'I wish I'd followed my instinct.' 18 brides on the moment they knew their marriage wouldn't last.

It's 10 minutes until you head down the aisle.

Your photographer is hastily cleaning their camera lens. Your maid-of-honour is guarding your bridal bouquet like the Shroud of Turin. Your makeup artist is powdering your face, and your hair stylist is taming your flyaways.

Each person has a collective goal; to give you the wedding day you always dreamed about.

But for some brides, no matter how crisp the photos or fluffy the cake, their day is marked by a moment, or moments, that warns them that their marriage is over before it even begins.

Here, 18 women share their stories of the moment they faced that very reality.

Watch: A bride calls out wedding photographer over TikTok Post continues after video.

When 'I do,' turns into 'oh no.'

One woman knew something wasn't right before she even said those two words.

"I cried the whole way down the aisle. Everyone said it was happy tears, but in hindsight I am not so sure," she told Mamamia.

A second woman was getting into her wedding dress when she started to have doubts.

"Just after I put my dress on, I was waiting for the time to leave," she said. "I remember wondering if I was doing the right thing but still went through with the wedding."

For a third woman, it was her and her husband's first dance that foreshadowed their divorce.

"The music started, and he was still talking to the groomsmen, apparently telling them not to join us," she said. "But he left me standing there with the song going. It was At Last by Etta James, so it starts immediately. We lasted 17 years, but this still sticks in my mind. He just didn't get it."

Another bride was on the way to the ceremony when she had a sinking feeling.

"My panic attack when getting into the car should've been my tip off," she said. "I wish I'd followed my instinct."

For a fifth woman, it was a brief moment with her sibling.

"My brother, who was doing cute recordings of all the guests, came up to me and asked a question," she said. "My first response was 'next time [I get married]' blah blah."

The nail in the coffin for a sixth bride was her groom's speech.

"When my, now ex, husband got up to do his speech, he literally didn't mention me at all," she said.

It was an experience echoed by another bride, whose husband failed to mention both herself and their kids in his speech. And that wasn't the only red flag.

"The priest was late. Even though [my husband] had the priest's number, he rang me and had a go at me about it."

When another bride didn't receive "one proper kiss" on her wedding day, she knew the writing was on the wall.

She added: "The best compliment he could give me was a quick 'Oh, you look cute,' as if he was talking to his little niece. It just felt like we were playing some little pretend game."

As a ninth bride geared up to walk down the aisle, an ominous mantra played in her head. It should have been her sign to turn around and walk away.

"I said to myself, 'Don't do this.' But being the people-pleaser I am, I went through with it. We are still together, although I don't know for how much longer."

Another woman started having doubts when her groom forgot his one responsibility for the day.

"He went surfing and forgot to take the champagne to the ceremony location – his only job," she shared. "And didn't seek me out at the reception once. Too busy having fun with his friends. He got so drunk I had to walk him to the car and drive us home. Passed out and slept on the couch of a $600 hotel room."

She wasn't the only bride who barely saw her husband during their ceremony.

"Our meal was served and he was nowhere to be seen," another woman shared. "And then for our wedding dance, he started going freestyle and danced on the table alone."

Listen: Why women are 'quietly quitting' their husbands. Post continues below.

For another woman, two songs hinted that the relationship was temporary.

"He played Can You Feel The Love Tonight and I got the ick," she said. "Then, as the first song over dinner, the DJ started playing Someone Like You. I heard the words 'I heard that you're settled down…' and I was like… 'Holy crap… I settled.'"

It took just eight words for another bride to know her marriage had an expiration date.

And it was her maid-of-honour who delivered them.

"She said, 'Don't worry, this is just your first wedding,'" the woman recalled. "She was right."

Truthfully, the bride knew during their engagement that she "didn't want to marry him," but was worried she was falling behind.

"He was a great guy, just not for me… Our parents were paying for a very grand wedding. I just wanted to save face and figured I could leave him later… I was very young and very dumb."

For the next eight years, she tried to "get him to leave" so she "wasn't the bad guy." Finally, the marriage ended.

"In the end, I was the bad guy. And we're both much happier now 10 years later."

Another woman knew her husband wasn't her forever before she'd even reached the altar. 

"When I got to the beginning of the aisle with my dad, I realised just by the look of him that he had been on a two-day bender," she shared.

"The second [moment] was when he jumped off a speaker and broke his foot and spent the whole next day in emergency while I packed down the whole wedding and dealt with our sick kids."

As a different bride listened to her husband's vows, she realised something was missing.

"His vows were basically his life story up until the day we met," she told Mamamia. "Our celebrant was a close friend of mine, and she has since told me she even tried to help him 'edit' his vows but he wouldn't budge. She knew we wouldn't last before we even got married! I think deep down I did too."

For another woman, all it took was one guest.

"I knew when I saw the person I was having an affair with at the back of the church," she said.

As the night was wrapping up for another bride, she learnt her husband didn't want to go home with her.

"He said, 'It's not everyday I get to hang out with these guys.' Then, when we left, he pulled my veil backward to make me fall over and threw his wedding ring away," she shared. "It's actually quite sad now when I think of it. Why wasn't I stronger back then?"

For a final woman, what began as a picturesque mountainside ceremony ended with her alone in a wedding suite.

All she wanted was "a hot bath and a soft cuddle" when her husband got a text.

"His brother and a few friends had made the trip from the mountains and wanted to go out clubbing, drinking, celebrating," she said.

Despite her reservations, the groom left.

"He walked out and left me alone in our wedding suite. When he eventually came back, he treated me horribly."

In that moment, she said, "a little voice whispered that something was very, very wrong."

"Looking back, I realise I knew, even on my wedding night, that this wasn't how good love stories begin. And maybe that's why my memory hides so much of it. Some chapters are simply too heavy to carry."

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