History Main / AltarTheSpeed

* In the ''Series/MyHero'' Wedding [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjV5YwKAbsQ&feature=related seen here (5:00 -> 6:11)]], the wedding is literally sped up without dropping anything.

* On ''Series/TheWestWing'', Ellie Bartlet and Vic Faison ("The Fruit Fly Guy," as the President calls him) can't wait until Christmas to get married because [[spoiler: Ellie's pregnant]].

-->-- '''Lady Whistledown'''

* in ''Fanfic/TheElementsOfFriendship'', it's implied that [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy]] were seeing each other romantically before [=NightMare=] Moon's return, but they accelerated to becoming engaged within a day of [=NightMare=] Moon proclaiming nighttime eternal.
* Inverted in the Fanfic/ElementalChessTrilogy. Roy and Riza's wedding, in ''Flowers of Antimony,'' is repeatedly ''delayed'' by various extenuating circumstances, not least the bridegroom falling deathly ill.
* ''Fanfic/BlackSky'': Trusting in his daughter's intuition that it would be better for her ''and'' her groom to marry ''right now'', Sirius gives her his blessing to use a wedding ritual to locate the perfect husband and send her to the guy for consummation. When he lays eyes upon Dorea, Xanxus is [[LoveAtFirstSight more than happy to comply]]. He's frozen not even a week following the event.

* Severus and Lily in ''Fanfic/ThePeaceNotPromised'' planned to wait at least for graduation, but after [[spoiler:the sudden death of her father, meaning that Lily will no longer have anyone supporting her, and will be selling her home and everything else with little left after paying off the mortgage, and she can't have her dream wedding anyway without her father giving her away]], Lily doesn't want to be alone any longer.
--> '''Lily''': Though I wish for my friends to be there, and perhaps even Petunia, I don't wish it enough to wait. I don't wish it enough to endure another Christmas without being family.

* In Korean film ''Film/MarriageBlue'', Yi-ra and Dae-bok have to get married because Dae-bok knocked Yi-ra up, and she doesn't want her Christian minister father to find out she had sex before marriage.

* In ''Film/AWalkToRemember'', the young couple gets married after an extremely short courtship. It's because he knows she's dying, and "getting married at the same church her mom did" was one of the things she wanted to do before she died.
* Controversially used in ''Film/TheCountOfMonteCristo2002'' when [[spoiler:Mercedes explains to Mondego that she only married him because she was pregnant with Dante's child]].
--> '''[[spoiler:Mercedes]]:''' He is not your son. Why do you think I wanted to marry you so quickly?
* This is the main plot driver of ''Film/TheProposal''.
* ''Film/DeepImpact'', where Leo Biederman marries his girlfriend in order to get her and her family into the giant fallout shelter before the comet hits Earth.

* Repeated almost verbatim in ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'', although it's the engager's request to be married quickly so that they could finally get down with the consummation part.
* In the finale of ''Film/LethalWeapon4'' Riggs and Lorna finally agree to marry when Lorna is giving birth. Lorna, however, insists on getting married ''before'' she gives birth, despite being in the middle of contractions. They end up bringing in a rabbi who uses a butchered and heavily abbreviated set of the vows.
* ''Film/BendItLikeBeckham'': When the BetaCouple of Pinky and Teetu manage to browbeat their parents into letting them restart their marriage preparations, the wedding ends up being a lot sooner than anyone would like because the temple didn't have another opening for six months. Unfortunately, the opening they got was the same day as Jess's championship game.
* In ''Film/MeetTheFockers'', the happy couple decide to bring their planned wedding date forward as Pam is pregnant, and they don't want her dad to realize they have had premarital sex.
* In ''Film/CanyonPassage'', George and Lucy have been engaged for an indeterminate period of time (certainly months, and possibly years). Lucy is pushing for him to set a date, but he keeps putting it off as he wants to strike it rich first. Then George suddenly surprises her by announcing that he'll marry her this coming Sunday. What Lucy doesn't know is that's doing it because he plans to skip town immediately afterwards. Fate intervenes before the wedding can take place, however.
* In ''Film/TheFarewell'', the Wang family learns that their matriarch has cancer and they want to arrange one last family get-together to say good-bye... [[DramaticIrony without actually letting her know that she's dying]], in keeping with a long-standing cultural idea that it is the family's responsibility to carry that grief in her place. As a result, her great-nephew Hao Hao proposes to his girlfriend of three months, Aiko, so the family can gather for their wedding.
* In ''Film/CurseOfTheHeadlessHorseman'', Mark and Brenda are putting off getting married until he finishes his medical degree. Towards the end of the film, Mark suddenly decides that they should get married immediately (possibly because of the curse) and they are married by the local Justice of the Peace in the church at the western theme park.

