History Main / RunawayBride

* In Creator/TomKing’s ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' #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]].

* Mighty Eagle running out on his wedding with [[BigBad Zeta]] set the plot of ''WesternAnimation/AngryBirds2''.

* In ''Film/{{NavySEALs1990}}'', the entire SEAL platoon is attending the wedding of the [[SergeantRock Platoon Chief]]. Then, right as his bride steps up to the altar, the entire platoon's pagers go off and they all walk out of the wedding to go on a rescue mission. The Chief does come back to his fiancée and is planning on rescheduling the wedding. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he doesn't survive the next mission.]]

* In ''Film/NavySEALs1990'', the entire SEAL platoon is attending the wedding of the [[SergeantRock Platoon Chief]]. Then, right as his bride steps up to the altar, the entire platoon's pagers go off and they all walk out of the wedding to go on a rescue mission. The Chief does come back to his fiancée and is planning on rescheduling the wedding. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he doesn't survive the next mission.]]

* In ''Film/MadeOfHonor'', after the would-be bride kisses the hero, the bride's mother smiles at her neighbour, overjoyed the heartwarming sight... only to have her smile falter as her neighbor, the understandably irked mother of the groom glares at her. The jilted groom, while accepting the wedding is off ends up punching the hero in the face, and is not exactly portrayed as being wrong in doing so.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', James of Team Rocket is engaged to a rich girl called Jessiebelle (who looks a lot like Jessie). She carries a whip and wants to turn James into a real gentleman by 'training' him.

* 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 Rogue and Gambit [[ComicBook/MrAndMrsX get married instead]] which mollified fans a bit]].

A wedding trope, focusing on the bride who abandons her groom at the altar, either to be with her new flame, celebrate her independence, or she has cold feet for some story-related reason. This often occurs at the climax of the movie, and is frequently (though not always) treated as being a heartwarming and positive affirmation of the power of True Love/Independent Women for the would-be bride. The fact that it's also a humiliating, heartbreaking, psychologically-scarring betrayal for the would-be groom tends to be glossed over. Often occurs after the priest has said, "SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace."

Alternately, we get stories focusing on the heartbroken bride who is left at the altar, and the [[DoubleStandard absolute cad]] who ran away and left her there.

This trope could be the result of societal expectations. Men are stereotypically expected to have a dose of dread before a wedding. It's supposed to be more shocking when it's the woman who backs out to be free and single, or run away with another man. Since this offers zero comfort to the poor schlub who just got dumped in front of his family and friends on ''his'' big day, writers are careful [[DisposableFiance not to develop the would-be groom too much]] — or they flat-out make him the villain — to keep audiences from sympathizing with him and calling her out on her recklessness. This trope is particularly common if the character (or her social/cultural background) cares more about getting married than whether or not the relationship is marriage material in the first place. She runs away when she realizes this is absolutely not what she wants.

* At first, Clarisse in ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'' is a RunawayFiance when she runs away from her ArrangedMarriage (presumably during dress rehearsal). Her husband-to-be, the evil Count Cagliostro, manages to capture her and [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe force her to comply to the marriage]]. However, during the wedding ceremony Lupin comes to free Clarisse and both flee which turns Clarisse into a proper RunawayBride.

* ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'''s Melissa Mao tells a story about her dealing with an unwanted ArrangedMarriage by dumping the groom at the altar and joining the Marines. In her wedding dress. For added fun it's mentioned that the guys at the recruiting station were a little leery of inducting a girl in a wedding dress, until she mentioned that her father (who'd arranged the marriage) was a colonel in the Air Force. After they heard that, [[InterserviceRivalry they signed her right up just to spite him]].

* In ''Literature/KyoKaraMaoh'', Yuuri is asked to speak at a wedding that he and Gwendal stumble into while on the run and, though flustered, he manages to delivery a short speech about love and devotion. The bride is moved by his words to abandon her fiance, a man she doesn't love.

