These wedding stories from 2024 had plenty of people talking
Penguin ring bearer surprises bride at wedding ceremony
A penguin-loving bride was left shocked after she watched her very own penguin ring bearer waddle down the aisle at her wedding in Chester, in the United Kingdom.
As 2024 winds down and Americans look forward to all that is set to happen in 2025, here's a look at some wild wedding stories that made people laugh, cry and even cover their mouths in shock over the past year.
Brides, grooms, wedding party members and others shared their personal stories — while etiquette experts and others weighed in with professional opinions and advice.
There were plenty of tales to pick from, but here are five over the past year that stood out.
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Which one takes the cake for most surprising of them all?
1. Couple charged guests to attend wedding day
A couple tied the knot in New York City on June 24, 2023, but their unusual wedding-day choices did not go viral until more than a year later.
Kareem ("Reemo") and Nova Styles charged guests $333 each to attend the "wedding experience," which amounted to a full day of activities throughout the city, as they described in their video.
A couple shown standing in front of the bus above charged guests $333 each to attend the "wedding experience" in New York City. (REEM Photography)
The two pared down their guest list to just 60 people.
"They chose us," said Nova Styles in a TikTok video. "They 'hashtag' trusted the process by purchasing a ticket to attend our wedding."
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After the wedding ceremony, the guests went to Hudson Yards, a movie theater and One World Trade Center for dancing, food and merriment – with photo shoots occurring along the way, Nova Styles said in the videos.
2. Betrayed bride made lemonade out of lemons
An anonymous woman in the Bay Area found herself with a nonrefundable wedding reception venue and a called-off wedding – so she did the next best thing.
She donated the venue to Parents Helping Parents (PHP), an organization that provides support to children and adults with special needs, as well as their families.
"The family of the bride shared that our agency, Parents Helping Parents, provided services for the family in support of the bride’s sibling, who has special needs," said Maria Daane, executive director of PHP.
A bride in California donated her wedding reception venue to a charity that helps children and adults with special needs, as well as their families. The group held a "Ball for All." (Parents Helping Parents)
PHP decided to use the already paid-for space to host "a party for people with disabilities 0 to 100," Fox News Digital previously reported.
The party, dubbed the "Ball for All," was complete with food, music, dancing, and a photo booth.
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Daane said she got a phone call from the family of the bride two weeks before the scheduled wedding.
PHP moved quickly. Within three days, the event was planned down to the catering, said Daane.
Attendees were treated to a night of dancing and food. (Parents Helping Parents)
"I imagine weddings are canceled now and then, but never have I heard of one turned into a community party for those with disabilities and their families," Daane said.
"It makes me feel grateful for the resilience and kindness of people — that this bride could do something so generous and thoughtful in the face of her own sadness is inspiring," she added.
3. Father of the bride forgot something very important
An amusing story from England showed that mistakes can happen to anyone – even on one of the most important days of someone's life.
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Neil Crossley, dad of daughter Amy Totty, who was married in Yorkshire, England, in 2024, had an embarrassing moment captured on film.
At Totty's wedding, Crossley started walking down the aisle toward the altar — without his daughter.
Neil Crossley, pictured here, started walking down the aisle without his daughter in an accidental moment caught on video. (SWNS)
He said there was a "miscommunication," and he thought that he had been instructed to begin walking.
Crossley eventually turned around, fetched his daughter, and proceeded on a much more traditional march down the aisle.
Guests can be heard on video laughing at the awkward moment, which Crossley said he later referenced in his father-of-the-bride speech.
His daughter particularly got a kick out of the whole mix-up.
Crossley walked his daughter Amy Totty, pictured here, down the aisle on his second attempt. (SWNS)
"I especially appreciated it as I was trying very hard not to cry, and he helped me compose myself," Totty said.
She added, "It was a special moment none of us will forget."
4. Hungry wedding guest took matters into own hands
A Reddit user who was kicked out of a wedding reception after he drunkenly ordered pizzas to replenish the depleted buffet got the last laugh after he revealed the bride's father apologized and planned a replacement party.
"AITA for ordering pizza at my friend's wedding because there was no food?" asked user "Adorable_Distance_15" in a post on the "r/AITAH" subreddit, an advice forum.
A very hungry wedding guest was kicked out of a reception after he ordered pizzas because the bride's family ate all the food at the buffet. (iStock)
In the post, the man said he and his wife recently attended his friend's wedding, which had about 70 guests, "mostly family."
The bride's family, however, ate all the food at the buffet before all the guests could go for their first plates.
"To my surprise, by the time we were called, there was nothing left," he wrote.
Adorable_Distance_15 and other hungry guests then ordered four large pizzas and some chicken wings to the venue.
"Now you have the nerve to ask us to share."
As the pizzas ran out, the trouble began. A man, who turned out to be the bride's father, asked if he could have one of the remaining two slices.
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"I then took the two slices, I put them on my plate and started to eat them, then looked at him and said something like, ‘No, you and everyone at your tables had way more than your fair share of the buffet and ate all of it. This is the reason we ordered food in the first place. And now you have the nerve to ask us to share,’" he wrote.
A Reddit user (not pictured) said there would be another party planned to make up for the botched reception. (iStock)
These comments got the man kicked out of the reception — but after emotions cooled, the father-of-the-bride apologized.
To make up for the wedding reception issues, the father-in-law planned to throw an "after-wedding shindig" for everyone who was at the original wedding, plus other people, said the Reddit poster
5. Bride and groom put their guests to work
A couple who informed their wedding guests they would be put to work on the special day had their actions described as "tacky, tacky, tacky" by a horrified Reddit user.
Earlier this year, Reddit user "joyousfoodie" posted about her cousin's upcoming wedding, which she described as a "semi-destination wedding" that would be relatively small.
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While the woman said she was fine with both the location and size of the wedding, several aspects of the upcoming wedding did concern her.
"I just found out that the wedding couple are sending 'cards' to people [who] are not invited that they are getting married soon and 'you are in our hearts on this special day' before the wedding," she wrote.
"Their excuse is for the sake of 'curiosity and thinking of them,'" joyousfoodie wrote, "but what I don't understand is why send this before the wedding?"
The action that prompted the Reddit post, however, was a text from the couple stating that "everyone has a role to help set up."
The couple texted, "Everyone has a role to help set up."
"Once the ceremony is done, the wedding party will leave to take photos while the guests set up the tables for the reception," said the woman in her text.
The couple never asked guests if they would be willing to help out and "just dictated [to] people what to do," the Reddit poster said.
The couple claimed they could not afford to hire help to set up at their wedding, but the Reddit poster said the couple "went traveling" instead of saving up for their big day.
Other Reddit users told "joyousfoodie" to skip the affair altogether.
"That's when you decide you are sick and do not go. They are being horrible hosts, and frankly, it's gross," user "byteme747" said.
Another Reddit user was a bit more blunt. "The only reason I'd go to this is morbid curiosity," wrote "Obrina98."
Christine Rousselle is a lifestyle reporter with Fox News Digital.
