A bride who went viral after posting a video of her empty wedding reception has spoken out about the pain of walking into an empty room on her big day after all but three guests failed to show.
Kalina Marie and her husband Shane had expected crowds of beaming faces when they planned their wedding but the video, posted on Tiktok, shows what happened when the doors opened onto an almost empty venue.
“FIVE PEOPLE SHOWED UP!!!!!!! Like, are you kidding me!?!?” Marie posted. “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.”
The couple, who walked into the hall with their son, can be seen putting on a brave face as they celebrate with the few guests who showed up. The heartbroken bride Marie shared the clip on TikTok where it has gained over seven million views and now she has posted a follow-up answering confused comments on the clip.
“How can people RSVP ‘yes’ and then not show up?” a puzzled user asked. “Were they just invited to the reception and not the ceremony?” another said.
In an update, the couple, who have been together for nine years and announced their wedding date in January, said they did not understand why nobody showed up to the event after online and physical invites were sent around ahead of time.
"I checked in with everyone the week of, and at least 20 people had gotten back to me saying that they had an outfit and that they were coming," Marie explained.
She went on: "And the biggest question is why? And I don't know if I could answer that. I would tell you, but no, I haven't really received a lot of messages explaining why people weren't there or giving me excuses. And I'm kind of thankful for that," she said.
The newly-wed said the incident had given her a lot to think about, she added: "For the most part, we've done a lot of deleting and re-evaluating our lives and just spending a lot of time appreciating what we have and what we had."