4: Vault: This Bride's Secret Lover Is Her Bridesmaid?!

Summary

The Bert Show: Episode 4 "Vault: This Bride's Secret Lover Is Her Bridesmaid?!"

Air Date: February 10, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode of The Bert Show dives into an extraordinary wedding story involving secret love, heartbreak, friendship, and emotional mayhem. The primary tale centers on a bride engaged to a man, while simultaneously maintaining a secret romantic and emotional affair with one of her bridesmaids. The conversation expands into a lively discussion about last-minute wedding bailouts, cold feet, and listener calls sharing true stories of dramatic wedding escapes. Throughout, the episode maintains its signature real, funny, and empathetic tone, providing both entertainment and insight into human relationships.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Shocking Bride-Bridesmaid Love Story

• Jen Hobby recounts her friend's jaw-dropping wedding story (01:35):
  • The bride, known to have explored her sexuality, is engaged to a man but has an ongoing emotional and physical affair with a bridesmaid, who is an out lesbian.
  • Their affair included discussions about the bride leaving her fiancé. The affair intensified within the six months leading up to the wedding.
  • "The bridesmaid had to stand up in this wedding this weekend and see the woman she's in love with marry a man." — Jen Hobby, 02:47
• The friend debates whether to confront the bride, fearing it may ruin her wedding day but also wanting to be supportive if the bride needs help (03:18–04:25).
  • "If you need me to have the car running outside the church and you make a last-minute decision to jump in, I will drive it away." — Jen Hobby, 03:26

2. The Wedding Goes On

• Despite the emotional tension and speculation, the bride marries her fiancé without any public drama—at least to the knowledge of Jen and the hosts (04:55):
  • "All I know is that the wedding happened so the bride married the man who has no clue any of this was going on, as far as I know." — Jen Hobby, 04:55

3. Hosts Reflect on Last-Minute Wedding Escapes

• The cast discusses theories about "left at the altar" moments and whether anyone ever truly bails after arriving at the ceremony (05:41–08:10):
  • "Here is my theory… Nobody actually shows up to the wedding and then decides to leave. Like you've made that decision [before], and nobody is actually brave enough to go to the church." — Co-host, 05:41
  • The hosts invite listeners with firsthand experience of last-second cold feet to call in.

4. Listener Call-Ins: Real Life ‘Runaway Bride’ Stories

• Caller Story #1 (09:13):
  • A best friend helps the bride literally run out of the church at the “I do” moment, fleeing to Hawaii for two days and leaving everyone—including her own husband—wondering where they went.
    • "At the time to say ‘I do,’ the priest asked her… she looked at me, I saw this tear… she ran down the aisle, and I ran after her, and we went to Hawaii." — Caller, 09:39
    • The groom ends up in jail days later, confirming he was not a good match for the bride.
• Caller Story #2 (11:06):
  • A bride gets cold feet at her ceremony/reception venue, begins to hyperventilate and publicly expresses, “I can’t do this,” before being coaxed away by her maid of honor.
    • “I walked in and there was my family and friends and his family and friends. I took one look at him and I turned around and hyperventilating was like, ‘Oh my God, I can't do this.’” — Caller, 12:00
    • After a break, they did marry—then later divorced.

5. Reflection and Musings

• The segment wraps with laughter, wishes to be a fly on the wall for dramatic weddings, and the camaraderie between hosts and listeners (13:09–13:39):
  • “If you’re going to a wedding where you think this might happen, invite me… I'll be single that weekend and be your date at the wedding.” — Maryann, 13:29

---

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• [02:47] Jen Hobby: "Bridesmaid had to stand up in this wedding this weekend with and see the woman she's in love with marry a man."
• [03:26] Jen Hobby: "If you need me to have the car running outside the church and you make a last minute decision to jump in, I will drive it away."
• [05:41] Co-host: "Nobody actually shows up to the wedding and then decides to leave... nobody is actually brave enough to go to the church."
• [09:39] Caller: “She ran down the aisle, and I ran after her, and we went to Hawaii for two days. Nobody could find us, not even my husband."
• [12:00] Caller: “I walked in and... I took one look at him and I turned around and hyperventilating was like, 'Oh my God, I can't do this.'"
• [13:29] Maryann: “If you're going to a wedding where you think this might happen, invite me.”

