In Hollywood movies, runaway brides usually flee the altar at the last minute and hop on a horse before riding off into the sunset, veil blowing in the wind. In real life, breaking off a wedding may be a little less scenic, but certainly no less dramatic.
Recently, Reddit user scipio2000 asked runaway brides to share the moment they decided the wedding was off. Many of the stories are truly jaw-dropping, but the following top five really take the cake.
1 | "The red flags were there."
Shutterstock"I was 17 at the time, and still in high school," one Reddit user wrote. "Met an alleged army guy and we hit it off." She was ecstatic when he proposed, even though "the red flags were there." He didn't have his own place, she never met his family, and he "proposed loudly in a pizza shop." Then, to top it all off, he called out his sister's name during sex.
"I did some real soul searching," the Redditor wrote. "I became withdrawn and quiet. I was visiting my nana one day and she asked me, 'Are you in love with him or in love with the idea of a wedding?' And just like that, the bubble burst. I cried and broke it off with him."
Three weeks later, he married another woman "with the same ring he gave me," she noted.
2 | "I said yes mostly because I was too embarrassed to say no."
Shutterstock"On my 18th birthday, my boyfriend proposed to me at my party, in front of all of my family and friends," another Reddit user wrote. "I said yes mostly because I was too embarrassed to say no."
When they were alone, she asked her fiancé for a long engagement and he agreed. But before she knew it, his wealthy family was planning "a wedding that's suddenly looking like the nuptials of a minor royal." She was relieved when they placed a deposit on a venue that wasn't available for two years, but then it had a sudden cancelation and her fiancé accepted it without her even telling her.
"When I explained that I didn't want to get married in six months ... he told me I was being childish and that the invitations were at the printer, so it was too late to 'change my mind,'" she wrote. "I finally realized that he was manipulating me, so I gave him the engagement ring back and told him I didn't want to see him anymore." His family then demanded she pay for half of a wedding she hadn't even planned.
3 | "My gut told me right away that it was too soon."
"We had been together for six months when he proposed," one Reddit user wrote. "We were both young at the time and weren't even living together. My gut told me right away that it was too soon, but I said yes anyway and went along with it because I thought he loved me and I loved him."
When she told her fiancé that she wanted to wait awhile before getting married, he responded by accusing her of cheating. "Things started to get really toxic and I eventually left him for good," she wrote. "He ruined my reputation and my self-esteem but it made me realize that I really dodged one **** of a bullet by refusing to marry him."
4 | "He was cheating on the bride with the bride’s sister and the best man's girlfriend."
ShutterstockOne florist on Reddit wrote about doing the flowers for a wedding that never came to be. "We mostly communicated via email and [the] groom would come by to make payments and drop off items for the wedding. He was always pretty chill and laid back (not usually common with grooms)," the Redditor wrote. "Turns out he was cheating on the bride with the bride’s sister... and the best man’s girlfriend (also in their friend group)."
Apparently, the bride found out right before her bachelorette party and called off the whole thing. But, good news, according to the florist: The runaway bride is getting married to someone else now (and she has a hefty credit with the florist, to boot).
5 | "He was the best dad anyone could ask for that day."
ShutterstockOn her wedding day, one woman's father overheard her repeat some of the terrible things that her groom-to-be would say to her. That's when he suddenly suggested they go to Dairy Queen.
"When she was little they often went to DQ and talked over ice cream. She took a second, agreed, and they left to go to DQ. But he drove three towns over and they sat and talked over ice cream for hours," wrote the Reddit user recounting the story who later dated the runaway bride.
She felt like a huge weight had been lifted, and her father eventually came back to the church, told everyone the wedding was off, and had her moved out of her place the next day. According to the Redditor, "she said that while her dad wasn't the best father in her teens, he was the best dad anyone could ask for that day." And for more on the ups and downs of fatherhood (right up until that walk down the aisle), here are 20 Surprising Ways Fatherhood Changes You.
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