Entire Family Gathers For A Wedding Only For The Bride & Groom To Announce They Already Eloped 3 Years Ago
It wasn't the delightful surprise they thought it would be.
vladee | Shutterstock Weddings are a special event, not just for the bride and groom, but also for their family and friends who are excited to celebrate their love. Many expect a traditional wedding, where an officiant unites a bride and groom in holy matrimony.
A long-awaited wedding day came with an unexpected twist for the guests of one husband and wife-to-be, in which they discovered that the couple had already tied the knot in a surprise elopement. If this wasn't shocking enough, they also found out that this secret marriage had happened three years before the ceremony.
A guest revealed they attended a wedding ceremony only to find out that the bride and groom eloped 3 years before.
Turning to Reddit, a guest shared that one of their family members had a wedding ceremony, but at the event, revealed that they had already gotten married years prior. They explained that the couple seemed very indifferent during the planning process, but they chalked it up to the wedding just being low-key and possibly a bit unorganized.
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During the ceremony, as the officiant was about to announce the bride and groom as man and wife, he surprised all the guests by saying he was not an officiant and that they actually eloped three years ago. The bride and groom were excited to share the news, but the guests were left surprised, confused, and some probably a little hurt.
The guest said that the groom's family left shortly after the announcement, but the bride's family stayed for the reception and acted as if it were just a "funny twist." The couple revealed the following day that the groom's family is not talking to him and that the bride's parents have uninvited them from some family events.
The guest explained why they thought everyone had a negative reaction to the bride and groom's announcement.
The guest claimed they have no negative feelings towards elopement, saying, "to each their own." However, they also emphasized, "to pretend and be dishonest for soooo long rubbed me a bit wrong." They spoke to some other guests (who were unrelated to the bride and groom) and found that "mostly no one cares, besides the parents of the couple, who each had their own expectations."
Elopement is not uncommon and is actually increasing in popularity. People may choose to elope for a variety of reasons, including financial difficulties, not enjoying the social aspect of a traditional wedding, or wanting to avoid family drama.
The thing is, all the reasons that people generally give for choosing to elope seem to be negated by the fact that they decided to have a wedding anyway. It doesn't exactly make much sense, especially since the guest wrote in their post that this wasn't a "cash grab."
Helzberg Diamonds conducted a survey in 2022 that asked 1,000 engaged couples in the U.S. about their views on wedding traditions and priorities. The results revealed that "62% of them are open to considering a scaled-back elopement style wedding, and the number is higher for females at 69%."
But again, why have the big affair then?
Commenters found the situation a bit strange, and some even wondered if the wedding was held with ulterior motives.
Many commenters agree that eloping isn't particularly a bad thing, but telling people on the day of the wedding wasn't right. One user said, "I've actually had a few friends who have secretly gotten married before the 'wedding,' but they all kept the secret to themselves. Seems very odd to me to announce it to everyone like that."
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Some believed the family reacted poorly because they likely felt hurt, and that announcing it this way was insensitive. Another user wrote, "Why even announce it? They should have just kept their secret and had the ceremony. How could they not have expected family (and friends) to feel put out?"
Others thought the prolonged time frame was the main problem, and that the couple might have hidden reasons for wanting to still have a wedding ceremony. A user claiming to be a wedding officiant explained, "It is not uncommon for there to be a disconnect between the ceremony and when/if a license is signed. That said, the way they handled it was complete [expletive]. It comes off as somewhere between a bad prank and a cash grab for wedding gifts."
There is absolutely nothing wrong with eloping and then deciding to have a party to celebrate with your friends and family, but the reason this scenario felt wrong was that they kept it a secret for so long and then pretended like they were still a couple just starting out. For people close to the couple, that kind of deception can hurt. Obviously, couples should have the wedding that they envision for themselves, regardless of how extended family feels, but perhaps this party should have been advertised for what it was, a celebration of their love, and not a traditional wedding.
Kayla Asbach is a writer currently working on her bachelor's degree at the University of Central Florida. She covers relationships, psychology, self-help, pop culture, and human interest topics.
