Fiancé Leaves Bride At The Altar — Years Later, Groom Reaches Out And Asks To Meet

Dec 01, 2023

Wedding ceremonies are usually filled with big emotions because two people will be entering a new chapter in their lives, and they and their families are excited for what the future holds for the both of them. 

However, not everyone gets a happy ending. This is what happened to a Reddit user who shared a devastating story on the platform.

The original post, which was first posted in March 2021 but was later locked, was reposted in the r/BestofRedditorUpdates in 2022.

The story begins with a woman, who was 29 years old at the time, who was excited to marry the love of her life, whom she referred to as J. Everything was almost perfect that day because she already wore her dress, had her makeup done, and posed for pictures along with her bridesmaids.

The only thing left to do was to walk down the aisle, exchange vows, and kiss her groom to seal their love, hopefully forever.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Later that day, J’s best man spoke to her, agitated, and told her that her fiancé had up and left without anyone knowing. When the bride came back to their apartment, all of his things were gone, and he had left no sign of ever coming back.

“He’s been pretty much a ghost ever since he left me and I had to force myself to move on,” she wrote. 

After that day, the original poster still went on the honeymoon along with her best friends, and she underwent therapy to “heal the horrible trust issues.”

Four years after their supposed wedding, J reached out to her and said that he wanted to meet up and personally apologize.

Later in the post, J told his ex-fiancé that he wanted to explain what truly happened that day. The woman was torn about meeting up with her former partner, but she was curious and wanted to get closure finally.

Fortunately, her current boyfriend at the time supported her with whatever decision she would make. Since he was so supportive, she initially wanted to ghost J and just forget about the whole thing.

An update was made in April 2021, and even though Reddit users gave advice not to do it, the woman still decided to meet J in person for the first time after years to hopefully understand why things had happened that way.

OP and her ex-fiancé met up in a park. Her new boyfriend came with her but kept his distance by sitting off to the side while the two of them conversed.

“I actually feel stupider after meeting with him. There were a lot of things in our relationship that would have had me out the door if I paid more attention and if he wasn’t such a great liar,” she wrote.

J admitted to the woman that when they were in the last year of their relationship, he did drugs and cheated on her. At the time, the man struggled with his sexuality, and he hid it from his ex.

The reason why he did drugs was that it was something that got him through the day and let him act as if he was still in love with the woman he was supposed to marry.

While they were together, he met his boyfriend at work, and the woman even met him a few times at his workplace, never knowing her fiancé was cheating on her with this man.

Before their wedding day, J’s boyfriend gave him an ultimatum, and he ended up choosing the man instead of his fiancé. That was the reason why he ran away and “moved two towns over.”

J and his boyfriend’s relationship didn’t last. Initially, he thought he could quit using drugs after he left his homophobic family, but he still couldn’t. When the man found out about his addiction, he left him.

“He kept going, getting high and hooking up with randoms. One of his regular hook ups ended up overdosing while they were asleep in the same bed and died and he realized he had to get sober,” she explained.

The woman said J apologized to her for not being honest and leading her on throughout their relationship. He told her that he wished to go back in time and tell the truth because the OP would’ve been “the most accepting of him being gay out of everyone.”

Although J said he missed her after leaving, he clarified that he was not in love with her romantically, but rather, he valued her as a best friend.

“It was a lot to take in. I told him while I’m glad he’s okay and is doing better, I’d prefer for us not to have any contact moving forward but I do forgive him. He said he understood and he was only in town for a few more days and he’d be gone for good again,” she added.

After their interaction, the woman cried at home, but thankfully, her boyfriend was there to comfort her. Thankfully, she was happy with her new relationship because she considered her boyfriend “the best” for not pressuring her to talk about what happened until she was ready to do so.

“If I got anything out of the worst day of my life, it’s led me to who I’m with now,” she concluded.

What do you think of the woman’s bravery to meet up with the man who left her on their wedding day? How would you react if you were in the same situation? Let us know your thoughts, and make sure to pass this on to your friends and family.