History Main / MarriedAtSea

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

[[quoteright:330:[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/OBriensWedding_1164.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:I now pronounce you MauveShirt and Wife.]]

** [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The original series]] [[{{Subverted}} subverts]] this, with Captain Kirk about to marry a couple and making mention of the tradition of captains marrying passengers to each other when a Romulan attack send the ''Enterprise'' into battle and the groom doesn't survive. (Of course, this is TheFuture, and he is the highest civil authority on a ship billions of miles in deep space, so it's perhaps not unnatural for him to be allowed to perform a duty like this.) Kirk's speech at the beginning of the wedding is paraphrased whenever a Federation officer officiates a wedding in later series.

The trope may have originated in the [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen Age of Sail]] when Europeans would have to travel by ship for months at a time to reach far flung colonies. A couple could meet, court, and marry all while still enroute to their destination. The marriages had to be registered in the port of call, but otherwise were considered fully legal in most seafaring nations.

* ''Fanfic/FamilyGuyFanon'': Peter allows Randall and Eliza Fargus to host a private wedding on his boat in "[[https://familyguyfanon.fandom.com/wiki/A_Cheater_Runs_Through_It A Cheater Runs Through It]]".

* The ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' fic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/624465 "Cold Feet"]] has a married in space version. Mal is kind of flustered when Wash asks him to do the ceremony for him and Zoe, but it seems he ultimately does it.
* ''Fanfic/QueensOfMewni'': Polaria the Navigator is the only queen to have been married at sea, to her [[SlapSlapKiss rival turned husband]] Adrian.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In a very different variant, ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' has pushy Nynaeve insist her stoic LoveInterest marry her immediately once they're reunited on a Sea Folk ship, only to discover mid-ceremony that the required vows are rather different and unusually ''specific'' in their culture.
* Lovers Desdemona and Lefty took advantage of being on a ship where no one knew them by faking a courtship and getting married in ''Literature/{{Middlesex}}''. The secrecy was necessary: [[BrotherSisterIncest they were siblings]].
* ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]:
** At the end of ''Literature/JediTrial'', Anakin Skywalker, in his capacity as a general in the Grand Army of the Republic, marries two of the book's secondary characters.
** Over the course of the early ''Literature/XWingSeries'', Corran Horn and Mirax Terrik fall in love, but their relationship is complicated by the fact that Corran's a former [[SpacePolice CorSec officer]] who followed in his late father's footsteps, while Mirax is a VenturousSmuggler like her father Booster... who [[DatingWhatDaddyHates hates]] Corran because the elder Horn was the one who caught Booster and got him shipped off to the spice mines of Kessel. So at the end of ''The Bacta War'', Corran and Mirax take advantage of the fact that a Super Star Destroyer just surrendered to starfighter commander Wedge Antilles, making him its acting captain, and have him officiate [[MyOwnPrivateIDo Their Own Private "I Do"]] in an offscreen ceremony. They later have a more conventional wedding ceremony, after it was too late for Booster to interfere.
* Played as GallowsHumor in Creator/TimPowers' ''Literature/{{Declare}}''. While Cassagnac, Andrew, and Elena are hiding out in a kind of barge in East Berlin just after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Andrew and Elena finally say that they love each other. Cassagnac laughs and says "This is the spirit for dying. The captain of a ship can perform marriages -- and so I hereby pronounce you two man and wife. Kiss the bride quick, Andrew, before you die."

* A variation is presented in ''[[Literature/{{Temeraire}} Empire of Ivory]]'' where the ''captain'' of a refugee-packed dragon transport is being married [[spoiler: to the captain of one of the dragons on board]]. Given that they were [[ShotgunWedding in a bit of a rush]] the ship's chaplain is deemed the only one legally fit to do so.

* In Golding's "To the Ends of the Earth" trilogy it happens once, and the captain accidentally begins to read the funeral service... (well, the groom was actually dying, but he Got Better)

* In Creator/JamesClavell's ''Literature/GaiJin'' Captain Marlowe of HMS ''Pearl'' officiates the wedding of Malcolm Struan and Angelique Richaud. Although Marlowe professes some doubts, these are related only to the fact that both Malcolm and Angelique are still legally minors ''and'' bridegroom's mother Tess Struan [[ParentalMarriageVeto expressly forbade the marriage]], so he's unsure "''if the marriage would stick''". (The novel is set in the 1860s, when both Royal Navy ship captains and British merchant navy masters still had uncontested right to perform perfectly legal weddings aboard their ships.) The wedding is then subjected to review by Admiral Ketterer, commanding officer of his squadron, who grudgingly rules the marriage legal from the Navy's point of view, as there's [[AintNoRule no mention of age limit]] in the section on weddings in the Naval Regulations. Whether Tess Truan (who wields [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney rather enormous informal influence]] in Hong Kong) would succeed in challenging its legality in civil court is still left open - and rendered moot by subsequent developments.
* ''Literature/TheKingstonCycle'' by C.L. Polk: All ship captains are authorized to perform marriages in Samindan culture. Robin and her childhood sweetheart Zelinde were [[MyOwnPrivateIDo married in secret]] by a ferryman to dodge Zelinde's family's objections, which somewhat bemuses Robin's family when they learn.

