History Main / SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace

* An episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' involved Monk interrupting a woman's wedding to convince her to take back her ex-husband. Then, when Monk figured out that the ex-husband was a murderer, he interrupted their remarriage ceremony to convince the woman not to take him back after all.
** Monk has had a couple other... interesting weddings. He and Captain Stottlemeyer get roped into going to Natalie's brother's wedding in "Mr. Monk Goes to a Wedding" after someone tries to kill Lieutenant Disher (posing as Natalie's date) with a car. To try finding the culprit, Stottlemeyer goes undercover as a photographer and takes photos of the guests. Then the body of the photographer who failed to show up is discovered dead in a mud bath. Monk soon realizes that the woman Natalie's brother is marrying is in fact a black widow, which causes an incident where he gets a knife held to his throat.
** In the TieInNovel ''Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii'', a wedding gets used as a plot device. In this case, Natalie's close friend Candace is getting married in Hawaii, and she gets invited to be maid of honor at Candace's wedding on the island of Kauai. Unfortunately for Natalie, any hope she has of spending a quiet week outside the mainland United States is dashed when Monk [[BecomingTheMask takes Dioxynl]] to follow her on the flight to Kauai. When Candace's wedding happens the next day, Monk ruins the entire thing by using a SherlockScan to expose her fiance as a bigamist. Candace storms away when she realizes that Monk's deductions are true.

*** Candace's fiance gets a HumiliationConga - in addition to his wedding being ruined, his car is later vandalized in the parking lot.

* It happens again in ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights''. The Sheriff of Rottingham forces Marian to marry him by holding Robin captive on a gallows with a noose around his neck. When Achoo [[ShootTheRope shoots through the rope]], however, Marian's "I do" quickly becomes "I dooo''oooo not!''". Then later on when Marian and Robin are getting married King Richard turns up and objects[[hottip:*:"Who asked?"]] to their marriage on the grounds that as King he's allowed to kiss the bride first.

The LoveInterest is about to get married to the RomanticFalseLead, everything seems to be going smoothly and the cleric gets to the infamous line; the point of the ceremony when objections to the marriage are invited. Another character bursts in with a flowery declaration of love (and/or a denouncement of the hypotenuse as the utter JerkAss he/she really is). [[TemptingFate once that line's uttered]], someone's ''bound'' to not hold their peace. If either the groom or bride is a villain hiding their identity or a dark secret that could destroyed their rightful claim in the wedding, this is typically moment for the heroes to expose it to all. Thus, when that happens, [[WeddingSmashers all hell breaks loose]].

The LoveInterest is about to get married to the RomanticFalseLead, everything seems to be going smoothly and the cleric gets to the infamous line; the point of the ceremony when objections to the marriage are invited. Another character bursts in with a flowery declaration of love (and/or a denouncement of the hypotenuse as the utter JerkAss he/she really is). [[TemptingFate once that line's uttered]], someone's ''bound'' to not hold their peace. Thus [[WeddingSmashers all hell breaks loose]].

* In ''TheOddCouple'', Oscar is elated when his ex-wife, Blanche, decides to remarry, as it means he'll no longer have to pay alimony. However, when the minister says the line during the ceremony, Felix objects, because he feels Blanche is marrying the wrong man. Blanche agrees and the wedding is off. The next scene shows the angrily brooding Oscar, at home later that day, playing a recording of the wedding on his turntable, and lifting the needle to hear Felix's "I object" over and over. Then Felix comes home from the church.

** In her pew, the dowager, who had read ''JaneEyre'' no less than seven times, shook her head in disbelief.

* In ''The Secret Countess'' by Eva Ibboston, the [[TheButlerDidIt butler, Proom,]] stages an elaborate charade in order to encourage a third party to step up and protest at a wedding, because the groom is too honorable to jilt his bride even though everyone [[spoiler:(including him) knows that she's totally horrible and will make everyone's life a misery.]]. When the man finally shouts out [[BigNo No!]] This wedding must not be! it is lampshaded with this memorable line:

* In ''The Secret Countess'' by Eva Ibboston, the [[TheButlerDidIt butler, Proom,]] stages an elaborate charade in order to encourage a third party to step up and protest at a wedding, because the groom is too honorable to jilt his bride even though everyone [[spoilers: (including him) knows she's a total bitch]]. When the man finally shouts out [[BigNo No! This wedding must not be!]] we get this memorable line:

* In ''Film/TheBestMan'', Olly rushes across London to get to his beloved's wedding before she marries [[spoiler:Olly's best friend (who turns out to be a cad)]] in time for The Words -- and he might have, too, except that he shows up at the wrong quainte olde church. Fortunately his roommate, played by SethGreen, is at the real wedding and is able to stall the ceremony until Olly can get there.

* ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'', Episode 6: [[spoiler:Battler's mind is trapped in a logic error. Erika wants to take his position of Territory Lord by marrying him while he's a powerless breathing doll, trapping his mind forever. [[SubvertedTrope She actually succeeds]] and the "guests" are all enjoying themselves… when a resurrected Beatrice comes to crash the party, curb-stomping Erika and releasing Battler [[XanatosRoulette (who had bet on this happening all along)]].]] After that [[spoiler:Battler and Beatrice have real, uninterrupted wedding this time.]]

