Weddings are supposed to be magical, right? A day full of love, laughter, and happy tears. Months of planning all lead to that one perfect moment when you stand beside the person you love most and say, “I do.”
That was exactly the dream I had—until my daughter, Amanda, turned it into an absolute nightmare.
It all started with traffic.
Adam, my fiancé, and I were stuck in our limousine, trapped in a sea of brake lights on the freeway. An overturned truck had caused a massive pileup, and there we were—me, in my white lace gown, and Adam, sweating in his tuxedo, staring hopelessly out the window.
“Time, please, Ben?” I asked through the intercom.
Our driver sighed. “Hard to say, Miss Mabel. But I’m trying my best! I’ll get you and Mr. Adam down that aisle, I promise!”
We both knew what that meant—we were definitely going to be late.
“Love, call Amanda,” Adam said, tapping his fingers anxiously on the leather seat. “Tell her to keep the guests busy. Get the band playing. Anything to stop them from leaving.”
I nodded, already feeling the pressure. My heart was pounding as I called my daughter. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, sweetie,” I said quickly. “We’re stuck in traffic. There’s been an accident, so we might be 30 minutes late. Can you make sure everything’s okay at the venue? Keep the guests entertained, maybe get the band to start early?”
“Of course, Mommy!” Amanda chirped. “Don’t you worry about a thing! I’ll handle everything. Just get here safely!”
Her cheerful voice calmed me for a moment. I leaned back in my seat and let out a deep breath.
But ten minutes later, my phone buzzed again. It was my sister, Jess.
“Mabel!” she shouted as soon as I answered. “You have to get here now! It’s Amanda—she…”
Her voice broke off, and then the call disconnected.
“She what?” I muttered, immediately calling her back. But it went straight to voicemail.
My stomach twisted with unease.
“What do you think is going on?” I asked Adam, my voice tight.
He sighed. “Oh, honey, it’s probably nothing serious. Amanda’s probably trying to sing with the band or something.”
I wanted to believe him. I really did.
When we finally pulled up to the venue, my heart dropped.
There she was—Amanda—standing on the steps, glowing under the sunlight, surrounded by photographers.
And she was wearing a wedding dress.
It wasn’t as fancy as mine, but it was white, elegant, and unmistakably bridal. In her hands, she held a bouquet of ivory roses—my bouquet.
Next to her stood Kyle, her boyfriend of barely a year, looking pale and awkward in a black suit.
I froze. “What… what the hell is going on?” I shouted, storming up the steps.
Amanda turned toward me, smiling brightly. “Oh, Mommy! I’m so sad you missed the ceremony! It was lovely!”
My jaw dropped. “Your ceremony? You mean my ceremony? Amanda, are you out of your mind?”
She twirled a strand of hair and shrugged. “Well, you were late, and everything was already set up—the officiant, the band, the flowers. I didn’t want it all to go to waste. So…” She grinned. “I married Kyle.”
For a moment, I couldn’t even breathe. My daughter—my only daughter—had stolen my wedding.
“You’ll get married another day!” she said cheerfully, as if this was a minor inconvenience. “But for now, Kyle and I are going to walk to the reception hall. The guests are waiting to throw rice and confetti! Wanna join?”
I stared at her, shaking with disbelief.
Adam appeared beside me, his jaw clenched. “Say the word, love,” he said quietly. “I’ll shut this whole thing down right now.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted to rip the veil right off her head. But I forced myself to take a deep breath.
“She’s still my daughter,” I muttered. “Don’t. She’ll learn her lesson another way.”
The reception was surreal.
Amanda pranced around like a movie star, waving to guests, soaking up every compliment. She danced, laughed, and took endless photos, completely ignoring the fact that she had hijacked my wedding.
My relatives were whispering everywhere. Aunt Joy came up to me, fanning herself with a napkin.
“Mabel, darling,” she said softly, “we thought it was your wedding! Why is Amanda the bride? We didn’t even know she was engaged!”
I smiled tightly. “I didn’t know either, Aunt Joy.”
Then Jess found me, fuming.
“That little brat!” she snapped. “She snatched my phone when I tried to call you and locked me in the bathroom! I missed the whole thing! Why didn’t you stop her when you got here?”
“Because,” I said with a calm smile, “revenge is best served cold.”
That night, Adam and I sat in our hotel room, eating dessert from room service when there was a knock at the door.
Amanda waltzed in, looking thrilled.
“Mommy! Kyle and I need your tickets to Chile for the honeymoon. No point letting them go to waste, right?”
Adam nearly choked on his chocolate mousse. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
But I smiled sweetly. “Of course, darling. You can have the tickets. You and Kyle deserve some fun.”
She squealed, hugged me, and ran off with the envelope.
Adam stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Mabel, what the hell? She took our honeymoon too! After everything she’s done?”
I chuckled. “Don’t worry, love. Give it two days.”
And sure enough, two mornings later, my phone rang.
“Mom! How could you do this to me?!” Amanda’s voice shrieked through the line.
“Oh, darling,” I said calmly. “Is something wrong?”
“Wrong?!” she screamed. “You sent us to the Arctic! It’s freezing! There’s nothing to do here! I wanted beaches, not icebergs!”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
Technically, the tickets were for Chile… but they had a layover for an Arctic expedition. Glacier hikes, ice caves, and polar bear sightings—it was our dream trip. But Amanda? She hated the cold.
“You asked for the tickets,” I said sweetly. “You should’ve checked the itinerary.”
She groaned. “Mom! What am I supposed to do now?”
“You’re a married woman,” I said. “Figure it out.”
Then she hung up on me.
A week later, Jess and our friends threw us a new wedding celebration at her house. It was intimate, beautiful, and filled with people who actually cared about us.
No Amanda this time.
The best part? All the wedding gifts were addressed to me and Adam. A luxurious espresso machine, silk linens, a weekend spa getaway—everything we could have wanted.
It was poetic justice.
When Amanda returned home and found out, she called again, furious.
“Mom! You stole my wedding gifts!”
I laughed. “Your gifts? Amanda, those were mine to begin with. You stole my wedding. I just took what was rightfully mine.”
“You’re so unfair!” she cried. “You ruined everything for me!”
“No, sweetie,” I said, smiling. “You ruined everything for yourself.”
Adam, making espresso, burst out laughing beside me.
As for Amanda’s new marriage? Let’s just say it didn’t take long for the cracks to show.
Kyle looked miserable even during the wedding reception, and Jess later told me he’d been sleeping on the couch within a month.
“That boy’s in for a rough ride,” Jess said when she visited for tea.
I just smiled.
Amanda might have stolen my wedding, but she didn’t steal my happiness. Adam and I went on our Arctic honeymoon, and it was more breathtaking than I’d ever imagined—glittering glaciers, peaceful nights, and just the two of us.
In the end, Amanda learned her lesson the hard way.
Some people need to lose everything to understand what they’ve done wrong.
And me? I learned that karma doesn’t need any help—it always finds its way home.