---

Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:35: Introduction to the secret bride-bridesmaid love affair
• 02:42: Confirmation it was not a one-time fling; emotional stakes revealed
• 04:25: Discovery the wedding went on as planned
• 05:41: Host theory on “left at the altar” scenarios
• 09:13: First dramatic listener call-in, real-life “runaway bride” moment
• 11:06: Second caller’s honest tale of wedding cold feet and a public breakdown
• 13:09–13:39: Playful wrap-up and hosts discussing the desire to witness such a wedding

---

Tone & Style

The episode is filled with empathetic, humorous, and honest exchanges. The cast maintains a supportive environment, encouraging listeners to share deeply personal tales, while balancing the tension with lighthearted asides and laughs. Listeners get a genuine sense of the chaos, vulnerability, and real-life drama that can unfold behind seemingly fairy-tale weddings.

---

For those who missed the episode:
Expect drama, laughs, candor, and a fascinating look at love triangles, emotional crossroads, and the courage (or terror) to make life-altering decisions at the church’s doors. If you want stories that are as outrageous as they are real, this episode is a must-catch from The Bert Show.

Transcript

[Host]

Lets do the 60 second savings challenge. Step 1 Download Rocket Money. Step 2 Link your accounts and see every subscription you're paying for. Tap one you don't use and cancel it. That's money back every month. Step 3 Create a financial goal $50 every paycheck. Or let the app automatically move small amounts of cash when you can afford it. In a week, you'll forget you set it up. In a month, you'll see real dollars piling up. In a year, you'll be shocked at how much money you've saved. Upload an Internet or phone bill and let Rocket Money try to lower it. You only pay if they find you savings. On average, Rocket Money members can save up to $740 a year when using all the app's premium features. Users love the app with over 186,000 five star ratings. Make saving money the resolution you actually keep. Start the 60 second savings challenge at RocketMoney.com cancel that's RocketMoney.com cancel RocketMoney.com cancel Weight Watchers now offers access to affordable GLP1s. Weight Watchers has everything I need from weight loss medications to nutrition support and help with my side effects. With our program, our members are losing more weight with expert nutrition and side.

[Chin Hobby]

Effects support weight watchers prescribing GLP1 medications.

[Maryann]

It's been life changing.

[Host]

Better results, expert support, lose more weight, make it last. Get started today for as low as $25 at weightwatchers.com the Burt show all.

[Co-host]

Right, Chin Hobby and I had a couple of people ask me about this.

[Chin Hobby]

Yeah, this is like the craziest wedding story I had ever heard. And my friend that told me about it actually said, oh, do I have a story for the Burt show for you. And so, you know, I've left out a lot of details, you know, in order to protect the identities of the people. But it was not a wedding that happened here in Atlanta and was not the one that I attended. Complet different wedding. And my friend was in it and she explained to me a little bit of the history on the bride that the bride had a bisexual past. So she had been sort of experimental with her sexuality in the past and that was all fine and dandy, but got engaged to this guy, very in love, seems to be going great. Asked my friend to be in the wedding. She's like super, you know, just like any other wedding. There's lots of bridesmaids in the wedding. Well, uh, my friend found out two weeks before the wedding that one of the bridesmaids who was an out lesbian, was in love with the bride and she and the bride had had a tryst, like kind of had had an affair and had discussed the bride leaving her fiance for the bridesmaid. Only maybe within the last six months.

[Co-host]

So this wasn't a one time deal.

[Caller/Guest]

The bride wanted to leave the fiance for the bridesmaid.

