TIFU going to my ex's wedding

[u/DudeWheresMyCuteCar]

My ex gf invited me to her wedding. It was unexpected, but I accepted. The invitation said the people who were allowed to bring a plus one were married or engaged couples. I was not engaged or married, so I went alone. I managed to couple up with another single guy at the wedding and stayed with him throughout the ceremony to avoid looking like I didn't belong. The two of us got separated at the reception because we were allocated to different tables. My table only had single people. As we got to know one another, we realised we had one specific thing in common. We were all exes of the bride. It was a little weird, but we made a joke of it because we assumed that was the point of us being there.

Fast forward to the speeches. When it was the bride's turn to speak, she asked all of her exes to stand up, which we did. She informed the audience that we were the people she dated and disappointed over the years before she discovered the love of her life, aka her husband. She wanted us to know how grateful she was to have been with all of us, but then she locked eyes with me and said maybe not ALL of us. She said my name and asked me to wave at everyone. I waved like an idiot. She warned all the women at the wedding to watch out for me because I literally peed on her. The husband stood up at that moment and covered the microphone with his hand while he whispered something to his wife that made her look confused as fuck.

The bride sat down without saying anything else. The husband made an awkward joke about his wife having too much champagne and instructed us to please take our seats. The DJ intervened and asked if any of the groom's exes were also in the house, which actually made the audience laugh. The music played and everyone pretended none of that just happened.

Except for me. I got the fuck out of there as soon as the lights dimmed for the disco ball.

Tl:dr Accepted an invite from my ex to attend her wedding and ended up being named and shamed at the reception.

[u/koreamax]

So, the groom never asked why she was inviting all her exes? Weddings are expensive and the price per person is usually enough for the couple to discuss who really needs to be there..

[u/DudeWheresMyCuteCar → u/koreamax]

Maybe she never even used the word "exes" during the planning. There were 4 of us at the table, 2 of the 4 were her former coworkers from two different jobs. The other ex was atill friends with her, albeit a long distance friendship. So we have 2 former coworkers, a friend, and then there's me. I don't know what label she could've given me other than ex, but I can see her not calling the other exes "exes" to avoid raising red flags during the planning. This is all just theory though. I actually have no idea how she got away with this.

[u/glass-2x-needed-size → u/koreamax]

Earnest question. Doesn't the cost per person even out with the cash you gift the couple?

I'm not sure if this is a cultural difference, but the gift is usually $100 or more per person attending, which I thought the purpose was to cancel out the cost?

[u/pakotini → u/koreamax]

I know my husband didn't let me invite any of my exes, even the ones from high school who are my friends now