Her mouth said “I Do.” But her nervous system said “I Don’t.”
Butterflies in a bride’s belly are expected on her big day. But what Kelly O’Neill shrugged off as wedding day jitters were actually “signs” that she was making a big mistake.
“I just thought I was feeling nervous but actually I think it was my body telling me to run,” O’Neill, 26, a divorcee from the UK, told Kennedy News. “When I got to the front and started coughing and panicking.”
The blond-turned-brunette, who tied the knot with her high school sweetheart at age 19 in 2018, recently shared footage of her freak-out to TikTok, titling the post: “My body literally rejecting him on my wedding day.”
“Not to mention the hair failing out and dress ripping,” she noted to her over 7.3 million viewers.
It was a series of physical forewarnings, signaling that the her union was doomed.
But the Brit’s far from the only gal dressed in white who’s ignored red flags.
Hollee Lynnea-Kolenda Darnell, 27, passed out, puked and got pooped on during her 2021 nuptials. She and her hubby got hitched despite the disastrous display.
And while most women hope to look smoking-hot in their wedding gowns, a Los Angeles bride seriously turned up the heat when her dress caught on fired during her ceremony.
“It was TERRIFYING,” said Bailey, a painter who captured viral visuals of the blaze. “I actually dropped my phone and ran to get a bucket of water.”
But it seems nothing could quell the flame between the hapless sweethearts, who, once the fire was extinguished, proceeded to toast their holy matrimony.
O’Neill, too, moved forward with her vows in spite of her anatomy’s objections.
“My hair had been done up but I remember when we got outside it had all fallen out and was ruined,” she recalled to Kennedy. “The shoulder part of my dress came undone and had to be held together by a pin.”
And things only worsened as she made her way towards the altar.
“As soon as the doors opened and I walked down the aisle I [felt like I] was not in my body,” she recalled. “I was so disassociated from it all.”
“It started off with just a cough then my body just kind of froze — I was having a panic attack at that moment,” added O’Neill, who blames her inability to call off the wedding on being “blinded and young.”
“There’s silly little things now that I look back on and think, ‘These were all little signs’,” she said.
O’Neill and her now ex-husband officially split after just one year of marriage. She credits the divorce with helping her see their relationship issues more clearly.
“When I stepped away from it all my blindfold was lifted,” said the Gen Z, who is now in a new relationship and has recently become a new mother.
“I watched [the video] and I just felt sad for that girl. I didn’t recognize her as me. It only came after,” said O’Neill.
But after sharing the vid online, she was stunned by the mixed reactions.
“I decided to post it to see if anyone else could relate to it but a lot of my comments on TikTok are just saying, ‘You should’ve walked away,’” O’Neill groaned. “But it’s never that black and white.”
“I went into the wedding with no expectations [of how to feel],” she continued. “And that’s why I found it so hard to draw a line between what I was actually feeling and what I thought I was feeling.”
Luckily, the internal trauma didn’t deter her from wanting an “I Do” re-do in the future.
“I don’t regret getting married but I know next time I’ll never rush into something,” she said before offering a few pearls of wisdom to other unsure brides.
“I’d encourage people to listen to their body if something doesn’t feel right, especially if you’re young,” O’Neill advised. “Surround yourself with good people who love you and don’t be afraid, because the grass isn’t always greener but it definitely can be.
“You’re going to want to ignore everyone’s advice and think you know everything,” she warned, “but your body knows.”