* In Creator/TomKing’s ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' #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’s OneTruePairing were major contributors to the CriticalBacklash. The InUniverse justification of the RoguesGallery actually manipulating 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]].

* 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 on. Fans were upset, but Marvel pulled a fast one and had long-time favourite couple Rogue and Gambit [[ComicBook/MrAndMrsX get married instead]] which mollified fans a bit]].

* In one long ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' arc, Snoopy fell in love and with a female beagle and they became engaged; sadly, on the day of the wedding, she ran off with his brother, Spike, his best man. But there was an interesting twist later; Spike wrote to apologize, saying that when they got back to Needles, she ran off with a coyote.

* Empath assumes that this is what happened to Smurfette at his wedding day in the ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story "Empath's Wedding" when he enters her house and sees that his hat (which is what she's supposed to wear to signify who she's marrying) is lying on the floor, until Smurfette's companion and wedding guest Blue Eyes points out that she's been magically transported by someone...and Empath correctly assumes that it's Chlorhydris, who's getting even for her ruined wedding night (which in the 1980s cartoon series was thought to be the case of a Runaway Groom) by ruining Empath's wedding.

* In the DVDCommentary of ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', director Domee Shi compares Mei's last second abandonment of the red moon ritual to this.

* ''Film/AngryWhiteMan'': At the start of the movie, we have [[TheProtagonist Skeeter]]'s fiance, Betty. The wedding just barely started, and she just begun walkin up the aisle, when she does an about face, exits the church, and shoots herself.

* Subverted in ''Film/TheBody2012''. A flashback shows Mayka at the altar announcing she doesn't want to marry Álex only to start laughing shortly afterwards, revealing her "cold feet" to be a put on. This is the first indication fof her [[ThePrankster cruel sense of humour]].

'''Tala:''' Yeah. He is.... He is. At least I can't find anything wrong with him.\\

* ''Film/KissMe2011'': Mia goes to get married with Tim, but then backs out at the last second when they're with a minister. Tim is bitter and destroys all his photos of her afterward.

* The trope takes its name from ''Film/RunawayBride'', a Julia Roberts movie about a woman who repeatedly does this. It downright opens with the woman on horseback with a wedding gown.
* In ''Film/SavingFace'', in something of a ShoutOut to ''The Graduate'' (staged in a similar manner), the heroine gets her pregnant mother to abandon the guy her grandfather had bullied her into marrying at the altar. The mother then ends up with the guy who fathered the baby, though he was pretty passive through the entire movie.

* In ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', Princess Vespa does this to the uninspiring Prince Valium ''twice'', once at the beginning of the movie (resulting in her having to wear the gown through the entire film, being unable to change), and once at the end when her true love Lone Starr crashes the wedding ceremony. Valium doesn't really seem to mind, though. Partially because he's a narcoleptic that has no dialog anyway, and partly because the only reason the two of them were getting married at all was because Valium and Vespa were the only Princess and Prince in the galaxy, respectively. [[SuddenlySuitableSuitor Until Lone Starr finds out he's a prince too, thus fixing the problem]].

* In the Celendrial Empire from ''Literature/DarkShores'' women are property of their men (fathers, brothers, husbands). [[CorruptPolitician Cassius]] agrees to marry senator Valerius's foster daughter Lydia in exchange for [[AltarDiplomacy political favor]]. She is really not happy with that and would love to run away, only there is no place in the whole Empire that she would be able to hide.

* In some ''Myth/RobinHood'' stories, Robin and his Merry Men stop a young maiden marrying some rich, old Norman scoundrel so she can be with her true love (often Alan-a-Dale). Of course, this was more justifiable when the ArrangedMarriage was common.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': Edwina Sharma famously does this in season 2 episode 6 upon catching up her husband-to-be, Anthony Bridgerton, and her sister, Kate, are [[LongingLook gazing at each other]] while they're about to exchange vows in the middle of their wedding.