* Lampshaded on ''Series/TheLoveBoat'', when Captain Steubing performs a mass wedding on the Valentine's Day cruise to Mexico. He specifically says that the Mexican government granted him special permission for the occasion.

* Played with on ''Series/HappyDays''. Fonzie and Jenny Piccolo attend a Halloween party held aboard a ship dressed as a bride and groom. The captain of the ship is dressed as a priest, so they decide to have a pretend wedding. Hilarity ensues when the marriage is initially declared legal and binding, but is resolved later.

* In ''Series/LoisAndClark'', after Lex Luthor's failed wedding to Lois, the will reading reveals he was already married. The wedding turned out to be one of these, and the heroes spent some time tracking down the captain to find out who the wife was.
* Luke on ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' went on a cruise with his girlfriend Nicole. When he came back, the two were married. He explains that they got swept up in the moment (the rest of the passengers on the ship were either engaged, on the cruise to get married, or celebrating a wedding anniversary), so they had the captain marry them. They decided on a divorce before leaving the ship.
** Then a few seasons later, when he's engaged to Lorelei and realizes how much he's hurt her by putting off their wedding and tries to elope with her, he mentions that "Apparently a ship's captain can do it," as if he didn't have firsthand knowledge.
* The pilot episode of ''Series/StepByStep'' reveals that Frank and Carol have been secretly married by the ship's captain while on a cruise. Breaking the news to their kids (her two daughters and son, his two sons and daughter) that they will all be moving in together is what chiefly drives the episode.
* Similar to ''Star Trek'', ship captains in the Planetary Union on ''Series/TheOrville'' have the honor and privilege of being able to perform marriages, such as Captain Ed Mercer does with Claire Finn and Isaac in "[[Recap/TheOrvilleSeason3E10FutureUnknown Future Unknown]]."

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* In the Martin Short episode of ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', Ed Grimley (Short's character from ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' and ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'') needs [[OnOneCondition to get married in order to inherit his uncle's fortune]] ($85 Canadian). Moby the goldfish (who in this skit is a Muppet) declares that he can perform the ceremony because he's a sea captain.
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/PiratesOfDarkWater'', a [[MadScientist mad alchemist]] fell in love with Ren (because [[ReplacementGoldfish he reminded her of his father Primus]]), and asked the BigBad to marry them in exchange for turning over Ren's {{Macguffin}}s. He indulged her, although as he confided to Ren, "[[DeathThreat I wouldn't expect much of a honeymoon...]]"

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', the Sea Captain is seen performing a wedding ceremony for a man and a cow.

-->'''[[LargeHam Barbossa:]]''' Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today... ''TO NAIL YER GIZZARDS TO THE MAST, YE POXY CUR!''

** Played perfectly straight ''offscreen'' in ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing: The Bacta War]]''. After Rogue Squadron (with occasional help) defeats the bacta cartel, and wanting to avoid weeks or months of her father dogging Corran's every step on the way to the wedding, Corran and Mirax get married--by Wedge Antilles, who is in fact not even a "real" captain, but a starfighter commander. However, as the ''Lusankya'' was surrendered to him personally, he became its ''de facto'' commander... which is apparently considered close enough according to New Republic law. [[note]]The New Republic hasn't been around all that long, so [[LoopholeAbuse there probably aren't any specific legal precedents either way]]. And if there AintNoRule saying he ''can't''...[[/note]]

* In "The Captive Castaways," a 1934 sequence in the ''MickeyMouse'' comic strip, Mickey and Minnie are prisoners on Peg Leg Pete's smuggling ship. Mickey gains Pete's trust by pretending to want to join Pete's criminal operation. Since Pete wants to marry the decidedly unwilling Minnie, Mickey persuades Pete to make him captain of the ship temporarily so that he can perform the wedding. [[spoiler:Rather than performing the ceremony, Mickey explains that, as captain, his word is law aboard the ship, and orders Pete to be put in irons.]]

** ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'': Will asks Elizabeth to marry him in the midst of the epic climatic battle at sea in the middle of a maelstrom (their planned wedding at the beginning of the second film having been interrupted with a few arrests among the wedding party). Elizabeth at first protests ("I don't think now is the best time!") before agreeing and asking Barbossa to marry them right there mid-battle ("I'M A LITTLE BUSY AT THE MOMENT!"). Barbossa thinks she's mad, but recites it anyway while all three keep fighting Davy Jones' undead fishy crew.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Puppet Shows]]

* Spoofed a third time in "[[Recap/FuturamaS7E5ZappDingbat Zapp Dingbat]]", where Zapp cites this as a means to conduct his ''own'' wedding. Played Straight at the end of the episode, when he officiates Leela's parents’ remarriage.