It’s easy to understand why a bride might assume that her wedding day would be the happiest day of her life. It is often something she has looked forward to since she was a little girl, and she has spent countless hours planning her perfect day.

Let’s be honest. Weddings are expensive and stressful. Expect everything to go perfectly, and you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. There could be a drunk best man who gives an inappropriate speech, or the weather might be less than desirable. There are countless things that could go wrong.

One bride had something go wrong on her wedding day that was truly tragic. Her brother-in-law died at the wedding reception.  Later, at his wake, the bride and the brother-in-law’s wife, who is now a widow, were talking, and things escalated quickly.

The widow took to Reddit to share what happened at the wake. She explained that she and the bride used to be close friends. The widow told the bride “how devastated” she was that her husband died during the wedding. She went on to explain that she had known for awhile that her late husband had an aneurysm, and they had “always been careful since the day we found out” about the aneurysm. He quit his job and visited the doctor often. 

The bride cut off the widow. She said, “so you mean you knew about the aneurysm?” Then she went on to state, “It was reckless of us to dance and drink when we know about Dante’s condition (he only had a glass of champagne). I asked her what she means and she basically told me that had she known about my husband’s illness, she never would’ve invited us to her wedding. She said we ruined her wedding.” The bride went on to say that the widow owes her half of the price of the wedding for ruining it.

The widow was shocked and angry. She yelled at the bride “and told her to get over herself. My in-laws heard us and came to stop everything before it escalated. I told her to leave and never come back unless she apologized.” The in-laws, the parents of the deceased and the bride’s new husband, didn’t know what the bride had said at the time.

Now, the widow is wondering if she was out of line for kicking the bride out of the wake, or if the bride was out of line for the things she said about the wedding.

Reddit users weighed in and completely sided with the widow. One person wrote, “She basically said your husband died on purpose to ruin her wedding.” The person commented, “Its cruel, insensitive and all that.”

Another person shared that her husband’s best friend passed away the morning of their wedding. She bravely told her husband before the wedding and added that it was okay if he didn’t want to get married that day. He insisted on getting married anyway and friends later told her the friend would have wanted the wedding to go on. This person added, “If my BIL had passed away at my reception, the absolute last thing on my mind would have been bitching about a ruined party to his wife at his funeral. All I’d be able to do is sit next to her and provide my shoulder, and remind her she’s loved.”

Yet another comment reads, “You can tell she’d been thinking about this from the day of the reception and couldn’t wait to come up and tell you.” The commenter added that the in-laws were out of line too because “It wasn’t just ‘their son’s’ wake, it was your husbands wake.” The comment continues, “You have every right to react poorly on that day of all days.”

What would you do if a close friend or family member died on the day of your wedding?