* This happened to Frasier in ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', as Diane left him at the altar for Sam. You'd think, then, that he might have been a bit more disapproving of the one in his own series.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Amy Pond joins the Eleventh Doctor in the TARDIS [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour the night before her wedding]]. In this case, she rationalizes that she can use the time machine to come back whenever she wants and not actually miss the date — and theoretically, her groom would never know. Naturally, it's not that simple [[spoiler:since Rory does find out due to the Doctor's meddling and he ''isn't'' happy. Then at one point Rory gets removed from time altogether.]] In the end, [[spoiler:they ''do'' get married and the show moves on to depict what a married couple on the TARDIS would go experience.]]

* 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 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.

* In ''Series/TheWanderer'', the reincarnated Lady Claire literally leaves her present day fiancé at the altar for her similarly reincarnated Knight.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Yuna makes a daring escape by jumping off the skyscraper where the wedding is being held and summoning a flying aeon to catch her. In this case, the wedding wasn't for love in the slightest and both bride and groom had ulterior motives to the ceremony. Said tower dive happened when Yuna's intentions were revealed and the groom announced he was going to kill her friends.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E6RivalBusker Rival Busker]]", Anya loves her fiance but can't go through with the wedding because of the illegal activities her family does due to being apart of TheMafiya so she runs away. She ends up running into Molly and Paige, who convince her, through song, to go through with the wedding.

** ''The Graduate'' was parodied to hell and back when Grandpa Simpson interrupts Grandma Bouvier's wedding to Mr. Burns in a similar way for similar reasons. Far from running off with Grandpa, Grandma takes this opportunity to say that she doesn't really want to marry ''either'' of them; Grandpa decides that this is good enough for him, grabs her and runs off with her anyway.

** In the same episode she leaves Comic Book Guy at the altar. This was also justified, since this was a quickie ([[Franchise/StarTrek Klingon]]!) wedding after a short rebound relationship and she realized it wouldn't really work out.
* 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]].

* In the first ''Manga/LupinIII'' anime, Lupin is convinced that he'll die at the VillainOfTheWeek's hands at the end of the week, and convinces Fujiko to marry him so she can carry on the Lupin line. Then, after Lupin manages to thwart the villain and is no danger of dying anymore, Fujiko tries to make him honor his proposal, and he chickens out.

* In ''ComicBook/ScareTacticsDCComics'', hillbilly werewolf Jake Ketchum ran away from a ShotgunWedding to a ghoul, intended to unite their feuding clans. When he unwillingly returns home, the clans still intend to marry him off to his no dead fiancée: she having committed suicide after he fled [[spoiler:(although not for being jilted]].
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: The Silver Age/Earth-One version of ComicBook/SteveTrevor backs out of his marriage to Wonder Woman at the last minute and leaves back to the States, since his long time co-worker and friend "Diana Prince" just died. It seems Diana should have let her fiance know her identity instead of using his real grief to sell her fake death, but as she'd seen how happy the Golden Age/Earth-Two versions of them were in marriage she didn't even consider the fact that something could go wrong.
* 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 the 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 who 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.

* Jake Blues in ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', somewhat played for laughs or suspense. He leaves his bride (played by Creator/CarrieFisher) at the altar, she chases after Jake and Elwood throughout the picture with a machine gun, and finally [[spoiler:after trapping them in a tunnel as they plan their getaway, with the money, after their charity show, Jake pleads on one knee and gives multiple (and increasingly ridiculous) reasons and alibis for jilting her. He later takes of his [[CoolShades sunglasses]] for the first and only time in the movie, gives her PuppyDogEyes and kisses her unconscious. Elwood mock-apologizes and they both make a run for the Bluesmobile.]]

* ''Film/FourWeddingsAndAFuneral:'' The ending. [[spoiler:Charles]] confesses that, while standing at the altar, he realised that for the first time in his life he totally and utterly loved one person, "and it wasn't the person standing next to me in the veil."

