History Main / WidowedAtTheWedding

* The ending of ''WesternAnimation/MelodyTime'' uses this trope as a JustSoStory for why [[WolvesAlwaysHowlattheMoon coyotes always howl at the Moon every night]].

* ''Animation/BlackCatDetective'' have an episode where Black Cat and his team investigates a murder incident in the paddy fields where a community of insects lives. The victim is a praying mantis who was maimed and ripped to shreds on his wedding night, and the episode's ending reveals said victim was killed by his bride. TruthInTelevision in this case, female mantises ''do'' eat their mates after consuming their marriage.

--> It didn't occur to you -- what with him being *dead* and all -- that the bet might be off?!?
* Likewise, in ''Series/CSIMiami'':
** A bride is shot by a sniper at the altar. It's later discovered that she wasn't the intended target. The best man was trying to off a stripper with compromising photos of the groom using a remote-controlled gun.
** Horatio marries Marisol and she dies on their wedding day.

* Subverted in a case of ''Manga/CaseClosed'', since the one who [[spoiler:poisoned a local bride-to-be]] is... [[spoiler:''the groom himself'', as revenge because her father killed his mother in an accident.]] Also, [[spoiler:said bride had realized his intentions and ''could'' have not consumed the poisoned tea, but she was so depressed that she voluntarily took the poison. She survives, and when the [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone sincerely repenting groom]] learns this, his TearsOfRemorse become TearsOfJoy.]]

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Subverted when Johnny Storm married Alicia Masters ([[spoiler:before their relationship got [[RetGone retconned]] out of existence when the "Alicia" Johnny married was revealed to have been a shape-shifting Skrull all along]]). Her evil step-father the Puppet Master planned to use his mind-controlling clay to force Ben Grimm to kill Johnny the moment the judge declared them legally married; he hated the idea of Alicia marrying one of his enemies, but believed that she would inherit a substantial amount as the Human Torch's widow. However, after seeing how happy his step-daughter was, [[EvenEvilHasStandards he chose not to tarnish her happiness]], [[WhatYouAreInTheDark even if she didn't even know he was there to watch her get married]].

* Fanfic/TheMansionverse holds that the Hatbox Ghost and Emily were ''both'' murdered on their wedding day (shortly ''before'' the ceremony). It also incorporates the ''Ride/PhantomManor'' storyline.

* The ''Series/SamAndCat'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/41628006/ A Hero's Lament]]" features a variation of this; Sam and Carly were engaged when Carly left to spend time in Italy with her father, but Carly's plane crashed on the way to Italy, leaving Sam grieving her loss.

* The ending of ''WesternAnimation/MelodyTime'' uses this trope as a JustSoStory for why [[WolvesAlwaysHowlattheMoon coyotes always howl at the Moon every night.]]

* Fiona in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'', when [[spoiler:Farquaad gets eaten by the dragon at their wedding. [[LaserGuidedKarma He got what was coming to him]]]]. Since she was in love with Shrek anyways, she isn't upset and [[WhyWasteAWedding they marry immediately afterward]]

* ''WebVideo/PiratesSMP'': On Day 125, after Water makes her wedding speech and [[WeddingSmashers before she can even say her vows]], Martyn decides to [[AnvilOnHead drop an anvil on her husband-to-be Jeffery's head]], killing him on impact. [[spoiler:He then dives down and tries to kill Water himself, [[AssassinOutclassin to no avail]], and as Water flees the venue, ''Sausage'' (recruited by Martyn earlier that day) attempts to kill Water as well, also to no avail, leaving behind a hall full of guests reeling from betrayal and confusion.]]

* ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' During the wedding of Winston Chu, he and his bride Peggy are both gunned down by Dogeyes' gang posing as staff. Peggy is instantly killed, Winston holding her body before dying himself.

