Bride's horror as she and husband turn up to empty wedding reception with no guests

Edinburgh Live

a day ago

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A couple were left devastated when they walked into their wedding reception to find none of their guests had turned up.
Kalina Marie and her husband, Shane, had been looking forward to what they thought would be the best day of their lives, surrounded by their nearest and dearest. But instead, they found themselves walking into an almost empty venue.
The couple, from Oregon, entered the grand but eerily vacant reception hall with stoic expressions on their faces. The only sound filling the room was Miley Cyrus' "When I Look at You", its poignant lyrics "When my world is falling apart" echoing through the emptiness.
Despite the disappointment, the couple, who were accompanied by their son, put on a brave face as they celebrated with the few guests who did show up.
Marie shared the heartbreaking moment on TikTok, where it has since been viewed over seven million times, reports the Mirror.
"This is our entrance to our Masquerade ball," she wrote in the caption. "The Masquerade ball that I have talked excessively about for the last 10 months. The same ball that I not only digitally invited over 75 people to. But also spent money to send 25 beautiful invitations out to.
(Image: kalina_marie_23/Tiktok)
"FIVE PEOPLE SHOWED UP! ! ! ! ! ! ! Like, are you kidding me! ? ! ? As you see in the video, we enter the venue. And no one is there. The invite said 1pm. My mum messaged me at 1:15pm that no one was there. My husband and I finally showed up at 2 o'clock, to five people, in a venue planned for 40."
Maire revealed her devastation as she had envisioned entering a venue buzzing with cheers for the new couple, but instead faced a sea of vacant chairs.
"All the wasted food and drinks," Maire bemoaned. "All the empty tables and chairs. Every moment of my reception changed to adapt."
Nevertheless, she and her partner decided to make the most out of the situation, enjoying dances with their few guests and sharing their first dance as a married couple.
(Image: kalina_marie_23/Tiktok)
"It just makes me think, like, why? What did we do? Am I that bad of a person? What did my husband ever do to deserve any of this?" Maire pondered, struggling to understand why people failed to turn up.
She expressed how distressing it was that so-called friends hadn't even reached out post-wedding to extend congratulations or explain their absence. This TikTok saga sparked a massive response, garnering thousands of comments, with many wondering if there might be another side to the story.
"How can people RSVP 'yes' and then not show up?" one bewildered user queried. "Were they just invited to the reception and not the ceremony?" questioned another.
In an update a week ago, the couple, who have been together for nine years and announced their wedding date in January, admitted they were "still a little embarrassed and still moving through the stages of grief," as well as "still dealing with anger.
"I wouldn't even wish this on my worst enemy," Marie added.