* Danny in ''Film/JustGoWithIt''. The actual jilting happens off-screen, presumably because the would be bride was so likable and sweet natured Danny would come across as too much of a {{Jerkass}} to audience.

* ''Film/MikeAndDaveNeedWeddingDates'' features this in Alice's backstory where her fiancé not only left her at the altar, but [[HopeSpot came back just to get his phone]] and affirm that he still didn't want to get married, leaving Alice psychologically devastated at the memory.

* ''Literature/LaDot'' (The Dowry) by Creator/GuyDeMaupassant: Shortly after a young woman is married to a lawyer, they go to Paris here the husband intends to use the titular dowry to establish his own law firm. They take the bus, the husband goes to smoke a cigarette on the roof, but the woman waits for him until the bus reaches the end of the line. Fortunately she remembers the address of a cousin living there, and manages to get there using the last of her money. The cousin immediately guesses that the husband is now speeding away towards Belgium, the three hundred thousand francs of the dowry in hand.

* The ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "A Case of Identity" sees Miss May Sutherland seek help in the disappearance of her fiance, Hosmer Angel, on their wedding day after making her promise to stay true to him no matter what. She's convinced that he's the victim of foul play and encouraged in this view by her step-father. It turns out that [[spoiler:her step-father ''is'' Hosmer, having worn a disguise and taken advantage of her poor eyesight to make her fall in love with him and then left her at the altar. His aim was to tie her love and loyalty to her "lost" fiance so that she wouldn't marry, keeping her inheritance under his roof and in his control. He gets away with it too.]] Holmes notes that it was not an actionable crime despite being a cruel trick and even decides against telling Miss Sutherland, who he says wouldn't believe him anyway (he does, however, attempt to ''horsewhip'' the criminal).
* A ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novel (''Jedi Search'' of the ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy'') has a minor plot in the form of a potential Jedi candidate investigated by Lando Calrissian, Artoo and Threepio, who turned out to be a wanted runaway from Dargul, having hacked into the palace's computer to modify his profile to be the perfect match for a particularly beautiful heiress. [[GoneHorriblyRight Unfortunately]], this has led said heiress to become convinced that he is her soul mate and became so absurdly clingy he eventually fled. After being caught cheating at the blob races on Dargul's sister planet of Umgul, normally punishable by death, he VERY reluctantly agreed to be returned to her.

* In ''Series/GreysAnatomy'', due to a RoleEndingMisdemeanor, Preston Burke's last regular appearance was when he left Cristina at the altar. He shows up for one episode many seasons later to offer Cristina his cutting edge medical lab in Europe in order to move with his wife and their children back to her native Italy.
* On ''Series/MidnightTexas'' Manfred is on the run from the father of his ex-fiancée who he left at the altar. It was actually a con perpetuated by Manfred and his grandmother. The girl's father was a powerful Romani mage who wanted to add Manfred's psychic gifts into his bloodline. He contracted with Manfred's grandmother for an ArrangedMarriage and once he paid her the money, she and Manfred made a run for it. The bride killed herself soon after [[spoiler:because she saw the marriage as the only way to escape her abusive father]].
* A runaway groom is mentioned in ''Series/MidsomerMurders''. DCI Barnaby managed to get through the important part of the ceremony, but ran off after saying, "I've got it!" instead of "I do" to chase a murderer. When his wife decides she wants to have a proper ceremony for their anniversary, he interrupts it by [[spoiler:arresting the vicar]].

* Played a bit in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Here, Lwaxana Troi decides she doesn't want to get married to an old prude after all and to call the wedding off, she decides to attend the ceremony in the traditional Betazoid bridal costume -- nothing. While the ceremony's witnesses, well aware of Troi's true intentions, watch this with amusement, the Groom is incoherently repelled and flees the ceremony.

* Music/KatyPerry's "Hot n Cold" music video has the groom having doubts with the vows and attempted to run away from the wedding, only to have Katy relentlessly chase after him. It turns out to be an ImagineSpot though, and the video ends with the wedding proceeding normally.

