Kalina Marie and her husband Shane were expecting a beautiful wedding, surrounded by friends and family cheering them on as they entered their reception, but what they got instead was every newlywed’s nightmare.
A heartbroken Marie took to TikTok to share the devastating reality of doors opening to an almost empty venue.
Walking hand in hand with stoic expressions, the bride and groom entered the lavishly decorated hall with their son and tried to come to terms with what had happened as a handful of people could be seen celebrating with them.
A somber cover of Miley Cyrus’ “When I Look at You” was their opening song, with the lyrics “When my world is falling apart” eerily reflecting their situation as they put on brave faces.
“This is our entrance to our masquerade ball,” Marie, who is from Oregon, captioned her clip, which has since racked up over seven million views.
“The masquerade ball I’ve been talking about so much for the last 10 months. The same ball where I not only digitally invited over 75 people. But also spent money to send 25 beautiful invitations.
“FIVE PEOPLE ARE INTERVIEWED!!!!!!! Like, are you kidding me!?!? As you see in the video, we enter the premises. And no one is there. The invitation said 1:00 p.m. My mom texted me at 1:15pm that no one was there. My husband and I finally showed up at 2 o’clock, to five people, at a place scheduled for 40.”
She said she had a “dream” that she walked into a group of people who were “yelling and screaming” at them.
However, she had to “hold it together” because she “had no idea” how to deal with the fact that her place was almost completely empty.
“All the wasted food and drink,” Marie continued. “All the tables and chairs empty. Every moment of my waiting changed to accommodate.”
Despite the disappointing turnout, Marie said she wasn’t going to let her no-show guests ruin her special day.
She explained that they still made the most of it, sharing clips from the dance floor with the few people who showed up and the moment she and her husband had their first dance.
“It just makes me think, why? what did we do Am I such a bad person? What did my husband ever do to deserve any of this?” she asked.
“Why couldn’t we be important enough for people to show up?”
She said that it makes her “sick” that she still has “friends” who haven’t even sent her a message to congratulate her or to tell her why they didn’t come.
“I honestly can’t wrap my head around that yet.”
Hundreds of thousands of TikTokers commented on the clip, confused as to how something like this could happen.
Some even asked if there is another side to the story.
“This makes my heart ache for you,” read one comment with 15,000 likes.
“How can people answer ‘yes’ and then not show up?” asked another confused user.
“Were they only invited to the reception and not to the ceremony? asked someone else, adding that guests may have simply thought the move was a “cash grab.”
Thousands more tried to lighten the mood, praising Marie for looking beautiful and vowing to attend a wedding.
“NO, DO THAT AGAIN. WE SHOW YOU EVERYTHING,” reads a leading comment.
“Let’s make it long. This time invite me and the rest of us. We’ll show up and go out. Love you beautiful and congratulations!!” someone else wrote.
Marie and her husband got engaged on Christmas Day in 2019, just before the COVID pandemic, which “shut down everything”.
As a result, wedding planning was delayed until this year.
The couple, who have been together for nine years, announced their wedding date in January and were looking forward to their long-awaited special day.
She shared an update in another clip a week ago and admitted that she and her husband are “still a little embarrassed and still going through the stages of grief” as well as “still dealing with the anger.”
“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” she said.
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Image Source : nypost.com