History Main / RunawayBride

* * In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/BlueEyeSamurai'', Princess Akemi runs away from her arranged marriage to the shogun's son to find her previous betrothed, disgraced samurai Taigen. Ironically by the time she finds him and they have the chance to run away together, her experiences have changed Akemi so much that she refuses because she's more interested in power than love.

* ''Anime/HonooNoAlpenRose'': [[spoiler: Hélène refused to marry Count Gourmant like the Dunants had hoped, and ran away to be with Friedrich Brandel instead. Gourmant never got over her, even though he remarried, and turned his attention to Jeudi because of her great resemblance to his former betrothed.]]

* In the musical based on ''Literature/ScarletSails'', Grey's ship appears when Menners Jr. and Assol are approaching the altar, and Assol immediately jumps on board and into Grey's arms (in the best-known production, she also hands her veil to Menners before that). Since Menners forced Assol into agreeing to marry him (while she has been telling everyone who would listen, for ''years'', that she loves Grey), she is clearly the sympathetic party.

* Implied at the end of Tenille Arts' "Cold Feet," in which a bride-to-be recieves a note from an OldFlame who found out she was getting married and drops a LoveConfession on her. He tells her to meet him down at their spot if she might have doubts about getting married. She does, unsure of her feelings, and the song ends with her walking back home after long night spent with her ex...still with [[TitleDrop cold feet.]]

* [[UsefulNotes/TheMonegasqueRoyalFamily Princess Charlene of Monaco]] reportedly tried to [[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/princess-charlene-tried-to-flee-three-times-before-monaco-wedding-says-reports/ escape from her wedding]] to Prince Albert II ''three times'' but was stopped by palace officials at each attempt. It was reportedly because she learned Albert had fathered another illegitimate child during their relationship.

* [[http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110614/en_nm/us_hefner Playboy head honcho Hugh Hefner]] had his third wedding fall apart less than a week before the ceremony as the bride cancelled the arrangements, saying simply that she "changed her mind".

* Played straight at the end of the seventh series of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', in which Daphne abandons her groom at the altar to be with Niles; subverted in the next season in that, rather than running away, both Niles and Daphne elect to confess to their respective partners and face the music. The show also treats the occurrence in [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome a somewhat realistic fashion]], in which both Niles and Daphne have to contend with the bitter and spiteful (if pretty justified) reactions of their partners and insecurity in their relationship in the episodes that follow, rather than it being an automatic HappilyEverAfter for the two.

* At the very end of ''Emily's Quest'', [[spoiler: Ilse abandons her marriage to Teddy Kent when she hears that Perry Kent, her ''true'' love, has been killed in a car crash. Fortunately, he wasn't killed, just rather injured, so she ends up marrying him instead.]]

* In the cartoon special ''[[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown]]'', Snoopy is all set to get married to a dog named Genevieve when Lucy soon arrives with news that the bride-to-be has just run off with a golden retriever. Snoopy is heartbroken at first but soon lightens up at the prospect of remaining a bachelor, and [[WhyWasteAWedding enjoys the wedding cake with Woodstock]].

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': The X-Men do this in ''ComicBook/XMenGold'' #30 [[spoiler:as ComicBook/KittyPyrde uses her {{Intangibility}} just as ComicBook/{{Colossus}} is putting the ring in her to go through the ground. However, unlike other examples, Kitty does explain her cold feet citing the numerous catastrophe that she and Colossus have endured being not the best basis to start a long-term relationship. Fans were upset, but Marvel pulled a fast one and had long-time favourite couple ComicBook/{{Rogue}} and ComicBook/{{Gambit|MarvelComics}} [[ComicBook/MrAndMrsX get married instead]] which mollified fans a bit]].

* ''FanFic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': [[spoiler:Xvital, thanks to her disapproving would-be mother-in-law discovering her past as a thief and thinking her intended would hate her for it, fled just hours before the wedding.]]

* Wonderella herself [[http://nonadventures.com/2009/08/29/tying-the-not/ does this]] in ''WebComic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella''. Queen Beetle and Patrianna saw it coming a mile away.

* In ''Comicbook/XMen'', Alex Summers/Havok breaks off his marriage to Lorna Dane/Polaris while she's walking down the aisle in order to be with another woman, Annie; since writer Chuck Austen viewed Alex and Annie as stand-ins for himself and his wife, and had [[DieForOurShip characterized Polaris as a violent psychopath]], when she was in fact suffering from post-traumatic stress at the altar. He, meanwhile, ran off to visit Paris with the woman he dated while he was in a coma[[note]]That wasn't a typo; there was telepathy involved[[/note]]. We were meant to root for him and not Polaris when she, naturally, went crazy and tried to kill the both of them, and yet despite this Lorna did raise the very valid point that he could have called things off ''before'' the ceremony instead of humiliating her.

* In FanFic/TheMansionverse's version of Ride/PhantomManor's backstory, the Phantom made Melanie believe this was the case of her lover Jonathan Jake. In truth, the Phantom had actually murdered him. This is a popular interpretation of Phantom Manor's story, which cropped up in media unrelated to the Mansionverse as well.

* A licensed game on the UsefulNotes/NintendoWii based on ''Series/{{Wipeout}}'' features a runaway groom as one of the six lightweight characters you can play as.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanTomKing'' #50 [[spoiler: ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} leaves Bruce at the altar as she stereotypically believes getting married to him will somehow negate his role as Batman. Unlike the Mariko-Wolverine example, which was [[StatusQuoIsGod to be expected]], fandom reactions ranged from glumly disappointed to utterly livid as King had spent dozens of issues hyping the wedding up, and Bruce/Selina being fans’ OneTruePairing were major contributors to the CriticalBacklash. The InUniverse justification -- that the RoguesGallery actually manipulated Selina as part of their plan -- didn’t fool fans who knew DC was just too reluctant to “tarnish” Batman’s brooding image by making him HappilyMarried]].
* Mariko Yashida left ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} during the ceremony, in ''ComicBook/Wolverine1982'', because he was not worthy. But then again, [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt did you really expect Wolverine to get married]]?
* The X-Men do this again in ''ComicBook/XMenGold'' #30 [[spoiler: as ComicBook/KittyPyrde uses her {{Intangibility}} just as ComicBook/{{Colossus}} is putting the ring in her to go through the ground. However, unlike other examples, Kitty does explain her cold feet citing the numerous catastrophe that she and Colossus have endured being not the best basis to start a long-term relationship. Fans were upset, but Marvel pulled a fast one and had long-time favourite couple ComicBook/{{Rogue}} and ComicBook/{{Gambit|MarvelComics}} [[ComicBook/MrAndMrsX get married instead]] which mollified fans a bit]].