** Kafei is supposed to marry Anju on the day of the annual festival, but has run away. While he is in the body of a child, he doesn't care about that, but instead needs Link's help in getting his Sun Mask back from a thief (which is required for wedding traditions in Termina). You do help him get the Mask back from the thief, [[spoiler:and while you never see it happen, it's assumed that he does get his body back since you see the wedding from his height and it's too tall to have been the view of a child.]]

* Otto from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. He was once engaged to a girl named Becky, but at the wedding she revealed she couldn't stand heavy metal after he hired a Poison cover band to play at the ceremony. Marge then told him he had to choose between Becky and his music - he chose the latter, leaving Becky at the altar.
* Chlorhydris assumed that this was what happened to her fiance Manfred the Magnificent on the day of their wedding in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' episode "Chlorhydris' Lost Love", but as it turned out, her witch rival Drusilla prevented Manfred from attending the wedding by [[TakenForGranite turning him into stone]] and keeping him a prisoner for twenty years. Manfred did end up leaving Chlorhydris when, shortly after being reunited, he was pierced with the witch's black heart arrows and his heart became filled with hate.

* ''Manga/GameOver'': Due to some rather strange circumstances, ''both'' the main characters end up bailing on their wedding on the day. However, for the bride it was about her lack of self-esteem on account of being a much older woman and the groom was trying to find her. They ''do'' end up returning to the wedding venue after talking things through.

* Occurs in ''Film/EverAfter'', with Prince Henry and the Spanish princess [[ArrangedMarriage he was suppose to marry]]. Right at the altar, he realizes the reason why she was hysterically crying was because she was in love with someone else and didn't want to go through with the wedding, just like him. So he calls off the wedding and runs off to find Danielle, just as the princess runs into the arms of her beloved also.

* ''Series/TheATeam'' episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E12TillDeathDoUsPart Till Death Do Us Part]]" takes this a step farther by having the eponymous team show up to rescue a bride from being coerced into marrying the VillainOfTheWeek. Their escape plan involves having Murdock walk down the aisle disguised as the bride; thus resulting in MURDOCK becoming a runaway bride himself. Murdock later writes the villain a letter of apology for leaving him at the altar.

* In the RealityShow, ''Married by America,'' two couples who met over the course of the show were to be married, and both ended like this. In one couple, it was the bride who backed out; in the other, the groom. It was pretty much the death-knell for wedding-themed reality shows (as opposed to just dating), since they've never ended well. Who would have thought marrying someone you've only known for three months was actually a bad idea?
* On ''Series/{{Martin}}'', Martin and Gina get fed up with their overbearing relatives and take off to the Bahamas with just a few of their friends. Give how well it went off, one suspects this was the plan all along.

** In season 2, Charlie gets cold feet and freaks out about his wedding to Kirsten. After some convincing from everyone he opts to go through with it. Then comes the reveal that Kirsten is calling the wedding off. She says if Charlie got cold feet then she couldn't marry him because he wasn't sure about the relationship. [[spoiler: They eventually get married four years later with no cold feet]].
** A few episodes earlier, Kirsten and Charlie get fed up with the pressure of trying to plan their wedding and leave a note saying they've run off to Reno to get married right away. At the end of the episode they show up at the house saying they couldn't go through with it.

* In Creator/TomKing’s ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' #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’s OneTruePairing were major contributors to the CriticalBacklash. The InUniverse justification of the RoguesGallery actually manipulating Selina as part of their plan, didn’t fool fans who knew DC was just too reluctant to “tarnish” Batman’s HurtingHero image by making him HappilyMarried]].

* Subverted in ''Film/NavySeals1990'' when the SEAL platoon's Chief has the usual cold feet but shows up for his wedding anyway with his CO as his best man and the entire platoon attending. Then the entire platoon’s pagers go off and they all walk out of the wedding to go on a rescue mission. The Chief does go back to his fiancée and talks about marrying her... and he is killed before they can go through with a wedding.

