Kalina Marie, a bride expecting a joyous celebration with loved ones, was left devastated when she arrived at her wedding reception to find an almost empty venue.
Out of 75 invited guests, only five family members attended, forcing Kalina and her husband Shane to walk down the aisle in silence on November 2.
The couple, who had been together for nine years, had a private wedding ceremony followed by a masquerade-themed reception, which they had spent 10 months planning.
Despite sending out invitations asking guests to arrive before 1 pm, Kalina received a message from her mother at 1:15 pm, notifying her that no one had shown up. When the couple arrived 45 minutes later, the venue remained empty despite multiple RSVPs.
Kalina shared a video of the empty reception on TikTok, where it quickly garnered nearly nine million views.
In her post, she expressed her heartbreak, saying: “I dreamed of walking into a room filled with cheering people… but instead, I was left trying to hold myself together as I faced an almost empty venue.”
She lamented the wasted food, drinks, and empty tables, but added: “Did we still make the most of it? You bet your SWEET ass we did. But for a moment, this video took all the good memories and crushed them.”
The video shows the decorated venue with fairy lights and lanterns, but with empty chairs. Kalina looks visibly stunned, shaking her head as she enters hand-in-hand with her husband, before they share a tender kiss.
Despite her brave demeanor, Kalina later shared her deep disappointment: “I keep asking myself why. What did we do wrong? Why weren’t we important enough for people to show up? Some of my ‘friends’ haven’t even reached out to explain or congratulate us. It’s heartbreaking, but I have my husband, my baby, and the family who stood by us, and for that, I am thankful.”
Determined not to let the absence of guests ruin their day, Kalina posted another video showing her dancing with her cousin, mother, and best friend. She also shared a touching moment from her first dance with Shane, where they embraced and reassured each other, saying, “We are all we need; it’s us against the world.”
Thousands of TikTok users flooded the comments with messages of support, expressing sympathy and admiration for the couple’s resilience.
This is our entrance to our Masqurade ball. The Masqurade ball that I have talked EXCESSIVELY about for the last 10 months. The same ball that I not only digitally invited over 75 people to. But ALSO spent money to send 25 beautiful invitations out to. 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 1pm. My mom messaged me at 1:15 that no one was there. My husband and I finally showed up at 2oclock, to 5 people. In a venue planned for 40. I dreamed that I would walk in to a bunch of people cheering us on. Hooting and hollering for us in celebration……but all you see is a woman trying to hold herself together because she had NO idea how to deal with her venue being almost completely empty. All the wasted food and drinks. All the empty tables and chairs. Every moment of my reception changed to adapt. Did we still make the most of it?? You bet your SWEET @$$ we did. But did this video just take all the good moments and shoot them out of the water for a second, F$&K yea it did 😔 It just makes me think, like, why? What did we do? Am I that bad of a person? What did my husband ever do to deserve any of this? Why couldn’t we matter enough for people to show up? I still have “friends” that haven’t even messaged me to congratulate me or tell me why they didn’t come. It truly makes me sick. I honestly can’t wrap my head around this yet. But all I know is, I have my man. My baby. And family that shows up when I need them. And for that, I will be thankful ❤️ #FAIL#fyp#whereisthelove
Replying to @ophelia 🦋 dont worry mama tot, I still made the most of my night 🥰 With my mama, my cousin and my best friend (fun fact: this is the song playing in the original vidoe. Just didnt want tt to take it down ☺️)
Replying to @keep_aiming_forward First off, I would just like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone for all of your amazing love and support. When I posted my wedding reception entrance video, I had just about 6K followers. And I figured, since no one else got to see our entrance. At least my TikTok friends could. Never in 1 million years did I imagine my video would blow up the way it did. I am completely overwhelmed. Between feeling the love and support from TikTok. But also having to deal with the grief of deleting a lot of people out of our lives. It has been a whirlwind of emotions since this happened just this last Saturday. Thank you all so much for offering a redo, wouldn’t that be amazing? But, like many of you have said. My little group is really all I need. And now I truly know, who is there for me and who is not. I will just be forever grateful that so many people got to see the entrance I dreamed about for so long 😭❤️🫶🏽😭❤️🫶🏽 Please enjoy this clip of mine and my husband first and only dance. And the moment we told each other we were all we needed and it was us against the world 😭🙌🏽🫶🏽