[Chin Hobby]

For the bridesmaid, right. So bridesmaid had to stand up in this wedding this weekend with and see the woman she's in love with marry a man. Right? So we were just afraid something was gonna happen. My friend was going back and forth, you know, do I talk to the bride about it? Do I, you know, is it gonna ruin her wedding day if I bring it up? Do I just let her know? Because her whole thing was like, I would just wanna be her friend, you know, if she is gay and she's afraid to say she's gay, I just want her to know I'm gonna love her regardless. I'm here for you and no judgment whatever.

[Co-host]

And this is emotions we're talking about. This is not just a bridesmaid looking going, ah, I want a piece of that. She's digging on the bride, right?

[Chin Hobby]

Well, and the bride too. And so my friend was wanting to be a good friend to the bride and say, if you need me to have the car running outside the church and you make a last minute decision to jump in, I will drive it away, you know, but like she was just in her mind trying to go through how she was gonna have this conversation with her back and forth and the struggle. And then she was also concerned that the bridesmaid would like stop the ceremony or cause or say something, whatever. So I was trying to text her all weekend and get information about what was going on and what had happened and how the story had developed and that sort of thing. And I didn't get much response because she was in the wedding and you know, being a part of wedding parties, very busy. So I didn't hear too much except that I got a text message and she said, do I say anything or not? She seems so happy it's the day before her wedding or something to that effect. And then the next, the next text message I got and it said the wedding happened, it did happen.

[Caller/Guest]

So they got married and they were on their way to their honeymoon.

[Chin Hobby]

So I have no idea any other sort of like dramatic stories when they were getting ready or, you know, if there was any private conversation between said bridesmaid and bride, if they just, you know, had cut it off completely.

[Caller/Guest]

Somebody's texting on their honeymoon.

[Chin Hobby]

So I don't really know any of.

[Maryann]

The details of somebody's spending a little too much time in the Internet cafe.

[Co-host]

Yeah.

[Caller/Guest]

Why are you checking your phone so much, Honey, don't worry about it.

[Chin Hobby]

So I don't know if she went into it, you know, nervous, you know, happy, unhappy, I'm not really sure. But all I know is that the wedding happened so the bride married the man who has no clue any of this was going on, as far as I know. But I, you know, like, I was like, can't wait to hear the details. Let me know what's happening, you know, So I was hitting her up like once an hour, like, what's going on?

[Co-host]

Need a scouting report here.

[Chin Hobby]

Of course. And then. Exactly. And then all my friends that I was hanging out with at a completely different wedding, of course, I had to tell them the whole story.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Oh.

[Chin Hobby]

So as we continue to have cocktails at our wedding reception, they were like, did you hear from her yet? What's going on? Did that, you know, whatever. So. So yeah, that's all I know is that the wedding did happen.

[Co-host]

I have a theory about these last minute, like, bailing on the weddings.

[Caller/Guest]

Okay.

[Co-host]

That I'll throw out here to see if we get one call on because, you know, we do. We'll do this from time to time because we're pretty confident now that anytime we throw a topic out, somebody, somebody is listening that will go. You know what? That pertains to me. No matter how bizarre the scenario is, here is my theory that while people are left at the altar. We've heard those stories before. Nobody actually shows up to the wedding and then decides to leave. Like you've made that decision and nobody is actually brave enough to go to the church. Or that sense of I gotta get outta here happens either right before the ceremony or during the ceremony when you bail.

[Caller/Guest]

Right.

[Co-host]

So I'm not looking for people that were left at the altar. What I'm looking for are the calls or call from somebody that went to the wedding, right. And then turned around and actually bailed.

[Chin Hobby]

So standing outside the church, like, groom's already down at the end and the bride is behind the closed doors, they're about to open it and play you are there.

[Maryann]

So that's what you're looking for. You're looking for left at the altar.

[Caller/Guest]

So what you're. Well, what you're saying is that you got dressed up, you got to the.

[Co-host]

Church, you were there.

[Caller/Guest]

So left at the altar. Usually most of the times is when people just never show up to the church that morning.

[Co-host]

So you're at the hotel and you're calling people, but what you're saying is.

