Bride shares wedding horror story shaming guest who stole $300 at the reception.
A pile of cards with cash and gifts of useful household items can be tempting to steal if a bridezilla crosses you during the wedding planning process...
While most guests and wedding vendors are trustworthy people who wouldn't dare to steal someone else's wedding gifts, there are always exceptions when the open bar is in full swing. So, when a frustrated super sleuth of a bride decided to vent to the gloriously judgmental 'Wedding Shaming' Reddit group about a $300 mystery, internet strangers everywhere were on the case.
Someone stole a $300 gift card from our card table at the end of our reception...
New hubs and I just got back from our honeymoon the day before Thanksgiving. Started opening up gifts and cards to finish writing thank you's, only to discover one envelope had already been torn open and mixed in with the rest.
It was a congrats card from one of my bridesmaids, that I knew was also supposed to contain a gift card because she told me what she was giving us. She waited until right before our private last dance, right before the send-off, to put her card in the box (so it would have been the last card in the box, thus the first card on the stack), and then most everyone (guests and vendors) went outside for the send-off.
To my knowledge, only the catering staff, decorating crew, and the DJ were left inside during this time, maybe 10 people. After my groom and I left, our coordinators, wedding party, and family stayed behind to help clean up and get all of our personal items, including the gifts and card box, which went into my mom's car and went home with her.
During the send-off and during clean-up would have been the only times the table was not in the full view of our coordinators or parents.
My bridesmaid bought the Visa gift card from Walmart, left it in the card sleeve, and taped the activation receipt to it, so she now only has a purchase receipt, which is basically useless in trying to locate the card, cancel it, and issue a replacement, at least according to the few people she's talked to in customer service.
My friend is understandably distraught because she feels like her money was wasted on someone else and no one in card services seems willing to help reach a resolution.
To be honest, we care a lot less about the money and more about getting the transaction history so we can try to figure out who stole from us and know who to cut out of our lives.
About 70% of our guest list traveled in from other states, and nearly all of the local guests were gone by the send-off, so we know if it was spent locally it's likely to be a vendor or their staff; otherwise, we would be able to narrow down 'suspects' if the purchases were made elsewhere.
This whole thing has really soured our experience. Our day was so beautiful and we have some amazing memories of the day, but to think that someone we trusted, maybe even one of our closest friends or family, would steal from us, is just really disheartening and has put a dark cloud over us.
Here's what the jury of wedding shamers had to say about this mystery...
FucciMe said:
While my friends were on their honeymoon, someone broke into their house and took anything and everything of value. You wanna know how they finally caught the thief? They stole a gift card, and called in to check the balance on it. Ended up being a close friend.
napsdufroid said:
Yeah, a lot of coincidences here. If it was indeed staff, seems like they'd not only take the entire envelope, but several cards at once, hoping for cash. Hope you can get to the bottom of it.
But if not, and even though it was a totally shitty thing to have happen, don;t let $300, which isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, ruin your otherwise great memories of the day.
stephelan said:
I would be petty if I found out who did it. Everyone would know.
91runaway said:
Maybe the bridesmaid did it? It just seems way too convenient that hers was the last card put in, and yet also the only card that was ripped into. And not only that, but all of the info was with the card, so it can’t possibly be tracked down now also according to the bridesmaid.
If it had been someone else stealing, they probably wouldn’t have resisted stealing from more than one card if they had the opportunity. Also, what a coincidence that she would have let the bride know ahead of time the amount of the gift card she was putting in her card ahead of time.
glass_heart2002 said:
Doesn’t the venue have security cameras? My first thought was your bridesmaid has something to do with it. Bad liars give details. Why does she put it in the box last, and remember exactly what you were doing when she put the envelope in the box? Why would she tell you what she got you beforehand?
Sounds like she’s broke, too embarrassed to say so, and made it look like she gave you a gift. She could have all the proof in the world she bought a gift card. Doesn’t mean it was intended for you. Maybe she paid bills with it.
dottiel said:
This is why I made our card box to look like a pile of presents and hot glued it shut with only a slot for cards to be dropped in. My mother is extremely paranoid and it has sadly rubbed off on me. I’m sorry this happened to you guys. I hope you find who did it.