History Main / RunawayBride

* In ''ComicBook/ScareTactics'', 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]].

* The very first episode of ''Series/WillAndGrace'' has Grace leave her groom because Will disapproved of him. We don't see the guy at the time, but we're told he treated her like dirt and [[ChristmasCake Grace was only marrying him to avoid spinsterhood]]. That they went from proposal to the wedding in the space of one day makes it slightly easier to accept Grace running out on the ceremony.

* ''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.

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While it is ''more common'' in modern works for it to be the woman who is viewed sympathetically, whether she is the runaway partner or the jilted-at-the-altar partner, there are plenty of cases of it being played the other way. Generally, it depends on the [[SympatheticPOV gender of the protagonist.]]

-->'''Linda''': I don't need more time, Robbie. I don't ever want to marry you.\\
'''Robbie''': ''[deep breath]'' Gee. You know that information...''really'' would've been more useful to me yesterday.\\

** [[spoiler:Stella abandons Ted at the altar for her ex.]] He's mad at first, but then accepts her decision shortly after. The trope may count as a Deconstruction by showing how hard it was for Ted to go through that and how he carried it around afterwards.

** The season 7 finale has Ted escorting a runaway [[spoiler: Victoria]] away from her wedding because of her doubts. There is no heartbreak, though, as the groom was also running away. Ted also gives her a WhatTheHellHero for not following the common courtesy of writing an "I’m leaving you" note like he got and drives her back to the chapel to correct this.

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': In the episode "I Do", [[SuperOCD Emma]] and [[CreatorsPet Will]] were set to be married. However, Emma leaves the church before the ceremony begins in a cab through the back door, after the stress from the big day and having been kissed by [[spoiler: Finn]] a few days prior to the big day was too much for her to take.

* 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 cartoon series was thought to be the case of a Runaway Groom) by ruining Empath's wedding.

* Chlorhydris assumed that this was what happened to her fiance Manfred the Magnificent on the day of their wedding in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' 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.

* Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again Naturally," the first three verses of which are an oddly-upbeat diddy about getting dumped at the altar. In spite of the fairly pleasant tone, it hardly takes a cheery approach to the trope as the singer (and would-be husband) is pretty clearly suicidal over the event.

* '''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.

* ''Series/SuddenlySusan'' starts when Susan (Brooke Shields) escapes from her wedding ceremony and even gets to rip her gown when she gets out of the church. Much like the ''Series/WillAndGrace'' example above, it's revealed the guy was a jerk who would no doubt have eventually made her miserable, but she's still blasted by pretty much everyone (who all quite reasonably ask why she waited until literally the last minute to dump him) except for his brother, who hates him and relishes the humiliation he'll suffer.

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

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': In the episode "I Do", [[SuperOCD Emma]] and [[CreatorsPet Will]] were set to be married. However, Emma leaves the church before the ceremony begins in a cab through the back door, after the stress from the big day and having been kissed by [[spoiler: Finn]] a few days prior to the big day was too much for her to take.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Wilbanks Jennifer Wilbanks]], who had a complete nervous breakdown and ran out on her future husband before the wedding and then went missing, [[MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome which caused the whole state to initiate a massive search for her]] that wound up costing in the tens of thousands of dollars. When she finally was found and she explained how she ran because of the pressure, people weren't too happy with her and she was forced to do many hours of community service (though this also had to do with her initial claim that she was kidnapped by a Hispanic man after she resurfaced).

* ''Film/MikeAndDaveNeedWeddingDates'' features this in Alice's backstory where she was the victim of the male version of this; her fiancé not only left her at the alter, 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.

* In ''LightNovel/KyouKaraMaoh'', 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.

* Subverted in Music/TheRollingStones' "Dear Doctor", as the narrator spends most of the song clearly dreading what's implied to be a ShotgunWedding. When he finds a note from the would-be bride saying she can't go through with it, he responds with "tears of relief".