"You've ruined my wedding!"

[Calvin St.Hobbes]

Why feel bad for the bride because people are laffing at her? I'd have been laffing the loudest and pointing to...right to the exit.

[Sheldonrs]

Can I borrow that?

Of course.

[emax4]

FOB: You’re a pub! No one books ahead at a pub!

And no wedding party in their right mind goes to a pub instead of a real wedding reception after getting married! BOO-YA!

[Marmalady]

I've been to a wedding reception in a pub - and yes, the couple didn't have much in the way of money either - but we still had a good time. The difference was that they actually had the wit to arrange it all beforehand rather than just turn up and expect to be accommodated.

[eltf177]

I'm sure they will live happily ever after. So long as everything goes the way they want and nobody ever says no to them. lol

Can I borrow that?

[Sheldonrs]

I'm sure they will live happily ever after. So long as everything goes the way they want and nobody ever says no to them. lol

[eltf177]

I'm sorry, but a pub for a wedding reception? Cue the crickets here: "cheep, cheep, cheep!"

And figuring a popular pub is going to be empty on a Saturday night? Can't you say DOUBLE FAIL?

It sounds like the pub crowd got a good laugh at their expense however, you should have charged for the free entertainment!

[Athaelia]

One of my favorite phrases applies here:

"Lack of planning on your part does NOT constitute an emergency on mine."

[Bright_Star]

To assume that they could just walk into a bar & assume you guys were just going to force people to do their bidding cause they just got married. That takes a lot of nerve. Like you said, they should have called ahead.

[Pixilated]

You gotta laugh at these people with their dramatic "I hope you can live with yourself!!" exit lines. Yeah, this is going to disturb my sleep tonight for maybe five seconds, you idiot.

Even if there had been a charge for the reservation, look what they got for not bothering. On a Saturday night, they'd be lucky to find anyplace with 30 seats together!

And South Texan is probably right. Too bad FOB and Bridezilla decided to go the EW/SC route instead.

[South Texan]

I think the students would have been much more willing to move if the FOB had offered them a little more incentive (like CASH) to do so rather than playing on their sympathy for a bride who had a family that so poorly planned out her wedding reception.

[MaseMan]

It's not like a reservation would have cost them anything (I assume). Maybe they thought people would have been so enamored by their wedding party that they would just voluntarily give up their tables. Whatever. Serves them right for not planning ahead. Honestly, I've never heard of someone being so flippant with their wedding plans.

[customersruinmylife]

Something similar to this happened to me about five years ago at my old bar (and I’m pretty certain I posted about it). I thought it was a once in a lifetime thing. Evidently not.

There is a church located just behind the pub. I’ve mentioned it before. Because of this church, you end up with a lot of Christening, Wedding and Funeral parties in. They are the most entitled people ever. However, when it comes to weddings, usually you don’t end up with the main party. You just get guests who have been to the ceremony and are killing time before the reception. Not today.

I am serving on the bar. A large group of well dressed people has just entered. No biggie. But we notice they seem to be lingering near the dining tables. A stunned CW turns to me.

CW: I think there’s a lady in a wedding dress over there!
Me: Yeah right.

I look over, and I can only see the top half of her, as she is obscured by other guests. She is indeed wearing white. “She must just be wearing a white blouse or something...surely.” She then emerges from the crowd.

Yep. Full blown wedding dress. The groom and groomsmen enter, followed by three bridesmaids.

It’s Saturday evening. It is the busiest period of the week, and they are looking for a group of tables so that they can all sit together (there were about 30 of them). Nowhere was free, and they were not impressed. There was a large group of students that had been in the pub all afternoon. I watched as, who I presumed to be the father of the bride went over and asked them something. The students all started shaking their heads and laughing as the man stormed off. He walked up to the bar.

FOB: Is there someone I can speak to about those RUDE young people over there? We want to sit together and have a meal, but those kids won’t move! They are only drinking! Make them move!
Me: I’ll get the manager.

I sent the manager over to FOB. I watched the bride and groom walk around the pub, beaming as every customer in the pub smiled at them. What they didn’t realise was that people were laughing AT them, not sending them well wishes. I heard a couple of customers gasp “What were they thinking??” “Why have they come here??” I decide to listen in to the manager’s conversation.

M: I understand that, but I cannot force paying customers to move if they don’t want to.
FOB: It’s their WEDDING DAY. They want their WEDDING MEAL. This is their first meal as a MARRIED COUPLE. You’re telling me you are going to turn away THIRTY people who are going to order meals??
M: I don’t want to turn you away, but I don’t think there is anything I can do. If you had booked ahead we could have had this sorted-
FOB: You’re a pub! No one books ahead at a pub!
M: It’s Saturday night, it’s the busiest night of the week. I’m sorry, but it looks as though we can’t accommodate you.
FOB: Well you’re going to have to tell the bride. Do you really want to deal with an upset bride?
M: I’m not telling her anything. This isn’t my fault.

M walked away. FOB stood with another wedding guest, continually pointing over at the group of students and shaking his head. The pub is very busy and there is literally nowhere for them to sit, let alone find a place where they can sit together. They positioned themselves so that they were nearly the large group, and just seemed to stand there glaring at them. The students were aware of this, and decided to make it clear that they weren’t going anywhere soon by purchasing very large rounds of drinks. The bride’s smile faded and she stormed up to the bar.

B: Why are you still serving those people?! They are only drinking! We want to eat together! It’s my WEDDING DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Me: *sighs* I’ll go get the manager.

People were pointing and laughing at her. I began to feel really, really sorry for her.

M: I went through this with another of the guests. I cannot make paying customers move. This is a pub, not a restaurant.
B: You are really going to send us away? We are going to spend lots of money!
M: I don’t want to upset anyone, but there is nothing I can do. Like I said before, it’s Saturday night, it’s the busiest night of the week. It’s first come, first serve for the tables and if they do not want to move, I can’t make them.
B: This is my wedding reception! This is my wedding meal! You are ruining my wedding!

I walked off the bar at this point. I seriously started walking around looking for hidden cameras. We must have been on TV. This had to be a prank. Seriously, wedding reception? I had no luck. The only cameras I could see were from people taking photographs of her with their phones (she may end up on failblog). I walked back to the bar.

B: Not everyone in the world can afford a fancy reception! We came here because you are a good value place to eat! Or so I thought!
M: That is fine except that you should have booked ahead. All it would have taken was one phone call this morning or afternoon. Surely you knew you were getting married before this morning?
B: Well....that’s....it’s still not fair! They are hogging all the tables!

The groom walked up and placed his hands on her shoulders. He started to lead her away.

G: Come on. We will go to another restaurant.
B: *tears forming* I just can’t believe this has happened on my wedding day!

FOB returned.

FOB: I hope you can all live with yourselves after what you’ve done!

I watched him walked over and make a similar remark to the students. They all left. People were still laughing at them.

I don’t know how to feel about these guys. OK, in today’s world there aren’t a lot of people who can afford a lavish wedding, but to just turn up at a pub, on a Saturday night unannounced? And then blame everyone else in the world for them not being able to accommodate you? But I still felt bad because of the people pointing and laughing at the bride.