What to Do When Someone Faints at a Wedding or Throws Up

I learned that one the hard way.

I was standing beside the groom during the ring exchange, holding the microphone while he repeated his words after me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the groomsmen start to wobble.

“He’s fainting.”

The groomsman behind him caught him as he fell into the guy in front of him and managed to stand him back up. I kept going.

Looking back, I probably should have stopped right there. Instead I rushed through the rest of that ring exchange because I was trying to get through the serious part while he seemed to be getting his balance back. This was new for me too.

About twenty seconds later a bridesmaid spoke up. He was going again.

This time, the ceremony stopped.

Then he went down for real

The same groomsman tried to hold him up again, but this time the guy was out. I said, “Let’s set him down.” Fortunately we were standing on grass, and the guy behind him was strong enough to lower him without letting him hit the ground hard.

It was a warm day, so I asked for water. Maybe he hadn’t had enough. Maybe he’d had too much to drink before the ceremony. Maybe it was nerves. Maybe there was something else going on. I didn’t know.

The crowd stayed surprisingly calm. So did the wedding party. Two bridesmaids crossed the aisle almost immediately and their mama bear instincts took over.

Then the groomsman came to and yelled, “What happened!”

I told him he’d fainted.

The groom looked at him and said, “You’re not the one getting married, bud!”

Perfect.

The guy was understandably embarrassed. The bridesmaids were making him drink water and I encouraged him to focus on breathing. You could still feel that weird tension in the crowd, so I said, “One of the first surprises of married life, on day one!”

People laughed.

Good. We needed that.

We got back to the ceremony. Then he fainted again.

We went back into the ring exchange. The bride said her part. I moved into the final reading and blessing.

And he fainted again.

This time he turned green and some people thought he was foaming at the mouth. At that point I would’ve loved to tell you paramedics rushed in.

There weren’t any.

Fortunately the bride’s aunt was a nurse. She came out of her seat and took over while we kept him on the ground.

After a few more moments the groom asked if we could just wrap it up.

Absolutely.

I went straight to my final line and gave it everything I had.

“Well, you are now as your hearts have always known you to be, husband and wife! Kiss your beautiful bride!”

I wanted the crowd clapping. I wanted the couple to have their moment back, even if only for a few seconds.

The bride who threw up was a completely different kind of chaos

In another wedding, the bride came down the aisle with her mom, reached the front and threw up from nerves before I’d really said anything.

There is no rehearsal for that.

She was embarrassed, of course, but she handled it like a champ. We paused, let her recover and then went on with the wedding.

These two weddings happened after I’d already been officiating for years. Experience helps, but eventually something happens that you haven’t seen before.

That’s weddings.

If you’re officiating for the first time, don’t spend so much energy trying to memorize every word that you forget to look up and pay attention to what’s actually happening around you. Your ceremony script matters. Your delivery matters. So does noticing the groomsman who’s starting to sway before he hits the ground.

For the bigger picture, read my complete guide to officiating a wedding. I also wrote about handling unexpected noise and distractions because fainting isn’t the only thing that can derail a ceremony.