Rug
Rats
Amusing or
Horror stories involving children
2002 Archive
Twenty four years ago I had what I was hoping to
be a beautiful perfect wedding. My dress was princess style so was knee
length. I decided to use my veil as my train so made a gorgeous one
myself. We had my niece (who was 5) as flower girl, my nephew (who was 7)
as train-bearer and my sons (7 and 9) as ring bearers. It was a small
formal wedding and I was sure it would go off without a hitch. Silly me!
My flower girl got stage fright and kept stopping, my train-bearer kept
wondering into the audience to talk to people (almost pulling me down
backwards) and my sons handed our rings to the wrong way. I received my
ring and my now ex-husband received his. We tried to discreetly exchange
them before anyone noticed. And as if that wasn't enough, the notary
performing the ceremony saw my bouquet shaking from my being nervous and
forgot what he was supposed to say. You would think I had learned my
lesson. Next year my new husband and I will be married for 10 years. We
are planning on a huge formal wedding since we didn't have one 9 years
ago. My wedding party will consist of 8 bridesmaids, 8 groomsmen, 2
ring-bearers, 2 train-bears, and 6 flower girls. Ages ranging from 2 to 9.
Hopefully they will have my room at the psychiatric center ready when I
return from the honeymoon. Rugrats0228-03
I still can't exactly laugh at this situation
that occurred at my wedding, but witnesses to the crime claim, including
my wedding planner, claim it's one of the most insensitive, cruel
situations they've seen at a wedding... My future sister-in-law was
planning to read a Bible verse for us during the ceremony. This was a
special role in the wedding and something my fiancé and I put much
thought into. We made arrangements for her 1 and 1/2-year old to stay with
a nanny during the ceremony, so that her mother could read without
interruption, and then the baby could make her appearance at the
reception. (Note, the ceremony and reception were in the same location--a
mansion with a large lawn). Despite conversations with my future in-laws
about the nanny (hired from an elite agency in the city) and clear
direction to them that our preference was for our young niece to be in the
care of a nanny for 20 minutes (the necessity of which was made very clear
during the rehearsal), my future sister-in-law balked at the last minute,
apparently severely offended that her 2 year old was not invited to stay
with her. She then crumpled the Bible verse, threw it at my wedding
planner, and told her to tell "the bride" to find someone else.
Off she stormed from the grounds, not to be seen for the next 2
hours!
Picture me, the bride, giddy with excitement,
five minutes before I'm to walk down the aisle....and I receive the
crumpled verse and message. We had 15 wait staff scouring the grounds for
her and her child, peaking in cars, running around, trying to find her.
The ceremony was delayed. I had to make a last minute decision to find a
replacement reader. I was stunned, hurt, angry...I couldn't think straight
and couldn't fathom how someone who supposedly cared for me, on my wedding
day, would do such a thing! To make matters worse, she has never and will
likely never apologize for her behavior. She claimed she was in the right
and says that I am not yet a parent, I cannot possibly understand the
mother/child connection and what it's like to have her sleeping child
"ripped" from her arms, akin to child abuse. So, not only am I
wrong, I've apparently endangered the well-being of my sweet niece?? She
is now in the process of "forgiving us" for putting her in such
a difficult situation. She also claims that as a wedding is just ONE day
out of the rest of our lives, that we'll forget everything about the day
anyway and that what's really important is that we're married and have
each other! The nerve.! My fiancé and I lost at least an hour of the
wedding dealing directly with this situation (trying to appease other
family members), were burdened with it for the entire day, I cried on my
wedding night and all the next day...and it has seriously strained our
relationship with this couple and others in the family, who have divided
loyalties. I had planned for so many things to go wrong, but never to be
treated with such self-centered, cruel behavior from a beloved family
member and someone in our wedding party. In order to maintain peace in my
family, I have to let it go. But boy, when I saw this website and had an
opportunity to write about it, you bet I was going to!!! :)
Rugrats0307-03
My boyfriend and I recently attended the wedding
of one of his friends from high school. My boyfriend was a groomsman,
however, as a guest I sat in a far corner of the church. Anyway, about
halfway through the wedding, I could see Paul's (my boyfriend) face
getting incredibly red. Soon, the other members of the wedding party were
all acting like they were going to burst out laughing. It turns out that
the ringbearer and flower girl were having a fight in the front of the
church. The flowergirl was sitting on the floor with her skirt up over her
head. When the ringbearer (her older brother) tried to fix her dress, the
four year old flowergirl took off her shoe and threw it at him! Then she
took off the other shoe and threw it into the congregation! Finally, the
bride turned around, saw what was happening and started laughing so hard
she was crying. The embarrassed mother took the children out as soon as
she could get to them, but I have never laughed so hard at a wedding as I
did that night.
Rugrats0409-03
When my own daughter was 4 years old my now
ex-husband and I were invited to a close friends long anticipated wedding.