[[SeenItAMillionTimes We've all heard this one before.]]

The LoveInterest is about to get married to the RomanticFalseLead,
and everything seems to be going smoothly. But then the cleric gets to the infamous line. You know, the one the trope's named after. The point of the ceremony when objections to the marriage are invited.

Sure enough, JustInTime, TheHero bursts in with a flowery declaration of love (and/or a denouncement of the hypotenuse as the utter JerkAss he/she really is). Or if it's the hero and love interest at the altar, some other lover will object. Either way, [[TemptingFate once that line's uttered]], someone's ''bound'' to not hold their peace.

Or, [[TheRival groom-to-be]] harbors a sinister secret that is known to the audience but has managed to keep it well concealed from his bride-to-be, her family and guests. The hero – not necessarily a romantic rival – bursts in, exposes the villain, and [[WeddingSmashers all hell breaks loose]].

In the end, most of the time, TheRival is deposed, the hero and LoveInterest kiss and make up (and might even get hitched on the spot, after all; WhyWasteAWedding?), and they all live HappilyEverAfter.

Nevermind that the original point of asking was to check if an unknown legal reason would invalidate the wedding, such as [[OopsIForgotIWasMarried an existing marriage]] or [[IncestIsRelative consanguinity]]; any reason will suffice when true love is at stake. On the other hand, it ''is'' before the WeddingDeadline.

Usually subverted these days: either the officiant doesn't even have time to get to the line before the seething tensions break loose, or the one character who objects to the union is petty, superficial, and thankfully silent at the fatal moment. On the other hand, sometimes when the line is said, everyone turns to a person present who obviously seems to have a problem with the marriage, only to have that person in embarrassment tell the officiant to keep going.

It's not even played straight in RealLife these days; the officiant's words and the couple's vows are different for every wedding. Many weddings exclude this line altogether, but it's still legally enforced in some jurisdictions -- for example, in the Church of England. The only place most people will ever hear of it is through the media. Interestingly, one of the reasons it was removed from many liturgies was the tendency of [[{{Jerkass}} certain self-important and arrogant jerks to disrupt strangers' wedding ceremonies]] by objecting, usually by accusing the bride of being [[MyGirlIsNotASlut a disease-ridden whore]]. [[SarcasmMode Ha. Ha.]] (Or better yet, the intruder is a StalkerWithACrush who somehow believes he/she and the target were [[IfICantHaveYou meant to be together]].) Remember, this line is supposed to be used to uncover impediments to the marriage, for instance that one of them is already married or [[SurpriseIncest the bride and groom are actually closely related.]]

* As shown in the picture above, points for scale go to ''GundamSEEDDestiny''. Forced into an ArrangedMarriage with Yuna for the "sake" of her country, Princess Cagalli is despondent and resigned as she approaches the altar. Cue dramatic music as Kira Yamato arrives at the wedding, ''landing his Gundam two feet away from the center aisle''. He doesn't say the line, but the implication is pretty clear given where he breaks in on the ceremony. And it works like a charm. (Notice that there's a small subversion: the objection more often than not comes from the bride's love interest, but since her then-boyfriend Athrun was away, the job was "taken" by Cagalli's twin brother Kira, who also doubles as Athrun's best friend.)
* In ''{{Mai-Otome}}'', as a variation, Akane's lover Kazuya disrupts her Meister ceremony, just as she is about to become the King of Florince's Otome, proclaims that he loves her, and the two flee away. As a subversion, it is later revealed that [[spoiler:Kazuya becomes the new King of Cardair and Akane is forcefully contracted to him as his Otome, allowing them to be together but effectively cancelling the possibility of sex between them]].

* ''Manga/RainbowNishaRokubouNoShichinin'' has a rare scenario for this trope: [[spoiler: Mario [[DefiedTrope defies]] this trope after Joe attempts to convince him to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] it. It ends up as a subversion where Mario witnesses Setsuko's wedding and does nothing about it, smiling to give her his best wishes.]]

** ''The Lonely Guy'' pulled off a full subversion years earlier. Steve Martin's character gives a long and impassioned spiel about why his one true love shouldn't get married, only to find out that it's the wrong chapel ''and'' he's too late to stop the right wedding. However, for what it's worth, his speech does convince the other bride not to go through with it.

* CoronationStreet has played this trope straight more than once (one example has the bride herself objecting), but it's the subversion of this trope that's actually one of the most well known. At Peter Barlow's wedding to Shelly Unwin, there was no problem getting to the altar, except for that fact that Peter was already married ''and'' had just had a baby with someone else. It was set up to look like either Peter's troublemaker little sister Tracy or Kieran, his best man and old friend, would spill the beans (both had known about this for ages), or his wife who had just happened to walk by with the baby would interrupt. The Friday episode ended almost on this line exactly. However on Monday no one said anything, and the baby starting fussing, forcing Lucy to leave.
* Subversion: ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley'': At Alice and Hugo's wedding, a woman bursts in insisting that she has the papers to prove that the groom is already married, but when Hugo turns around, she looks sheepish and says "Whoops, wrong church." In yet another subversion, Geraldine dreams that she has accepted marriage to her perennial nemesis David Horton, but at the last second Sean Bean (whom Geraldine has a long-standing crush on) bursts into the church to stop the wedding and the dream.

