21 Tacky, Shameful Weddings People Can’t Believe They Wasted Time And Money To Attend

21.

Finally: “I was invited to the wedding of a friend’s daughter. My friend was super rich and from another country, which is culturally very different from America. I knew this friend’s family, and they were all super nice. However, I learned quickly that weddings are very different in different cultures. I was not rich by any means and had been told the bride and groom did not want gifts except for gift cards or cash. I thought that was a little tacky, but I’d oblige if that’s what they wanted. I got a gift card for $250 (which was a lot of money for me back then) and put it in a fancy wedding gift card envelope. The wedding was at a huge fancy hotel in Los Angeles. I dressed and drove the three hours to get there, then spent another hour finding parking and walking around to find the big room they were getting married in.”

“I was about 15 minutes early. Before you were allowed to enter the big room they had rented, there was a long table out front where several people were sitting and ‘accepting’ the cash and gift cards each person brought as gifts. They each had a book where they wrote who gave a gift and how much money it was for. They asked me to give them the wedding card with the gift card inside. Then the gentleman (I have no idea who he was) ripped open the pretty card and took out the gift card to see how much money it was. He wrote my name and how much money it was for in the book. He looked at me and said loudly, ‘Don’t you have more to give?’ I was confused, then I realized he expected me to give him more money. I said, ‘That is my gift.’ He just grumbled under his breath about cheap Americans. Honestly, I was shocked and hurt, as this was a lot for me. 

There were no directional signs on where to go, so I asked which room the wedding was in. With disdain, he said, ‘Fourth door down on your right. I went in, and the room was full of people walking around, chatting, and drinking. I guess it was the waiting room? It wasn’t decorated — just a normal bar-type area. I saw someone I knew and asked what was going on. She told me she had just discovered that the wedding would go on for six to eight hours and would be moved from room to room as the wedding progressed in ‘stages.’ She asked me if I had given my gift card to the rude people outside. I told her I did, but they seemed to feel it wasn’t enough and called me a rude American. She said the same thing happened to her. 

We were in this bar area for over an hour with nowhere to sit, and the air conditioning wasn’t working. Our dresses started getting sticky, our hair was limp, and our makeup was sweating off. This was Los Angeles in the summertime, and over 100 people were already there. I found out there were going to be 400 guests. I thought this odd, as that many people would never fit in this room. Apparently, Americans were sent into the bar area (oh, by the way, I don’t drink), and people of the other culture went into another room for a religious ceremony without us. I thought I was going to faint. It was so hot. 

Finally, I told my friend I had a three-hour drive home and could not take this heat, and no one had greeted or spoken to us. I was not going to wait around another seven hours. I said that if anyone asked about me (which I doubted they would), she could just tell them I came, gave my gift, and wanted to stay but could not take the heat. She decided she would just leave, too. We walked out together. No one missed us. 

When people asked about the wedding, I just said it was wonderful and the bride was beautiful, even though I had never seen her. Oh, by the way, I never got a thank you for my gift card.”

—Anonymous