The wedding invitation very tactfully requested that no children be
brought to the ceremony and following reception, so we obliged the couples
wishes and found a sitter for our child. We were surprised to see that one
of the friends of the groom's had brought her baby, who was about 15
months old. My husband and I were a bit annoyed that we had gone through
the trouble to make accommodations for our child when another guest was
disregarding the instructions. For the most part, the baby was well
behaved through the actual ceremony. Afterward, we were seated at a table
near the front for the reception, and the seating arrangement laid out by
the bride and groom had us sitting next to the mother with her baby. It
became immediately obvious that the baby had dropped a large smelly load
into her diaper, and the noxious fumes were intensely nauseating. As the
food begin to be served, my husband and I became more and more
uncomfortable, finding it impossible to eat with the strong fecal odor
wafting over our table. We couldn't believe that the mother wouldn't take
the baby out to change her, especially while people were trying to eat,
but neither one of us had the nerve to tell her to take the baby out to do
her duty. Finally, after sitting in the miserable diaper for over 25
minutes, the baby began to wail (pretty patient baby if you ask me). The
baby chose to start screaming and crying during the speeches that were
being given by the wedding party. So after forcing the groom and the best
man to shout over the crying child for around 5 minutes or so, the mother
FINALLY took her out to clean her up.
Rugrats0417-03
I suppose this story would go in the Rug
Rats section. It was my niece's wedding. The church was fairly modern. The
altar was open, with a sort of shelf across the bottom - a perfect seat
for a six-year-old to sit on and face the congregation. The flower girl
was six-years-old. A little angel in a white linen dress with a wreath of
flowers in her baby blonde hair. Ignoring he mom and all the other ladies
gesturing to her she climbed onto that altar seat and amused herself
during the ceremony by giggling and flirting with the congregation.
Mothers and aunts gestured and shushed to her, mouthing threats and trying
to be subtle about it. Suddenly and without warning the flower girl popped
up off the seat like a jack-in-the-box. WHAM!!!!! Her head SLAMMED into
the underside of the altar!!!!! She must have seen stars! 10 seconds of
absolutely stunned silence, and then - - - - - - WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
She ran down off the altar to her mom, who finally escorted her out of the
church so the ceremony could continue. The congregation tried not to
smile. The Lord works in strange and mysterious ways!
Rugrats0515-03
Yet another one ... First, let me say this ...
Anyone planning to have/attend a wedding should be required to thoroughly
read your site ... I read the stories, thinking to myself "What must
these people be thinking" ... then I realize, surely most of them, at
least, do not realize that they are being rude ... I wonder how many times
I have acted inappropriately, and didn't realize it (I am frequently
accused of being in my own little world ... not much for noticing my
surroundings). In any event ... you are providing a great service,
thanks!
So what if this one isn't really about etiquette?
It is hilarious, and, I think, sweet :) My 2 year old daughter (extremely
precocious) was to be a flower girl at my cousin's wedding. She, and the
other, somewhat older (6ish?) flower girl performed beautifully, until it
happened ... My little one ran out of flowers (she had been throwing them
out in huge clumps). Problem was, no one instructed her on what to do in
that event ... She threw down the basket, turned and RAN down the aisle,
bawling, to where I was waiting to coax her back when she was done (she
was not to remain during the ceremony, due to her age). We all assured her
that she did fine, end of story, right? At my (2nd) wedding, she is to be
flower girl again. She seems a little apprehensive, but eager. She
performs beautifully. She stands quietly with the wedding party when she
is done, a perfect angel. After the wedding, I thanked her for
participating, and told her how well she had done, and how proud of her I
was, and her response was, "I didn't run out of flowers this
time". She had dropped a total of 6 or 7 petals; one at a time, on
her trip down the aisle. After talking to her, it was apparent that my
wedding was very important to her, and she didn't want to disappoint me.
Rugrats0725-03
Me and my boyfriend have been going out for
awhile. Well, about two years ago, his bestfriend, "James", got
married. My boyfriend is godfather of his child. Well, during the
reception, which had no family (and frankly I don't blame the family for
not showing up!), my boyfriend was stuck holding "James' " son.
At the time the child was about two. Half through the ceremony, which was
in a church, the child keep screaming "Daddy! Ddddaaaaaddddddyyyyyy!"
To which "James" smiles at like it's cute. The kid keeps
screaming Daddy and James just nods at him and says shhhh. Me and my b/f
are sitting there with this kidding screaming "Daddy! My daddy!
Daddy!" My b/f is embarrassed, as am I, and getting sick of this. So,
he tells the kid in a stern voice to behave. The kid goes nuts and slaps
my b/f in the face. I swear it felt like everyone is looking at us. My
boyfriend and I sit through the rest of the ceremony red-faced as he
screams Daddy! Most unbelievable is "James" didn't understand
why we went home directly after the ceremony. Rugrats0724-03
Caring for a toddler
during a wedding ceremony requires some preparation and planning. I
suggest bribing the child with safety lollipops, or my favorite, Smarties,
which are a lot less messy than M&Ms. I unwrap them and offer a
few at a time to the child. I also have a small toy in my
pocket/purse such as a Polly Pockets for girls or Micro Machines for
boys. A mini Etch-a-sketch, or one of those magnetic "make a
funny face" games are great, too.
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