Wedding Drama·
NOT-SO-BEST MAN
A wedding spirals after a best man's drinking relapse erupts into chaos, prompting a lifetime friendship to fracture under the weight of violence, vandalism, and a brutal reckoning.
Cut him off after the wedding chaos?
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**Not-so-Best Man**
The wedding ended with two trucks keyed, a best man in a hospital, and a friendship effectively dead.
The poster had known the man since childhood, a "close-as-brother-best friend" of about 25 years, and asked him straight before the August wedding if he could keep it together. "buddy, we're not going to get out of hand and cause a scene at my wedding, right?" the poster recalled asking. The answer came back fast: "Of course not. I'm a little hurt you have to ask."
The friend had a long drinking history. The two started drinking in the latter high school years, but while the poster says he got partying out of his system, the friend did not. Over time, the friend became an alcoholic with a trail of wreckage behind him: nearly 10 years to finish a 3-year university program, multiple firings, DUIs, and ruined relationships. In their 20s and into their early 30s, he would seem to get better, then relapse again.
On the wedding day, he showed up with his own cooler, stocked with his preferred alcohol, and later added weed to the mix. Between the ceremony and reception, he got tipsy and started wandering and staggering around. The couple quietly hid the cooler before speeches, but during the speeches he was still looking for it, moving from table to table. His speech got cut short.
He kept drinking from the donation booze, the "leave a donation for the bride and groom/honor system" bottles, and got even more intoxicated. Eventually, the mother-in-law's boyfriend and two brothers-in-law cut him off. The poster's dad even offered to drive him home.
Instead, after being cut off, he lunged at the boyfriend and the two brothers-in-law. They pinned him down rather than fight back. Nobody called police. They called an ambulance.
He was taken to a hospital about 20 minutes away. Then, according to the poster, the hospital "lost track of him."
Somehow, he made it back to the poster's house. There, he broke into the garage and keyed two trucks. The proof was ugly and simple: empties left in the yard, blood on patio chairs, and police agreeing there was evidence he had been there. The poster said they are still waiting on DNA results, and charges were pressed with a condition of "zero contact with us."
For the poster, that was the break. He cut the friend out of his life entirely. With twins on the way, he says he does not want an alcoholic capable of breaking and entering, property damage, and a wedding-day "kick" toward family members anywhere near the household. He still ended by hoping the friend gets help.