Kalina Marie and her husband Shane were expecting a beautiful wedding, surrounded by friends and family cheering them on as they walked into their reception, but what they got instead was every newlywed’s nightmare.
A heartbroken Marie took to TikTok to share the devastating reality of the doors opening to an almost empty venue.
Walking hand-in-hand with stoic expressions, the bride and groom stepped inside the lavishly decorated hall with their son and tried to come to terms with what had happened as a handful of people can be seen celebrating with them.
A somber cover of Miley Cyrus’ “When I Look at You” was their entrance 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, wrote in the caption of her clip, which has since amassed over seven million views.
“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.
“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.”
She said she “dreamt” that she would walk into a bunch of people “hooting and hollering” for them.
However, she ended up having to “hold herself together” because she had “no idea” how to deal with her venue being almost completely empty.
“All the wasted food and drinks,” Marie continued. “All the empty tables and chairs. Every moment of my reception changed to adapt.”
Despite the disappointing turnout, Marie said she wasn’t about to let her no-show guests ruin her special day.
She explained that they still made the most of it, sharing clips from the dancefloor with the few people who did show up and the moment she and her husband had their first dance.
“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?” she questioned.
“Why couldn’t we matter enough for people to show up?”
She revealed that it makes her “sick” that she still has “friends” who haven’t even messaged her to congratulate her or tell her why they didn’t come.
“I honestly can’t wrap my head around this yet.”
Hundreds of thousands of TikTokers commented on the clip, confused as to how something like this could happen.
Some even questioned if there’s another side to the story.
“This hurts my heart for you,” read one comment with 15,000 likes.
“How can people RSVP ‘yes’ and then not show up?” another puzzled user asked.
“Were they just invited to the reception and not the ceremony?” someone else asked, adding that guests might have just thought this move was a “cash grab.”
Thousands of others tried to brighten the mood, praising Marie for how beautiful she looked and vowing to attend a do-over wedding.
“NAH, RE-DO THIS. WE ALL SHOWING UP,” read a top comment.
“Let’s do it over. This time invite me and the rest of us. We’ll show up and out. I love you beautiful and congratulations!!” someone else wrote.
Marie and her husband got engaged on Christmas Day in 2019, right before the COVID pandemic, which “shut everything down.”
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 eagerly looking forward to their long-awaited special day.
She shared an update in another clip a week ago and admitted she and her husband are “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,” she said.
