Wedding Officiant Makes 'Rude' Comment About Groom's Appearance During Ceremony: 'Definitely Marrying Up'
A wedding guest wrote on Reddit that the officiant's comment suggested that "the bride was significantly better looking than the groom"
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Uncomfortable groom (stock image)A wedding guest was bothered by the "tacky" behavior of the officiant.
In a post on Reddit's "Wedding Shaming" forum, the poster explained that they went to a wedding recently where the officiant made a "rude" comment on the groom's appearance.
"I don't believe that officiant was a real priest, but rather a 30-ish church-goer who was recommended by a friend of the groom," the poster wrote. "He spent a little too long talking about himself in my opinion and definitely didn't sound very professional."
The officiant's unprofessionalism got worse near the end of the ceremony.
"He makes a comment about how it was a good thing that the groom was, 'definitely marrying up,' meaning that the bride was significantly better looking than the groom," the wedding guest recalled.
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Two men in formal attire having a conversation (stock image)Although the comment could have been taken as "just a simple joke," the wedding guest thinks it was an inappropriate thing to say out loud on someone's big day. The poster imagined if they were in the bride or groom's shoes. In that case, they'd be "very mad if any part of the wedding ceremony speech was used to talk negatively about either of our looks."
They added, "I also just felt like it was unprofessional."
The poster asked the forum if he was overreacting to a potential joke.
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Reddit users in the comments section agreed that the officiant's comment could have been perceived very negatively, so it should never have been made.
"You’re absolutely right," one person commented. "It’s the combo of two toxic ideas — one is that it’s the bride's day and the groom is just window dressing. The second is that you need to put someone down to praise their partner. What happened to 'he’s so lucky to be marrying such a beautiful wife' or something? Even that I feel is a little lopsided but at least not actively trying to be mean. Idk, I grew out of this corny and unkind humor ages ago. I hope the groom didn’t internalize it too much. It would bother me."
Another Redditor wrote, "So, the officiant used the ceremony as an opportunity to heckle the groom? That’s just plain weird!"
Other commenters shared their own stories of unsavory things people have said at important life events, suggesting that tacky jokes are common at weddings even if they shouldn't be.