* Superman in an alternate timeline explored by Waverider in the ''ComicBook/{{Armageddon 2001}}'' crossover event became a widow shortly after his marriage to Lois Lane when a nuclear bomb created by Manheim of Intergang goes off, taking out the entire city of Metropolis, including Superman's first wife.
* Subverted in the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'', when Johnny Storm married Alicia Masters ([[spoiler:before their relationship got [[RetGone retconned]] out of existence when the "Alicia" Johnny married was revealed to have been a shape-shifting Skrull all along]]). Her evil step-father the Puppet Master planned to use his mind-controlling clay to force Ben Grimm to kill Johnny the moment the judge declared them legally married; he hated the idea of Alicia marrying one of his enemies, but believed that she would inherit a substantial amount as the Human Torch's widow. However, after seeing how happy his step-daughter was, [[EvenEvilHasStandards he chose not to tarnish her happiness]], [[WhatYouAreInTheDark even if she didn't even know he was there to watch her get married]].
* Taken to the extreme in ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' when Wally West's wife Linda is [[RetGone wiped from existence]] in the middle of their wedding, with only [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Bart]] remembering that she even existed ([[NotNowKiddo Though since he's an overly imaginative kid,]] [[CassandraTruth no one believes him.]]) It's later revealed that she's being held in a space outside reality by Wally's ArchEnemy Abra Kadabra, and she's able to break free, though it takes some time before she's finally reunited with Wally.
* After Marine Rachel Cole-Alvez has her wedding shot up by members of The Exchange during Creator/GregRucka's run on ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' she's left standing in one of these surrounded by the bodies of her friends and family. She survives, but the trauma drives her to team up with Frank to try and take down The Exchange herself.
* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' shows the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It's worse because Death is Orpheus's Aunt, making him blame her for Eurydice's death.
* Bruce Wayne Jr. (Batman) in ''ComicBook/SupermanAndBatmanGenerations'' was widowed shortly after the wedding when his newly-wedded wife Kara Kent (Supergirl) was killed by her brother Joel Kent.

* In the end of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', [[spoiler:Simon and Nia finally]] get married but she DisappearsIntoLight immediately after their kiss. This is because she was a virtual life form created by the Anti-Spirals, and they had to be destroyed to stop their misdeeds throughout the entire universe. But without them to sustain her existence, Nia began to degrade (during the fight with them, it became clear that injuring them had an adverse affect on Nia herself). Notably, the bride knew this would happen all along but it only made her want that marriage more. [[spoiler:And she should've been dead ''several days before the wedding'', but she was such a PluckyGirl that she kept herself alive outta sheer willpower to go through it.]]

* ''Literature/{{Nemesis}}'': Verity dies right before she is about to marry Michael Rafiel.

'''Since this is a DeathTrope, spoilers ahead!'''

* ''Literature/Abarat'': the wedding of Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb is interrupted by a dragon snaking its tongue up the exceedingly-long train of Boa's wedding dress, dragging her back down the aisle, and eating her. This prompts the quest for vengeance Finnegan is on when we first meet him. [[spoiler:It's also ultimately revealed to be the inciting event of the entire series, as the Fantomaya broke the laws of magic to preserve Boa's soul within Candy.]]

* In ''Literature/Abarat'': the wedding of Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb is interrupted by a dragon snaking its tongue up the exceedingly-long train of Boa's wedding dress, dragging her back down the aisle, and eating her. This prompts the quest for vengeance Finnegan is on when we first meet him. [[spoiler:It's also ultimately revealed to be the inciting event of the entire series, as the Fantomaya broke the laws of magic to preserve Boa's soul within Candy.]]

* In ''Literature/Abarat'', the wedding of Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb is interrupted by a dragon snaking its tongue up the exceedingly-long train of Boa's wedding dress, dragging her back down the aisle, and eating her. This prompts the quest for vengeance Finnegan is on when we first meet him. [[spoiler:It's also ultimately revealed to be the inciting event of the entire series, as the Fantomaya broke the laws of magic to preserve Boa's soul within Candy.]]

* In "Literature/Abarat", the wedding of Princess Boa and Finnegan Hobb is interrupted by a dragon snaking its tongue up the exceedingly-long train of Boa's wedding dress, dragging her back down the aisle, and eating her. This prompts the quest for vengeance Finnegan is on when we first meet him. [[spoiler:It's also ultimately revealed to be the inciting event of the entire series, as the Fantomaya broke the laws of magic to preserve Boa's soul within Candy.]]

* The title character of Donizetti's ''Theatre/{{Lucia di Lammermoor}}'' goes mad after having been forced to ditch her beloved Edgardo Ravenswood and marry a man named Arthur Bucklaw. She stabs Arthur to death on their wedding night and then [[BloodSplatteredWeddingDress she shows up at the reception]], [[TheOphelia madly singing about Edgardo]]...

** The ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E10AQualityOfMercy A Quality of Mercy]]" provides an AlternateTimeline version of "Balance of Terror"; in this timeline, Captain Pike performs the wedding ceremony rather than Kirk, and at the end it's the bride who's killed, the groom who's bereft (Pike finds him weeping over her body in sickbay).