AITA for fainting at my aunt’s wedding and ruining it?

A 21F fainted at her aunt’s wedding after not eating or drinking much all day. Although she excused herself to leave the ceremony when feeling lightheaded, she collapsed before making it out. Unfortunately, she fell onto the photographer, causing him to drop and break his only camera.

Since the photographer couldn’t retrieve a replacement quickly, the bride was devastated about losing professional wedding photos. Despite the photographer and guests taking cellphone pictures, the bride was upset, leaving the OP feeling embarrassed and guilty for ruining the moment.

‘ AITA for fainting at my aunt’s wedding and ruining it?’

I (21F) attended my aunt’s wedding a few weeks ago. I was not part of the wedding, just a guest which I was fine with. Before the wedding, everyone was advised to drink lots of water and eat beforehand because it was going to be extremely hot that day.

The wedding started at 5:00pm, and I had absolutely nothing to eat or drink up until then except maybe a granola bar because I was extremely busy that day. So when it was time for the wedding, I was already tired and hungry.

About thirty minutes into the wedding, (which was at a church btw), I was feeling uneasy and lightheaded so I excused myself to go to the washroom. As I was walking, I got that feeling like I was about to collapse. The next thing I can remember was coming to and see lots of people surrounding me including the bride and groom.

Apparently, when I fainted, I fell onto the photographer who was crouched down near me. Not only that, but he dropped the camera lens down and it broke. Tbh I don’t even remember seeing the photographer but I may have been too dizzy or something to have seen him.

The wedding was a bit of a cheaper one, so the photographer was a family friend of the grooms who only had one camera with him. The bride was just in tears that she won’t have any good pictures from her wedding. The photographer insisted that he could drive home and grab a different one, but it would take too long.

The bride was indeed mad at me, but I feel it was a bit harsh as it was extremely embarrassing for me already. Fainting never even crossed my mind as something that would happen at all. They did get pictures but they were on cellphones.
AITA?

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

coffeemom23 ( Top 1 ) says

I mean, kinda YTA, sorry – obviously you didn’t mean to faint, that wasn’t in your control, but by your own admission you didn’t eat or drink all day even though you knew it was going to be very hot and you’d been advised to take precautions.

And you don’t seem to feel particularly bad about breaking the photographer’s camera lens when you fell, because it was a “cheaper” wedding? It’s a very soft YTA since none of this was intentional, but it sounds like you were negligent and then not particularly concerned about the consequences for other people.

edit: wow thanks for the upvotes! also from a serial fainter, a PSA: if you feel like you’re getting dizzy/lightheaded, *do not* do what OP did and get up and try to walk. stay seated, lie down if you can, ask someone to bring you water.

Ok-Profession-9372 ( Top 2 ) says

Bride and Groom: Make sure you eat and drink lots of water because it’s going to be hot. You: Too busy, can’t be bothered. And then you faint and take out the photographer?YTA

_gadget_girl ( Top 3 ) says

YTA. You were warned that you should eat and drink before the wedding. Why? Because things like fainting and heat exhaustion are real. You ignored the advice. You fainted as a result. You could’ve gotten a pass if you hadn’t fallen on the photographer, but you did.

Because of your choices, the bride does not have the wedding photographs she wanted. She has every right to be really angry at you as your actions led to that consequence. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t intend for it to happen. What matters is that you ignored their advice and the bride suffered as a result.

CheshireCatsGrin87 ( Top 4 ) says

YTA Not for the fainting, that cannot be controlled, but for not drinking and eating despite being advised to – that CAN be controlled. You are not a little kid, I don’t care how busy you were – unless you were running from an erupting volcano, you should have stopped to eat and drink, especially on a hot day.

This time, you ruined a wedding. Next time, you might endanger yours and someone else’s life, depending on the place. Suddenly losing consciousness is not a joke.
Apologize, and don’t do that again.

Cultural_Section_862 ( Top 6 ) says

YTA as an adult you should have known better not to hydrate, and you were warned, but chose to ignore it. no one is too busy to drink f**cking water ffs. take some responsibility for your health.

That_Influence_5716 ( Top 7 ) says

YTA. Drinking a bottle of water and eating a sandwich takes 5 minutes. I refuse to believe you were that busy all day that you couldn’t stop for 5 minutes. As a result you risked your health, broke a camera and ruined a wedding 👏🏼

[deleted] ( Top 8 ) says

I’m about to be the a**shole here. But I find it hard to believe you drank absolutely nothing, as you stated in your story, prior to 5pm. Busy or not, that doesn’t make sense. I’m kind of getting the vibe that you didn’t really faint…

I went to a wedding where the bride’s little sister did this. She “faked” a fainting spell that went away real quick when most people ignored her (things like this were normal for the little sister). She pouted the rest of the wedding because no one would stop the wedding for her.
Edit: I forgot to vote. YTA.

blearghstopthispls ( Top 9 ) says

YTA c’mon you’re 21 and you don’t know how to stay alive during a heat wave?

SaskTravelbug ( Top 10 ) says

How busy could you really be? Like really. Can’t drink a glass of water? YTA