When you receive a wedding invitation, reading through the entire thing is always important. You may learn that you are only invited to part of the celebration!
One woman and her colleague discovered this after they had already made the long trip to support their co-worker on her big day, and they were “absolutely mortified.”
Sharing the story that could be a plot for a girls’ trip movie on the subreddit r/weddingshamingone of the women shared the stranger-than-fiction story.
The woman and one of her co-workers decided to take the 16-hour round trip together and booked a bed and breakfast to stay in overnight.
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“It was the first wedding, other than family, that I’d ever been to so I was excited,” the woman wrote.
After having breakfast, the woman and her colleague got a ride from an employee who worked at the bed and breakfast to the wedding ceremony.
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“The wedding ceremony was so lovely, with Celtic hand tying and a candle ceremony. We take pictures of the bride, mingle with other guests, and get on the transport to the reception where the dinner would be,” the woman wrote.
“We get to the venue and like everyone else are checking the table plan for our seats…And still checking…But can’t find our names.”
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The woman and her colleague summoned the wedding coordinator to determine where their seats were. When he asked for their invitations and looked them over, the woman was mortified to discover that she had missed a critical detail.
“He (the wedding coordinator) flatly states we were only invited to the church and evening drinks and that we need to leave. It was in tiny small print that our invite wasn’t for the meal,” the woman wrote.
Since they had no option but to leave the main reception, the woman and her colleague ventured into town for a bite to eat before heading back to their bed and breakfast to freshen up before they were expected to return for the evening drinks.
“By this point, everyone at the venue was sloppy drunk as they’d been drinking for five hours and we find out we were THE ONLY ‘evening guests,’” the woman revealed.
“We tried to enjoy ourselves but slipped away at 10 PM as the single men were VERY handsy!”
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Unlike their colleague, they were generously welcomed by the local townspeople who heard about “their situation.”
We had the breakfast of gods the next morning and were told if we ever go back to be assured that is not how the local people treat their guests,” the woman shared.
“They really did save the day in more ways than one. Some old boy brought out his accordion and they gave us an impromptu ceilidh and showed us Scottish dancing.”
The woman and her colleague also became close friends during their adventure and decided to cut ties with the bride after she had let it slip that she only invited them to the ceremony and evening drinks “to be polite.”
“Learning point from it all; I now scrutinize wedding invites and if I’m only invited to the evening part that’s cool but at least I’m informed,” the woman wrote.
Not only did the woman gain a friend, lose a fake friend, and now has the story of a lifetime to tell others, but she also got petty revenge on the bride at the end of it all.
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“We had put £50 each in the card envelope and chipped in for a beautiful bedding set on her registry at Debenhams so our gifts were worth £100 each. We took the money out of the card and just gave her the bedding,” she revealed.
In the end, she had an unforgettable travel experience that also taught her an important lesson: Always read the entire invitation before replying yes to a wedding invite.
“It is just rude to invite a person to the morning and the evening part but NOT the eating part. Either you invite them to all or only the evening. This grinds my gears!!” one Redditor commented.
“Wow!! I can’t even imagine inviting people to a wedding so far away and not including them in the meal?!” another user wrote.
“That’s so (expletive) to expect people to travel all the way to the highlands, which are hard to get to I may add, and then NOT invite them to the whole thing?” another user added.
“In The Netherlands, it is really normal to have ‘day guests’ and ‘evening guests’ as it is really expensive to entertain everyone for the whole day,” one user shared.
“That’s common in Scotland too… it’s usually all day or just the evening part,” another user wrote.
There’s one important caveat, however. According to wedding invitation etiquettethe invitation needs to clearly specify that the guest is invited to only the ceremony or only the reception. It should not be hidden in small script on the invitation as it was in this case.
Overall, inviting wedding guests to only part of the day could be perceived as rude or inconsiderate, as it may make some guests feel excluded or less valued compared to others.
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Wedding celebrations are typically seen as an opportunity for guests to share in the entire experience, from the ceremony to the reception, and excluding them from certain parts may cause hurt feelings or resentment.
Not everyone will be lucky enough to have the experience that the two women had after being excluded from the main reception.
If guests must be cut to maintain space or expenses, communication is key. Make sure they are aware before they have to make the journey to support you on your big day.
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Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.
