate at all. I'D FORGOTTEN TO PUT THE DECOR UP! He grabbed my father-in-law and they ran roughshod over everything and got it done with about 5 minutes to spare.
3. My brother (one of the groomsmen) showed up a few minutes late for the reception--stoned out of his mind. Had to tell him to go home as soon as we cut the cake.

[Mindy Ross]

04:14 PM on 10/04/2011

The groom showed up three hours late. I think he had cold feet. We did get married (I had already paid for the dress) but we divorced two years later.

[Mr Anonymous]

08:57 PM on 10/03/2011

My wife to be came down with the stomach flu a couple hours before the ceremony, which made it fairly interesting. She ended up being sick for a week after.

[MexiChick67]

07:03 PM on 10/03/2011

The day of our wedding our son, who was 18 months old at the time, woke up with a horrible ear infection. During the ceremony he ran a fever and all he wanted was me to hold him.

Worst wedding shenanigans took place at a friends wedding. An invited female friend of the couple getting married started drinking pretty heavily at the reception. It came out that she had the a thing for the groom. By the time the cake was being cut she was telling everyone at the table and to anyone within ear shot that she was not going to go home alone. Guys were running in all directions as she spun about the dance floor trying to get a guy. I was embarrassed for her.

[Anna Snow Berck]

06:47 PM on 10/03/2011

Rental company was supposed to set everything up but they were hours behind schedule and set up nothing. It rained torrentially all day on our wedding day until 3 pm (6 pm outdoor wedding). We were setting up frantically until go time. Sis-in-law went nutso and my husband-to-be had to talk his parents into waiting until after the wedding to commit her. Food was super late in arriving to ceremony. So instead of white wine spritzers and hor d'ouevres, we just served beer. Two days before the wedding, guitarist bailed. Somehow we found a harpist (even better) as a replacement! And on the way to the wedding, we had to stop by urgent care with our 10-month-old son because he had a raging fever and ear infection. AND my mom and step-mom-in-law had a huge horrible fight the day before the wedding.

It turned out to be a beautiful and unforgettable day but I am never getting married again! And it was a hell of a lot worse that two missing chair covers!

[MightyMeno]

12:20 PM on 10/03/2011

My husband and I decided to elope to Key West. We took a water taxi from Marco Island, and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico were so rough, everyone - even the boat chapter - puked (not me, though; I took Dramamine!). I could have gotten a great shot of my soon-to-be hubby barfing up his breakfast in a trash can, but decided against it.

The actual wedding - once we got to Key West - was fun and informal and then we went to a reggae bar to celebrate. But coming back, the boat captain refused to venture back out into the choppy Gulf waters, and we ended up being carted home in a little shuttle bus. Through the Everglades. In the dead of night. And the bus...broke..down. We sat in a gas station in the middle of the 'glades for HOURS. By the time we dragged our butts home it was 6 a.m. and we didn't even have the energy to consummate the marriage.

P.S. We've been married 15 years. If we could survive the wedding, we certainly could survive the marriage!

[MightyMeno]

12:24 PM on 10/03/2011

Sorry...I meant boat CAPTAIN, not boat "chapter"...*sigh*

[Pippi-J]

08:42 AM on 10/03/2011

I would hardly call missing two chair covers a disaster! Is she serious?

[SmartladyDem]

01:20 PM on 10/03/2011

Look at it-She appears to be a party planner-
It reads more like a free ad to me....

That's the WORST thing to happen when you are planning weddings? No way.

[Pippi-J]

07:57 PM on 10/03/2011

Oh yes, I see that now. I did not look at her title, but still, I want her job if that's considered a disaster!