Wedding guests share biggest red flags that indicates a marriage is not going to last

Wedding guests have shared the exact moments they knew a marriage was destined to fail.

The confessions came after a thread on r/AskReddit asked users, "As a wedding guest, what was the 'this marriage isn't going to last long' moment?" and one story in particular stood out for how quickly things spiraled.

It turns out, one of the most common warning signs, according to thousands of Reddit users, was a groom who couldn't stay sober long enough to get through his own reception.

One guest described a groom who 'showed up drunk and kept cracking jokes during the ceremony', forcing the registrar to stop proceedings twice to get him to take it seriously.

While the bride was later spotted in the kitchen making sandwiches for the reception, still in her wedding dress, the groom sat in the bar drinking heavily with his friends.

By the time the cake was cut, he was 'swinging the knife around pretending he was Rambo' while his bride tried to laugh through what was clearly a humiliating moment.

The marriage, the commenter said, lasted only a matter of weeks.

Another guest recalled a near-identical scene at a different wedding, where the ceremony itself was delayed while groomsmen 'desperately tried to sober up the groom' as the bride argued with her father about calling the whole thing off.

Getting really drunk at the ceremony was one of the big red flags that a wedding wasn't going to last (Getty stock image)

Signs that a marriage won't work out

Other guests shared their own contenders for the funniest early warning signs.

One commenter recalled a groom who tried to bring his ventriloquist dummy out to help deliver his vows, prompting the bride to interrupt with, 'No, we talked about this. I will walk out', a marriage that lasted just three months. Another described a groom who swapped what was supposed to be a rehearsed first dance song for Morrissey's You're The One For Me, Fatty, abandoning his bride mid-dance floor to run laughing laps around the room instead.

One bride's vows reportedly promised 'in richer and richer', refusing to even entertain the idea of hardship, while another wedding was delayed by half an hour after the bride refused to leave the bathroom because she believed the clock hands 'pointing upward' was a bad omen.

One maid of honor even used her entire speech slot to list every one of the bride's ex-boyfriends in chronological order.

One Reddit user described a bride who requested a bizarre demonstration from the couple's dog trainer, staging a fake ex-boyfriend confrontation, mid-first dance, that ended with their Rottweiler wrestling the "intruder" to the ground. (Yuliia Ovsiannikova / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

What are wedding day red flags a marriage won't last?

The Reddit stories echo what wedding professionals have observed firsthand.

Speaking to Insider, photographer Nina Larsen Reed said how a couple handles stress and unexpected chaos on the big day, rather than how the ceremony itself goes, is often the clearest indicator of whether a marriage will last.

"I think that the biggest sign for whether a couple will last or not is how they handle problems together," Reed said, noting that couples who 'laugh it off and stay calm' tend to fare far better than those who spiral into blame, a pattern that lines up neatly with guests' accounts of chaotic, alcohol-fueled receptions.

Drinking wasn't the only red flag guests pointed to.

Wedding planner Lynne Goldberg told Insider that some of the clearest signs of trouble show up long before the big day itself, revealing that couples who ask vendors to hide the true cost of the wedding from their partner often signaling deeper issues. (Getty stock image)

One Reddit user described a bride who requested a bizarre demonstration from the couple's dog trainer, staging a fake ex-boyfriend confrontation, mid-first dance, that ended with their Rottweiler wrestling the 'intruder' to the ground. Despite the chaos, that marriage lasted around two years.

Wedding planner Lynne Goldberg said some of the clearest signs of trouble show up long before the big day itself, revealing that couples who ask vendors to hide the true cost of the wedding from their partner are often signaling deeper issues.

"If there are secrets about money going into the marriage, there is a good chance there will be secrets during the marriage," Goldberg said.

Photographer Jimmy Chan of Pixelicious added that a lack of interest from one partner during planning, particularly skipping consultations, is another consistent warning sign, while couples who go the distance tend to prioritize showing up for each other from the very start.