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', the Whistlers have signed a contract to buy a piece of property in their hometown. If they don't pay for it before a certain date, they forfeit their deposit and the owners will sell it to someone else. Since the sisters don't have the money in hand, they need to get Jerin betrothed, quickly, to a family that will pay a high brother's price for him up front.
* ''Literature/TheLastDaysOfKrypton'': After he's framed for causing an accident that killed an alien envoy, Lara moves up her and Jor-El's wedding date. She does this out of a determination to stand by Jor-El through the worst. Zod volunteers to be the presiding official for the wedding (in a self-serving ploy to earn Jor-El's loyalty), speeding up the ceremony even further to accommodate his schedule.
* In the ''Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'' series, Laura and Almanzo have to get married quickly because his sister wants to come out and help plan a big wedding neither of them can afford. (Counts as a RealLife example too.)
* ''Literature/OurMutualFriend'' by Creator/CharlesDickens features the somber and rushed marriage of [[spoiler: Eugene and Lizzie]]. The ceremony takes place sooner rather than later because [[spoiler: the groom is believed to be dying from injuries inflicted by the bride's StalkerWithACrush]].

* In the first book of Creator/RobinHobb's ''Literature/TheSoldierSon'' trilogy, [[spoiler:Gord and his betrothed do this in face of the encroaching plague, as well as Epiny and Spink, after she ran away from home and spend the night with him, ruining her reputation]].

* From: the Literature/{{Deryni}} works by Creator/KatherineKurtz: Duncan [=McLain=] and Maryse [=MacArdry=] fell in love in April 1107 and planned to ask their parents' permission to marry at the end of the summer. A [=McLain=] man killed Maryse's eldest brother, and the clan chiefs decided to separate their clans to avoid a full-on blood feud. The night before Caulay [=MacArdry=] was to leave Culdi, Duncan and Maryse secretly wed in the castle's chapel, then consummated their union in the stable loft.
* Used rather tragically in ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudiceAndZombies'': [[spoiler: Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins shortly after meeting him because she knows she is infected with the zombie plague and wants her last months of actual life to be happy.]]
* In the original ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice,'' the courtship between Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins is quite short, as his character was not suited for a long courtship, and Charlotte Lucas just wants to be married rather than wooed.
--> The stupidity with which he was favored by nature must guard his courtship from any charm that could make a woman wish for its continuance.
** In the same book, Mr. Wickham and Lydia. He at first is not planning on getting married to Lydia ''at all'', and only when they are found and some monetary pressure is judiciously applied does he agree. She then needs to be married out of the Gardiner house because she's been living with him, and coming home unmarried would cause a scandal.
* Bella and Edward have a very quick wedding in ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Breaking Dawn]]'' so that Bella can be turned into a vampire before she is too much older than Edward is.[[note]]In case you wonder why they have to be married to turn her into a vampire: Bella wants to have sex with Edward as a human once before doing it as a vampire, and Edward is against sex before marriage.[[/note]]
* In the second ''Literature/CodexAlera'' book ''Academs Fury'', Bernard and Amara are trapped in a cave by the Zer...er, the Vord, and don't expect to survive battle the next day, so they have a quiet conversation about Bernard's earlier offer of marriage.
-->'''Bernard:''' But if this is to be my last night as a man, I would have it be as your man.\\
'''Amara:''' I never thought anyone would want me, Bernard. Much less someone like you. I would be proud to be your wife.\\
'''Doroga''' ''(Having been standing there unnoticed)'': Well, good enough for me. I now pronounce you man and wife.\\
'''Amara:''' What?
* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's Harmony books, the main character and his three brothers get quickie weddings with women they barely know so that they'll have someone to repopulate the Earth with. Somewhat justified in that, in their culture, marriages usually last for one year with the option to renew, meaning that most of the parties involved are accustomed to a pretty cavalier attitude toward the whole thing.

* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''Literature/TheMadKing'', the American hero is visiting his mother's native land.
-->''Neither his mother nor his father had ever returned to the little country since the day, thirty years before, that the big American had literally stolen his bride away, escaping across the border but a scant half-hour ahead of the pursuing troop of Luthanian cavalry.''

* An attempt to do this in ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'' inadvertently saves the day when the happy couple discovers [[spoiler:that a minister can't be retained because it's Sunday, not Monday, meaning there's still time to win the eponymous race]].
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks are married after a relatively short courtship because of the war. The marriage nearly disintegrates when Tonks becomes pregnant, prompting Remus to panic and attempt to pull an IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy bailing on her (he's afraid their child will be, one way or another, a victim of his "affliction"). Harry, who has some experience with [[ParentalAbandonment losing parents and parent figures]], [[WhatTheHellHero rightly calls him on his B.S.]]
** Apparently a common occurrence during the wars against Voldemort. Molly and Arthur rushed their marriage the first time, and Bill and Fleur the second.

