History Main / ShotgunWedding

* Parodied in [[VisualNovel/SchoolDays Summer/Shiny Day]]. [[spoiler:After his sexual act with Otome and Karen is exposed to the entire Katou's family, Makoto is allowed to court them but not before being beaten up.]]

Nowadays, a "shotgun wedding" seldom involves actual firearms; the phrase is a euphemistic way to refer to any marriage that occurs upon learning that [[LawOfInverseFertility the bride is pregnant]]. (When characters in older media talk about "having" to get married, this is what they mean.) The parents may not be incensed nor the prospective groom unwilling, but there is still a sense of duress involved, since the couple may not have married so soon -- or at all -- if not for the unexpected pregnancy. In most jurisdictions, if an actual shotgun ''is'' involved, the unwilling groom can have the marriage annulled for reasons of duress.

This kind of activity was a lot [[DiscreditedTrope more common back when]] there was more of a stigma attached to unmarried parents, especially an unwed mother. In this day and age a main character can remain "honorable" without marrying the girl as long as he provides for her and the baby -- but really, he should've just used a condom in the first place (or at least [[ButWeUsedACondom a better condom]]). Still TruthInTelevision for more socially conservative parts of the world.

If the wedding effectively happened when the groom wasn't looking, it's an AccidentalMarriage.

This is a subtrope of AltarTheSpeed. May end in BabiesEverAfter. Compare TheBabyTrap. Also compare and contrast CaptiveDate, where one side of a romantic evening would rather not be there, but isn't allowed to leave.

-->'''Bubba J:''' Naw, her daddy did... with his shotgun... I was s'ppsed to pick her up at 7. I got there at 7:30. Her dad was waiting for me on the porch, and he said, "Guess who else is late!"

-->'''Bubba J:''' I'm glad you all get it, he had to ''explain'' it to me! And I ''still'' don't get it!

[[quoteright:299:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ShotgunWedding.jpg]]

* One cartoon CharlesAddams did for ''The New Yorker'' depicts a white explorer amidst a tribe of Pygmies, undergoing a ''blowgun'' wedding.

->"I wanted to marry her when I saw the moonlight shining... off the barrel of her father's shotgun!

* In the Civil War movie ''{{Ride with the Devil}}'', the hero, Dutchy, saves the girlfriend of his dead best friend. They take refuge in a somewhat friendly house to recover from their wounds. When they come back, surprise! She's had a baby. Surprise number two: the rather friendly owner of the house, after some rumbling, comes back with a priest and A GUN and declares, "I won't tolerate this in my own house any longer!" Bonus point for the hero having declared more than once that he will never marry anyone.

* ''Film/TheGoodShepherd'': Edward (MattDamon) gets Clover (AngelinaJolie) pregnant the first time they have sex which is also the night of the day they meet. Her brother tells him "I know you will do as expected". He does, despite being in love with another woman. He then leaves a week after the wedding for six years to fight in WorldWarII and after returning, becomes a workaholic in the newly established CIA, rarely seeing her. The marriage ends in divorce.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': in the three-part story "Look At The Princess" Crichton is forced to marry princess Katralla because he's the only man on the planet who's genetically compatible, and for the princess to become queen she must be able to produce an heir to the throne. He gets out of it by allowing them to use his DNA to artificially impregnate Katralla and then suggesting that they simply tell the people that the man she's really in love with is John Crichton, since no one but the royal family knows who Crichton is anyway.

* Probably the reason why Creator/WilliamShakespeare married Anne Hathaway.[[note]]No, not ''that'' AnneHathaway.[[/note]]

* Ambiguous example in ''HarryPotter:'' [[CoolBigSis Tonks]] and [[CoolTeacher Lupin]] have a RelationshipUpgrade around June (apparently after drawn-out romantic tension off-screen), get married rather suddenly in July and have a son in April. That might be too early to even realize if Tonks was pregnant, but it was either this or Teddy [[WeddingEnhancedFertility must have been conceived on their wedding night]].

Oh my sweet Lord, WhatWereYouThinking?!!

Oh, well,-- at least Daisy Mae is ''somewhat'' pretty... for a girl with only one tooth.

* Appears in Penny's imagination during an episode of Series/{{The Big Bang Theory}}, where Leonard had just asked her out.

* ''The Good Shepherd'': Edward (MattDamon) gets Clover (AngelinaJolie) pregnant the first time they have sex which is also the night of the day they meet. Her brother tells him "I know you will do as expected". He does, despite being in love with another woman. He then leaves a week after the wedding for six years to fight in WorldWarII and after returning, becomes a workaholic in the newly established CIA, rarely seeing her. The marriage ends in divorce.

* ''HappyDays'' and ''LaverneAndShirley'' had a two-part CrossOver about Richie and Fonzie facing one of these... [[spoiler:... and marrying the titular girls!]]

Nowadays, a "shotgun wedding" seldom involves actual firearms; the phrase is a euphemistic way to refer to any marriage that occurs upon learning that [[LawOfInverseFertility the bride is pregnant]]. (When characters in older media talk about "having" to get married, this is what they mean.) The parents may not be incensed nor the prospective groom unwilling, but there is still a sense of duress involved, since the couple may not have married so soon -- or at all -- if not for the unexpected pregnancy.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'', in the town of Modoc, it's possible to, erm... [[OptionalSexualEncounter get busy]] with either the daughter or the son of a farmer, regardless of gender. In either case, the father finds out and will force the player to get married to the pseudo-love interest by brandishing a shotgun. It's possible to talk your way out of a heterosexual tryst with a high enough Speech skill by claiming to be a doctor examining your lover, but a homosexual match-up guarantees a wedding. Of course, you can then turn around and sell your spouse into slavery, or, if you're particularly well connected, ''pimp him/her out for spare change''. And if you really want to get rid of him/her, you can bribe a priest with an alcoholic beverage to get an official divorce. Or [[MadeASlave sell them to the Slaver's Guild]]. It's a [[CrapsackWorld tough]] [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic world]].

* In the ''SixteenThirtyTwo'' novel "1634: The Baltic War", Eddie Cantrell (USE native) has fallen in love with Anne Cathrine, the King's daughter. They have several days of mutually pleasurable sexual relations. He is terrified when he is re-captured and read a long list of charges for his sexual relations with her. However, he is overjoyed when he finds this trope applies, because she also loves him, and, in fact, the "shotgun wedding" was the desired outcome from Anna, the King and the King's other sons.