[Caller/Guest]

You got your dress on, you got your tux on, you went to the church, and then something inside the church caused you to turn around and walk out.

[Co-host]

My theory is that a lot of people have cold feet, but. And a really intense cold feet. Like, you're thinking about it all the way to last minute, but you make a decision, a final decision that, okay, you know what? This is crazy. I'm going. And then once you get to the church, you just do it. So what I'm looking for are the people that actually committed went to the church, and then there you said, good God, I can't do this. And you actually got in the car and you took off.

[Chin Hobby]

Or like, the father of the bride asks that question like, you sure? Are you ready to do this?

[Maryann]

She says, no.

[Co-host]

She says no, and she's right there out of here.

[Maryann]

And that is the literal definition of left at the altar. Because that means the groom is standing up there waiting for you to come back. Or in the other version of that, because it could go the other way, would probably be left in the dressing room. There's a bride going to church, and she gets ready, and the groom has to send his best man to knock on the door. And bride's like, so in your case.

[Co-host]

The bridesmaid says to the bride, look, the car is running.

[Chin Hobby]

Yeah.

[Co-host]

All you gotta do is make a decision like that. And I wanna let you know I am here for you, and you are gone. My theory is that once you're at the church, you do it. Nobody has ever actually bailed.

[Caller/Guest]

Now, even more dramatic, man, could you imagine being at the altar? Both at the altar, and then somebody freaking out and saying, you know what?

[Chin Hobby]

And walking back down the aisle.

[Caller/Guest]

I can't do this. And running.

[Co-host]

Because at that point, everybody's got cameras on, and it's documented.

[Chin Hobby]

The families are there.

[Maryann]

Now, let me ask you guys this from a bride's point of view.

[Co-host]

Hold on one sec. Maryann, hold on for me, okay?

[Caller]

Okay.

[Co-host]

Don't go anywhere.

[Maryann]

When you're in the room and you're getting ready and your gown's on, because, you know. And who's in there? Mom's in there with you. And maid of honor.

[Chin Hobby]

Bridesmaids.

[Maryann]

Bridesmaids. And there's a knock at the door, is it safe to assume that if it's the best man, that there's something bad gonna happen?

[Chin Hobby]

I don't think so. Because there's always so much craziness on that day. Like, people are like, hey, we need a brush, or, hey, somebody needs a, you know, five minutes, kind of frantic.

[Maryann]

So it's. Until the words actually come out of whoever the messenger's mouth is when it's gonna be realized.

[Chin Hobby]

Yeah.

[Co-host]

All right, Marianne. Cool.

[Chin Hobby]

Yeah.

[Co-host]

Good Morning. You're our Q100.

[Chin Hobby]

Hey.

[Caller]

I love you guys. First of all, you guys are the highlight of my day.

[Co-host]

Thank you.

[Caller]

Okay, so this is what happened.

My best friend, she was forced to be married to this guy. And actually, my husband is best friends with him, but he's not really a good person. And her parents were forcing her to marry him for some reason. I don't know why. And she was telling me, I'm not gonna go through. I'm not gonna go through it. I'm like, okay, just let me know.

When we run out of church.

And at the time to say, I do. The priest asked her, you know, like, all those questions, and she looked at me, and I saw this tear coming out of her eyes. She ran down the aisle, and I ran after her, and we went to Hawaii. Well, her honeymoon was going to be in Hawaii, and we went to Hawaii for two days. Nobody could find us, not even my husband. And she was. To this day, she's so happy she did it.

[Co-host]

So she was.

[Maryann]

Literally.

[Co-host]

They were exchanging vows at the church.

[Caller]

In front of everybody, in front of her parents.

Everybody. Her parents. Well, they love me because we've been friends since we were in diapers. But right now they hate me because, you know, I took their daughter out of church and disappeared with her for two days.

[Chin Hobby]

How long ago was this?

[Caller]

Oh, I want to say a year ago.

[Co-host]

Yeah.

[Chin Hobby]

Wow. And they still hate you for it?

