A US couple who planned to elope in secret said their special day was “ruined” after the bride’s “crazy” family gatecrashed the wedding.
The unnamed groom, 26, posted the horror story on Reddit titled “elopement disaster and wedding crashers”.
He said he and his girlfriend of seven years had come up with a plan to tie the knot in Colorado to avoid inviting her problematic family.
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But their ceremony, and the days following, were ruined after the bride’s family tracked them down.
The groom said he and his wife, also 26, made the plan after finding out she was pregnant.
They planned to take just four close friends with them to Colorado.
“We strategically picked Colorado because of 1. The views and 2. It was so far from our families,” the man said.
“We rented an RV, hired a photographer and videographer to shoot our entire trip, rented a massive Airbnb on the mountain with an indoor hot tub and beautiful views. It was perfect.
“Well, almost perfect.”
The groom said neither he nor his wife-to-be was enamoured with her family.
“I should add, her family is crazy,” he said.
“She is fully aware of it and was excited to elope so she didn’t have to deal with the repercussions of her mother and sisters.
“She (bride) was raised in a house with a manipulative addict. The idea that ‘family is all you will ever have’ was burned into her brain at a very young age.
“Her mum knew if she didn’t (do that), all her kids would abandon her. And after years of pill abuse, she’s brain fried.
“Having a conversation with her is difficult. She doesn’t know what is going on most of the time.”
The group made it to Colorado and were getting ready for the wedding when the bride’s family, who had driven more than 1600km to get there, arrived unannounced.
The man revealed the bride had told her youngest sister about their nuptials, in a move he labelled “eloping mistake 101”.
“Her entire family, mum, dad, sisters, sister’s boyfriends, all drove over a thousand miles (1600km) to crash our wedding,” he said.
“We really didn’t expect them to be crazy enough to crash a wedding that was strategically planned to avoid them and their baggage.
“We also didn’t account … her youngest sister is still brainwashed from the ‘family is all you have’ mentality.
“So she convinced her whole immediate family to crash it.”
The groom said the family followed the couple to the venue and made the day all about “the importance of family”.
He said the bride’s mother interrupted the ceremony to offer prayers for them.
After the vows, the bride’s family insisted they throw a party.
“After the ruined ceremony, they followed us back to our Airbnb, where they insisted we were going to have a party. My pregnant wife proceeds to tell them why she can’t drink. And immediately everything went much further downhill,” the man said.
“Her mum had found a new target in our unborn child. The future of manipulated children who would never be able to leave her side. She was thrilled.
“This was no longer about our marriage, it was about her daughter getting married. No longer about our baby, it was about her grandbaby.”
The man said they asked the family to leave a number of times, but were unsuccessful.
“After all was said and done we had a ruined ceremony, 140 pictures, 0 video and no movie,” he said.
“The photographer and videographer stopped doing photos and video because everyone was looking miserable.
“We spent the next two days after our wedding tending to her mother’s needs for attention.
“We were out a ton of money, stressed out, didn’t get half of what we’d paid for and didn’t turn in our marriage certificate (yet).
“Her mother and sisters almost cost us a marriage, with zero remorse. It’s been a stressful month, and I’m just glad it’s over.”
Sympathy
Readers were quick to offer their advice, sympathising with the couple, with many suggesting they cut off her family entirety.
“Sounds like a nightmare,” one said.
“I encourage you both to make moves to cut these people out of your life so you can be surrounded by family that actually love you and not let your child and any future children grow up in an environment of eternal strife.”
Another said: “Keep them out of your marriage, if not your wedding. Protect your relationship, and your wife’s pregnancy, and your eventual baby from them.”
“Go to couples’ therapy asap. This will be your marriage,” a third said.
