Ask Amy: Wedding disasters to avoid — or laugh at

Amy says: With wedding season upon us and in-person celebrations returning, I decided to devote a column to wedding mishaps, all of them sent in by readers.

Perhaps reading about some of the things that can go wrong at a wedding will inspire people to avoid these pitfalls. And if these incidents can't be avoided, marrying couples can try to embrace them and laugh about it all later.

Dear Amy: My brother got married at our house in front of a bay window with a magnificent view of the Concord River. Halfway through the ceremony, his stoner friend from high school arrived in a canoe, stumbled ashore and wobbled his way up the yard in full view of the guests. Hilarious backdrop!

Dear Amy: My long-ago boyfriend invited me as his "plus one." Once we got there, it was obvious that he was invited solo. There was no table card for me. My father once said, "There's always someone at a wedding who shouldn't be there." In that instance it was me.

Dear Amy: My two brothers-in-law offered to be the photographers for our wedding. My sisters (their wives) had each just had their firstborns. We ended up with a few photos of my husband and me, but most were of their little darlings. The other photos were of my husband's buxom cousin in her revealing cleavage. Sigh.

Dear Amy: The first song at my uncle's second wedding: David Lee Roth's cover of "Just a Gigolo." And the bride's uncle later had a coronary while dancing the polka.

Dear Amy: My friend and his date "Sheila" were heavily making out on the dance floor; Sheila later hit on multiple other (married) guests and then told my mom how hot she thought the groom was. My mom replied: "Yes, that's my new son-in-law."

Dear Amy: We were letting immediate family members know the date we'd finally chosen for our wedding before booking vendors. My parents asked us to pick a different date because they had tickets to a football game that day. We tried other dates, but they all interfered with their football ticket schedule. We don't talk anymore.

Dear Amy: I locked the keys in a running limo in front of the church, which meant frantically needing to find a locksmith.

Dear Amy: I was a member of a flash mob at the reception. Short version of the story: Another member of the mob who wanted to show off how high he could get his leg ended up kicking the bride in the head. Everyone was fine.

Dear Amy: In my 20s I was in a friend's wedding. A bunch of us rented a room together. I woke up in the middle of the night with a pounding headache, so I drank a glass of water. It was a groomsman's contact lens solution — and his lenses.

Dear Amy: Our rabbi thought our noon wedding was at 6 p.m. Luckily, one of our guests found a replacement rabbi who stopped by to marry us on his way to a funeral he was officiating.