* A similar subversion was done in an episode from the third season of ''GarfieldAndFriends'' in which {{Garfield}} thought Jon was getting married (he was in fact serving as the best man at his cousin's wedding).

* In ''SakuraWars'', the cinematic that shows during a combo between [[TheOjou Sumire]] and [[DoggedNiceGuy Ookami]] is him crashing her wedding in a scooter and her riding away with him into the sunset. Every time. The current (unfinished) LetsPlay by Spirit Armor posits that each time the cinematic plays represents [[ButtMonkey Ookami]] going back in time to crash ''his own wedding''.

* In ''{{Vegas}}'', Dan goes to his secretary's wedding to stop her from marrying a guy who plans to marry her, then kill her and her son in order to collect the very large trust fund from her father which otherwise would be payable to her son. He has the police run a patrol car up to the church with siren, telling the guy that they found the witness that will prove he did this before. The guy panics and runs. It doesn't hurt that there's probably a lot of {{UST}} between Dan and his Secretary anyway.

* In a ''[[{{Walkyverse}} Shortpacked]]'' guest strip, this happens at David and Maggie's wedding. Not because {{Batman}} really thinks they shouldn't get married, but because [[http://shortpacked.com/comic/book-9/12-more-guest-strips-cuz-i-got-married/aeireguest/ some running gags just can't miss a cue]].

* Charlotte's sister Anne mentions the same trope in her book ''TheTenantOfWildfellHall'': When Gilbert Markham hears a rumor that Helen has been widowed and is getting remarried, he instantly packs up and leaves town, walking the final six miles when he can't find any transportation, [[InvokedTrope intending to burst into the Church and interrupt the ceremony if he has to]]. Fortunately, [[spoiler:it's Helen's brother who's actually getting married.]]

* Doubly invoked in ''TheDeadZone'' episode "Speak Now", first to inform the bride and groom that according to Johnny's visions the bride's beloved previous fiance is not dead, but a POW, and then a second time when the bride and groom themselves call off the ceremony, having realized that they can't go through with it while that situation is unresolved.

* Subverted in ''[[{{MASH}} M* A* S* H]]'' during Margaret's wedding. The priest gets to that line and everyone (including Margaret) turns to Frank, who was Margaret's lover for the past few seasons and eventually fell in love with her. Frank shifts awkwardly and replies, "Well, I'm not going to say anything!".

-->-- ''{{Shrek}}''

!!Examples:

[[folder:Film]]
* Subverted in ''BigTroubleInLittleChina'', wherein the heroes find themselves forced to stand by and allow Lo Pan to marry their girlfriends, because it is only after doing so that the villain will become mortal and thus, killable.
* Played with in ''TheBaxter'', which actually ''starts'' with this scene: Caroline is about to wed her perennial RomanticRunnerUp [[NiceGuy fiance Elliott]] when her ex-boyfriend bursts in, ready to win her back. He does, of course, but the movie isn't really about them.

* The climactic scene of ''RugratsInParis'' was one of these, and doubles as a BigNo and a CrowningMomentOfAwesome since it [[spoiler:is Chuckie's first word: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"]].
** After knowing first-hand that the woman was [[RichBitch a mean and nasty-tempered tyrant]], would you blame the kid?
* Spoofed in the first ''{{Shrek}}'' movie. Shrek goes to interrupt the wedding of Fiona and Farquaad, but Donkey tells him he has to wait until the priest does his "speak now or forever hold your peace" bit before barging in and shouting "I object!". On further investigation, they find they missed that part, so Shrek barges in anyway.
* Played mostly straight in ''ANightAtTheRoxbury'', where the groom's brother interrupts the wedding with a boombox held high, in homage to Say Anything.
* In CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon, Lo very vehemently disagrees about Jen's loveless marriage to a man of her parents' choosing.

* Subverted in ''{{Atonement}}'': [[spoiler:Briony does not speak up, realizing it would be futile]].

* In ''TheBestMan'', Olly rushes across London to get to his beloved's wedding before she marries [[spoiler:Olly's best friend (who turns out to be a cad)]] in time for The Words -- and he might have, too, except that he shows up at the wrong quainte olde church. Fortunately his roommate, played by SethGreen, is at the real wedding and is able to stall the ceremony until Olly can get there.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': When the priest asks if "anyone objects to this union..." during Charlotte [=LaBouff=]'s marriage to Naveen's impostor, the real Naveen, trapped in a box in frog form, tries screaming, "Me! Me! I object!" he and Ray are forced to become WeddingSmashers.

* The Volkswagen television commercial "Big Day" features this as the ''only'' line of dialogue. The rest of the commercial is a man [[RaceForYourLove frantically driving cross-country]] in a race against his beloved's wedding to another, and throwing the church doors open right as the priest says, with dramatic reverberation, "speak now or forever hold your peace". The commercial ends with the caption "fasten your seatbelts".