[Caller]

Well, not anymore, because they understand, you know, why I did it and why she ran away. And the guy wasn't a really good person, and, you know, he got to run in jail a couple of days later.

So it's not.

He wasn't really a good person for her.

[Co-host]

Yeah, I think usually people make that decision and they bail beforehand, but that is going right down the last second.

[Caller/Guest]

Yeah, I. I'm curious because I'm not as familiar with weddings as other people are, but is there any kind of insurance policy that you can take out on a wedding?

[Co-host]

There is, yeah.

[Caller/Guest]

For something like this?

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Co-host]

Absolutely.

[Caller/Guest]

Yeah. Because I think that that would be.

[Maryann]

Good insurance to get event insurance.

[Co-host]

Good morning, Anne.

[Caller]

Hey, good morning.

[Co-host]

How are you?

[Caller]

I'm doing okay.

[Co-host]

All right. Prove me wrong.

[Caller]

Prove you wrong. When I got married in 2003, I walked. I had my wedding ceremony and reception at the same place. I walked into the room where we were going to hold the ceremony, saw the groom, saw all my friends, freaked out, turned around, and just in the recession, Eric Hall, I just was having a fit. I was like, I can't do this. I really can't. Oh, my God, what am I doing? There are all these people in there, and I just can't do this.

[Maryann]

So you had gotten married and you were going to the reception or.

[Caller]

No, we were having our reception and our marriage ceremony all in one place.

[Caller/Guest]

Okay.

[Caller]

And the rooms were right next to each other because it was a small wedding. And I walked in and there was my family and friends and his family and friends. I took one look at him and I turned around and hyperventilating was like, oh, my God, I can't do this. When everybody was there listening, my maid of honor comes out. She's like, you need to come with me because everybody's hearing you freak out right now.

[Chin Hobby]

Wow.

[Co-host]

Tell me about the call that you made to your. What was supposed to be husband afterwards.

[Caller]

Yeah, we did end up after really a break. We did end up actually getting married, but in the time since we've gotten a divorce.

[Co-host]

So you actually say, going with your commencement speech, Jen Hobby.

[Chin Hobby]

Listen to your voice.

[Co-host]

Listen to her voice.

[Maryann]

You said in the room where everybody could hear you. I can't go through with this. So the groom, his groomsman, the best man, his father, everyone on his side of the family heard you say, I can't go through with this.

[Caller]

Yeah.

[Maryann]

I don't wish that marriage never would have worked because everybody who was close to him was.

[Co-host]

They were talking so much, they hated him.

[Caller/Guest]

But I wish not ill on any couple. I just want to be at one of those weddings.

[Co-host]

I know.

[Caller/Guest]

I just want to. It's one of those weddings where you're invited and you don't know the person that well, so you're not emotionally invested in the relationship. Want to be there to hear or see this happen? One time.

[Chin Hobby]

One time.

[Maryann]

If you have. If you're going to a wedding where you think this might happen, invite me. And you need a date.

[Co-host]

Yeah.

[Maryann]

Like I'll be single that weekend and be your date at the wedding.

[Chin Hobby]

Absolutely.

[Caller/Guest]

I want to see that.

[Co-host]

The bird Show.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

This podcast is supported by the Real Real. Meet Christine. She loves shopping. And this is the sound of fashion overload. Too many fabulous things, not enough space. So Christine started selling with the RealReal.

[Host]

I've always loved collecting designer pieces, Gucci bags, Prada heels. But my style keeps evolving. Selling with the RealReal game changer. I earn more. And they do everything.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Seriously. Just drop off your items or schedule a pickup. We handle the photos, descriptions, pricing, even shipping. You just sit back and watch your items sell fast to our 40 million members.

[Host]

And I get peace of mind knowing I earn more selling with the RealReal than anywhere else.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Exactly this. That's the sound of your closet working for you. The RealReal earn more, save time, sell fast. And right now you can get an extra $100 to shop when you sell for the first time. Go to therealreal.com to get your extra hundred dollars. Therealreal.com that's therealreal.com.