A bride has spoken out after she went viral this week for sharing a clip of her walking into a nearly empty venue at her wedding reception.
After viewers speculated that there must be “more to the story” and questioned how it could have come to that point without her knowledge, Kalina Marie decided to update her followers on the details leading up to the day.
She and her husband, who have been together for nine years, got engaged in 2019 and weren’t able to have their wedding when they had intended to, due to the pandemic.
In January this year, they announced they were finally tying the knot in October and for the past 10 months, Marie said she has been “blabbing about it” all over Facebook.
“I created a Facebook event and invited everyone I could and also sent out over 25 invitations to our elders and those not on social media to make sure they were included as well,” she said in a video.
Marie said she received 40 RSVPs, so she planned for that number by setting up the venue accordingly and ensuring her mum had catered enough food.
She also made sure to check in with everyone the week of to confirm their attendance, and said “at least 20 people” had gotten back to her saying they were coming and some even had outfits.
The biggest question she’s been left with after the mass no-show is “why?”
“If I could answer that, I would tell you. And no, I haven’t really received a lot of messages explaining why people weren’t there or giving me excuses,” she said.
However, the newlywed said she was actually grateful for this because it meant she could get a clear understanding of who actually cared about her and her husband.
“We’ve been having to deal with the grief of deleting a lot of people out of our lives,” she admitted.
“For the most part, we’ve done a lot of re-evaluating our lives and just spending a lot of time appreciating what we have and what we had.”
In another clip, Marie said she was still “a little embarrassed” and “moving through the stages of grief” after the day.
When people asked her for a “re-do,” she agreed, but said her husband is extremely introverted and is also dealing with a lot of residual anger.
“A lot of his family were the ones who didn’t show up as well,” she revealed.
One of the saddest parts about the whole thing is that she didn’t receive any cards from people.
To anyone who has had something similar happen to them, Marie says: “I am truly very sorry as I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
News.com.au has reached out to Marie for further comment.
Just like in her original video, Marie’s comments section was filled with supportive messages.
“My heart aches for you,” said one person, while another called it “cruel” and a third “unbelievable.”
Others emphasized that it was a powerful learning moment: “You really find out who your friends are when you have a wedding. Sorry, you went through this,” insisted one user.
“The people who didn’t turn up you don’t need in your life,” another reassured.
Marie’s original video is now sitting at eight million views and showed the heartbreaking moment the couple entered their empty reception hall.
Hand-in-hand with stoic expressions, they walked alongside their son and tried to come to terms with what had happened.
A somber cover of Miley Cyrus’ song, 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 a brave face.
“This is our entrance to our Masquerade ball,” Marie wrote in the caption.
“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 1 pm. 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.”
Marie said she “dreamed” 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.
Despite the disappointing turnout, she 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 a sweet clip of her and her husband having their first dance.
