Bride Missed Everything Except Ceremony at Her Wedding

A newlywed is upset over what should have been one of the best days of her life. 

In a Reddit post shared Wednesday, Feb. 5, a user explained how a debilitating illness kept her from celebrating her wedding day with not just her family and friends, but most importantly, her husband. 

“It was horrible,” the woman said of her recent nuptials. 

She explained that although she felt “off” the morning of the ceremony, she chalked it up to it simply being her nerves.

“I suffer vestibular migraine which causes debilitating vertigo so I was worried about feeling unwell,” she wrote. “I started feeling dizzy as soon as I began walking down the aisle so had to sit on a chair the whole time.”

According to John Hopkins Medicine, vestibular migraine headaches, though fairly common, are a neurological condition. Symptoms include moderate to severe pounding or throbbing headaches, but can also trigger vertigo, imbalance, nausea and vomiting.

After the woman and her new husband said their vows, she immediately retreated to their hotel room for the remainder of the day.

“I had a severe vertigo attack so my husband and some staff members helped me back to the honeymoon suite and I spent the rest of the day and night in bed being sick,” she wrote. “Missed out on everything other than the ceremony, so I don’t even have any photos at all other than a couple that got took during the ceremony where I look ill.”

The woman was glad to have made it through “the most important part,” but admitted to “feeling so upset and embarrassed” about the overall situation.

She noted that knowing her guests spent time and money to support her on her big day only to have her not be present made her feel pretty bad.

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“I also feel bad that my husband had a horrible night. He spent a lot of time with the guests at my request and checked in on me every 10 minutes,” she wrote. 

“A few guests have told me that he looked lost all night without me so he didn’t have a good time. And I just literally feel devastated that I ruined a once in a lifetime event for me.”

Her photographer offered to return at a later date and reshoot her wedding pictures, but the woman said, “I just feel so upset and struggling to move past it.”

Her Reddit community rallied behind her, sending positive messages.

One person who sent their apologies suggested the couple “plan a killer vow renewal for your 5th anniversary. And go big together for your honeymoon and first anniversary.”

In a lengthy response, another user empathized as they explained that they too had a chronic illness, saying, “I’m so so sorry this happened. The anxiety beforehand about having a flare up in addition to having to deal with it actually happening is hell. But something I want to make sure you hear, because it sounds from your post like you’re blaming yourself, is THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT. It is not your fault you’re sick.”

The commenter reminded the woman, “Your husband married you because he loves you,” adding, “I hope you have many years of happiness together.”