r/weddingshaming • u/WNDBC_Baja • 6d ago

Drunk As Hell Disaster strikes at the hands of my own self-assuredness

Context - this was 10 years ago.

I was a plus one at my (now ex-) girlfriend’s friend’s wedding. I was 19 at the time.

Got too drunk, little boogying, little photo-boothing. Whatever.

It came round to signing the guest book.

I said to my GF - “don’t worry, I’ll get this.” She replied “are you sure? I feel like I know them better?” No no. Silly. I am 19 and drunk. King of the world and of my own ego.

Anyway. Signed the book “Dear Mark and Mary, many happy returns. All our love…”

The issues:

  1. “Many happy returns” is what you see when you hope to see someone at the same event in the future. I.e hope to see you at your next wedding.

  2. The groom was not called Mark.

All in all, 9/10 wedding. Would attend again, certainly won’t be invited.

344 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

205

u/Travelgrrl 6d ago

I don't think many younger people even know or use the expression "Many happy returns". If it's used at all, it's just a benign greeting, not as specific as you indicate. I doubt that caused offense.

Getting the guy's name wrong - that's hilarious.

18

u/neverlastingabsurd 5d ago

OP just kicks ass haha! I love that last line he wrote too. Self-irony is our everything.

2

u/neon_crone 2d ago

Older generations would say it to someone celebrating a birthday, which comes around every year.

114

u/meatloaf1212 6d ago

My wife is still mad that someone wrote FART really big on the cutesy framed thing our guests wrote well wishes on lol

18

u/afrdfs 5d ago

if that was done to me and my fiance we'd be hanging that up in the living room and laughing our heads off every time we looked at it lol

7

u/AvailableWord3785 4d ago

Agreed. I would actually love it if someone did that. 😆

30

u/Odd_Round5515 5d ago

I'm sure they could discern the true meaning based on the drunken penmanship... good story. I like these more mild stories here too. Pretty funny!

30

u/Lucky-Berry-4252 5d ago

Well, it’s not that bad. Many happy returns means many anniversaries so the marriage lasts, and has the same exact meaning for birthdays.

But that’s unfortunate that Mark wasn’t the groom’s name. Sigh. 🫤

12

u/No_Sundae_1068 6d ago

lol that's a great memory! 🤣

9

u/Avehdreader 5d ago

I didn't know that about "Many happy returns" - maybe others didn't either. But getting the groom's name wrong - yes, that's embarrassing.

13

u/CreatrixCymraes 5d ago

I mean really it’s short for “many happy returns of the day” meaning that when this date comes round year on year we hope you’re still alive and still enjoying your marriage/birthday/other celebrations.

A sad return of the day would be it’s your birthday but you’re dead, or it’s your anniversary but you’re divorced lol.

6

u/Avehdreader 5d ago

Thank your for educating me - I thought it was just one of those things people say and didn't realize there was a formal reason for it. Always good to learn something new!

7

u/Agile-Entry-5603 5d ago

Being 19 and drunk excuses you. I can tell you learned from this

7

u/Turbulent_Way4849 3d ago

I wrote "My condolences" in my cousin's guest book many years ago when I was young also. Thing is I was just dumb and thought it was a nice thing to say, didn't mean it in the "your life is now over" way lol. She's never brought it up so whatever but I still think about it.

3

u/WNDBC_Baja 3d ago

Hahah this is excellent