“Sixth Sense”: Red flags at weddings which show marriage is doomed

When couples stand in front of their family and friends and say “I Do” they believe that’s it and they will be with their new husband or wife forever.

But unfortunately that isn’t always the case and many make the heartbreaking decision to end things years or even months down the line.

According to wedding photographers, there are a few ‘red flags’ which might suggest the relationship might not go the distance.

In a popular feed on Reddit, many people who work in the industry claim to have developed a “sixth sense” in working out which couples will be filing for divorce in the years to come.

Here are the things they always look out for…

What happens when things go wrong at the wedding?

“I am/was a wedding photographer: I think you can kind of tell if they are going to stay together forever based on how they handle all the little (and sometimes even big) problems a wedding day can bring.

“There was one couple’s story I love to tell. They are not your typical bride and groom, they had their wedding in a forest where you could also go climbing (sorry don’t know what they are called) with a big wooden house and fireplace in front.

“All vegan food and a lot of friends with lots of dogs. Everything was perfect, except for the special dress the bride had have made and painted didn’t arrive in time for the ceremony and she was devastated.

“She was in her sweatpants and a mickey mouse t-shirt at that time and her soon-to-be-husband took off his suit, put on a big white shirt, stood there in his boxer shorts and just said “well, we have to go” (cause the ceremony-person had to leave an hour later) and she just laughed and went with it.

“I was in shock but other than it being strange to have hairy man-legs in my wedding photos, taking the pictures was really fun and they were totally relaxed. I’m pretty sure they will be doing well.”

Flirty behaviour

“Red flag: The groom winking at both my assistant and I during the ceremony.

“He was not winking in the sense that he might have been tearing up or had something in his eye but there was a part in the ceremony where the couple sat down and he would lean his head back in his chair look past his soon to be wife and wink at me or look over his left shoulder and wink at my assistant. It was bizarre.”

Cake smash

Now, this is probably just a coincidence, but one photographer believes couples should avoid smashing cake into their new husband or wife’s face.

He wrote: “Photographer here. I swear that all of the couples that have split up have smashed the cake in their SOs face.

“None of the nice cake couples have. Just my weird anecdotal experience. Maybe it’s a sign of respect for each other.”

And he wasn’t the other one, with another person writing: “Photographer here: to me, the biggest sign is the cake cutting. Some people like to smear the cake everywhere as a joke, some people don’t. Usually, the couple is in sync about this. They know what the other would like and they don’t smash cake on the others face if they wouldn’t want that.

“Sometimes one of them (usually the groom) will force cake all over the others face and embarrass and upset them. I’ve seen this happen a handful of times and all of those relationships that I have kept up with have ended in a divorce.”

How they treat each other on the wedding day

“Photographer here. You can tell somewhat based on how the couple treats each other on the wedding day. If they are respectful toward one another (and toward me) during a day full of stress then I think that’s a good indicator of being able to deal with other problems that may arise during marriage.”

Another wrote: “My husband and I are wedding photographers. The one couple we hope we never see again fought the entire wedding day. The couple barely looked at each other, it was so bad.

“Then we had to Photoshop a smile onto the groom a couple of times so he at least looked happy in the ceremony of all things.”

If one of them is ‘too quiet’

“Ex wedding photographer. Typically I saw red flags when the bride or groom is super quiet. I mean silent and just watching.

“One instance was a groom who barely said ten words to anyone during the ceremony or reception afterwards. The bride and her mother were extremely loud and excited the entire time. The bride needed everything to be “perfect”. I dropped off the photo bundle with them two weeks later and he was still quiet. She, however, complained about all of the pictures because the groom wasn’t “smiling enough”. She wanted a discount because I couldn’t make him look happy enough.

“They got divorced about a year later. I know because I did his engagement photos with his new fiancée about four years after his first wedding. His engagement photos showed him much happier.”

-sde.co.ke