* In ''Film/NavySEALs'', the entire SEAL platoon is attending the wedding of the [[SergeantRock Platoon Chief]]. But then, right as his bride, played by Creator/SEpathaMerkerson steps up to the altar, a bunch of pagers ring, indicating that the platoon is being called in for a mission. The platoon commander, who is also the best man, tersely says, “We’ve got to go. NOW!!!” And then the groom, best man and a few other guests, abruptly leave. That said, the platoon chief does come back to his fiancée and is planning on rescheduling the wedding. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, he doesn’t survive the next mission]].

[[caption-width-right:300:[-Obviously a difficult choice for the bride. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Do you know how hard it is to run in Manolos?]]-] ]]

* Subverted in ''Film/NavySEALs'' where the SEAL platoon’s Chief has the usual cold feet but shows up for his wedding anyway with his CO as his best man and the entire platoon attending. Then the entire platoon’s pagers go off and they all walk out of the wedding to go on a rescue mission. The Chief does go back to his fiancée and talks about marrying her. And he is killed before they can go through with a wedding.

** Kafei is supposed to marry Anju on the day of the annual festival, but has run away. Justified, in that he's under a spell that's turned him into a child, and needs Link's help (doesn't everyone?) to get his proper body back. [[spoiler: While you never see it happen, it's assumed that he does get his body back since you see the wedding from his height and it's too tall to have been the view of a child.]]

* The music video for Music/ThomasRhett's "Marry Me" ends this way, giving an uplifting ending to what is otherwise a song about unrequited love.

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'''s Melissa Mao tells a story about her dealing with an unwanted ArrangedMarriage by dumping the groom at the altar and joining the Marines. In her wedding dress. For added fun it's mentioned that the guys at the recruiting station were a little leery of inducting a girl in a wedding dress, until she mentioned that her father (who'd arranged the marriage) was a colonel in the Air Force. After they heard that, [[InterserviceRivalry they signed her right up just to spite him]].

* ''Series/QueenCharlotteABridgertonStory'': Stressed out for not knowing what her future husband, King George, is like, Charlotte attempts to run away by climbing over a garden wall. However, she's caught by George himself. After he opens up a bit about himself, she decides to accept him as her betrothed.

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%%* In ''Series/PanAm'' this is Laura's back story.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', [[spoiler:the reason why former partners in crime Puss in Boots and Kitty Softpaws have become estranged is because Puss left Kitty at the altar on their wedding day.]]

* Sometime between the events of ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'' and ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', Puss and Kitty Softpaws both ran out on their wedding, Puss after having gotten cold feet and Kitty (rightfully) thinking Puss could never love anyone else other than his own legend.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre'', Puma Loco (in his younger days) ran away with a woman named Dora, leaving Lady Gobbler at the altar. The real kicker was, he and Lady Gobbler were both supervillains, and Dora was the chief of police at the time. Decades later, and Lady Gobbler still holds a grudge.

* In ''[[ExcitedShowTitle Whoopee!]]'' Sally skips out on her marriage to Bob because she loves Wanenis.

* In [[Recap/RiverdaleS06E05Chapter100TheJugheadParadox the 100th episode]] of ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'', Archie leaves Betty at the altar, as the collision of the universes has started to warp reality and Archie has become the Big Bad of this universe (albeit still for altruistic reasons and killing his friends knowing they come back to life after a while).

* In [[Recap/RiverdaleS06E05Chapter100TheJugheadParadox the 100th episode]] of ''Series/Riverdale'', Archie leaves Betty at the altar, as the collision of the universes has started to warp reality and Archie has become the Big Bad of this universe (albeit still for altruistic reasons and killing his friends knowing they come back to life after a while).

** In an episode, Elaine is supposed to marry Ben, but she is nervous and hides out in the gardens. He reassures her (and reveals that he is nervous, too), and they [[TheyDo actually get married.]]