'As soon as I saw my husband on our wedding day, I almost ran away. Now I wish I had.'

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The night before her wedding, Julie* bid farewell to her fiancé, Mark*, and told him she'd see him at the altar.

The bride and groom had agreed to have separate send-offs with their loved ones, before reuniting as husband and wife.

It's tradition after all.

"I was with my girlfriends, sister and parents at an Airbnb," Julie told Mamamia. "And he was at his parents' house with his friends."

At the end of the night, she hopped into bed alone, knowing she would be sharing it with her husband soon enough. 

But over at Mark's bachelor pad, the night was just beginning. 

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The next morning, Julie and her bridal party were getting ready when a photographer burst into the room. 

"Wow, the groomsmen are all pretty wasted," they said. 

Julie tensed up.

"I was feeling quite frantic, because I was like, 'Oh god, where is this going to lead today?'" she said.

There was no time to dwell, though, so the bride pushed those thoughts aside and finished getting ready.

Before she knew it, it was time to hop on a golf cart and head for the aisle.

The moment Julie stepped off the cart and looked at her husband-to-be, she knew something was wrong. 

"He was sweating, and his hair was all over the place," she said. "He looked like a mess. And he was putting on a fake crying face."

After being with Mark for six years, and welcoming two kids together, Julie had learnt to recognise the signs that he'd been drinking.

There was no question about it, the man at the end of the aisle was not sober.

"He'd clearly been on a massive bender," she said. 

At this point, Julie's mind went into fight or flight.

"I was just like, 'What am I doing? Is it too late? Oh my god. This is all feeling very wrong.'"

For a fleeting moment, the bride considered hiking up her wedding dress and bolting the other way.

Julie did consider running. Image: Canva.

But, with dozens of eyes on her, she knew it was too late.

"I wanted to turn around and walk away, but I was too far gone by that stage," she said. "It's 150 people watching. It was a nightmare."

When Julie joined Mark at the altar, she realised there was no hiding his inebriated state. Not even to the guests.

During their vows, Julie said he was "mumbling" and skipping over words.

"He was putting it down to emotions and pretending to cry. Well, it felt like he was pretending anyway," she said.

Once they'd officially tied the knot, things only went downhill for the newlyweds.

As Julie and Mark took photos, the groom kept accidentally pulling on his wife's hair extensions as he threw his arms over her shoulders.

"We ended up having a huge fight because he was just incomprehensible," Julie said. "It was just a s—t-show."

Friends and family tried to reason with the bride, telling her "it's not too late" to back out.

"But I was like, 'I'm already married. This has already happened.'"

When it was time for the reception, Mark divided most of his time between the bar and bathroom.

"He was even more wasted, he just kept going," Julie said. "And then he was dancing like a pr-ck."

Without Julie's knowledge, Mark had hired two large speakers for the night. And he decided they deserved a role in his dance routine.

"It was meant to be a surprise, but it was just really a surprise for himself," Julie said. "At one stage, he was dancing on top of one of the big speakers and then did a karate kick into the crowd."

But Mark didn't stick the landing, and ended up snapping his ankle.

Partygoers insisted the groom go to the hospital, but he simply waved them off and rejoined the fray. 

By the end of the night, Mark couldn't put any weight on his injured foot. And Julie was left to deal with it.

"I had to basically carry him up the stairs," she said.

The next day, as she packed up the wedding and looked after the kids, who had come down with the flu, Mark recovered in the emergency room.

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It seemed like the writing was on the wall for the relationship. But over the next few weeks, the newlyweds made it work.

Then, about a month after the wedding, the family relocated.

With Mark travelling for work, Julie seldom saw her husband.

That was their saving grace.

"That kept us going, the fact he wasn't here," she said. "And he'd be out on weekends, while I was parenting."

The arrangement worked for two years until Mark finally moved his business closer to his wife and kids. 

"That's when everything really just started to crumble," Julie said. "We were fighting, and he had a bit of a drinking problem."

The breaking point came after one scary incident in which Mark came home in a rage.

"I just left the house because he wasn't going to and yeah, that's how it ended," she said.

Now, she is "trying to move forward."

"It's been a roller coaster, but I'm definitely feeling like I'm moving in the right direction," she said. "But I can't see myself ever getting married again.

"Just make sure you really know the person you're marrying and who you're going to have your children with, because they are in your life forever."

Feature Image: Canva (Stock image for illustrative purposes only).

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.