* In ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing: The Bacta War]]'', Corran Horn and Mirax Terrik become engaged partway through the novel. When Mirax's father Booster finds out about this later, he strongly objects (understandably, as Corran was the son of the policeman who caught him and sent him to Kessel for five years). He's called away on business, but fully intends to "discuss" things with them once he's finished. To avoid this, they have a brief marriage ceremony aboard ''Lusankya'' (with Commander Antilles, temporary captain of the ship, in the role of "priest", and a few droids as witnesses). Booster takes this surprisingly well, though he loses a bet with fellow smuggler Talon Karrde because of this - Karrde had bet that they would do exactly this.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo''. After discovering that Alex Mackay got his fiancée, Julie Sims, pregnant, Gustavus Adolphus himself marches them down to the bridal shop to ensure they're married before the birth so the child isn't a bastard in the genealogical sense, and even serves in the bridal party.
-->"Won't tolerate such behavior on the part of one of my officers," gruffed Gustav, in blithe disregard of his own not-entirely-reputable history. "Bastardy is a shame before God!"
* In ''Literature/ArciaChronicles'', after rescuing his {{Childhood Friend|Romance}} Jaquelin re Flo from [[spoiler:his own brother Geofrey]], who tried to force her into marrying him for her money, Alexander storms the Archbishop's house in the middle of the night and demands he and Jaquelin be married right that moment. While everyone thinks this a case of NobilityMarriesMoney, he is actually doing it to protect the poor girl from any more unscrupulous suitors--especially since a marriage conducted by an Archbishop can only be ever annulled by UsefulNotes/ThePope himself, who can hardly be bothered to.
* In the ''Literature/HomecomingSaga'', protagonist Nafai and his three brothers get married to four women they barely know, in order to pair them up in preparation for a journey to [[AdamAndEvePlot reestablish humanity back on Earth]]. Somewhat mitigated as they all belong to a culture where marriage is a one-year contract, renewable annually, so this isn't so out of the ordinary for them.
* ''Literature/KrisLongknife'' ends up having to plan and execute her wedding in a matter of hours, because she knows that orders have been cut that would put her and her boyfriend in the same chain of command, making the relationship against regulations. So they hurriedly get married before the orders arrive so that their relationship is grandfathered in as legal before they are officially aware of the orders.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Hal and Lois's wedding. Lois is ''going into labor'' during the ceremony.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Titus}}'', Titus and Erin decide to have a quickie wedding, without their [[BigScrewedUpFamily families]]. Guess who shows up. Then they try to speed it up, before something bad happens, especially with Titus's [[AxCrazy insane]] mother and her [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou abusive]] husband there. Guess what happens.
* In the ''Series/MyHero'' Wedding [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjV5YwKAbsQ&feature=related seen here (5:00 -> 6:11)]], the wedding is literally sped up without dropping anything.
* Played straight then averted on an episode of ''Series/TheSteveHarveyShow'' when Romeo and his GirlOfTheWeek decide to go to Missouri to elope. ButtMonkey Lydia spills the beans to Steve and Regina. They arrive just in time to stop the couple from getting married. Of course, the girl is never seen or mentioned again.
* A mix of this and CitizenshipMarriage happens on ''Series/WhatsHappening''. Rerun tries to do this with a girl named Maria played by [[Series/TheElectricCompany1971 Irene Cara]] who needs a green card so that she can stay in the US. The judge realizes that in addition to them getting married just for a green card, they know nothing about each other. The judge stops the ceremony explaining that just because they get married she could still be deported. He offers to help her find another way to stay in the country instead.
* On ''Series/TheParkers'' Kim and Jerel go to Las Vegas to elope. Nikki and The Professor try to stop them, but they are too late. The marriage is annulled when Jerel's mom reveals that he is only 17 and not 19 like he told Kim.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto'''s movie ''God Speed Love'', an AU to the TV series, Hiyori and Kagami hastily marry in hospital because Hiyori is dying.
* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Howard and Bernadette move up their wedding day so that they'll be married by the time Howard is sent into space. After failing to find anyone willing to conduct the ceremony at short notice, ''all of their friends'' get ordained as ministers online (Sheldon apparently gets ordained ''twice'', once by the State of California and once by the [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingon High Council]]) and conduct the ceremony as a team on the roof of Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, just as the Website/{{Google}} Earth satellite was photographing the area. They time it so that [[GoogleEarthZoom the photo is taken just as the newlyweds kiss]].
* On ''Series/TheWestWing'', Ellie Bartlet and Vic Faison ("The Fruit Fly Guy," as the President calls him) can't wait until Christmas to get married because [[spoiler: Ellie's pregnant]].
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': In season 9, Vala is transported to the Ori galaxy and, once there, finds herself unexpectedly expecting. Since the village is full of extremely religious people with very old-fashioned values, she marries the first guy she can so as to avoid getting in trouble for having a child out of wedlock.
* ''Series/FullerHouse'' : [[spoiler: Fernando and Kimmy get back together, following their divorce]] in the first season finale. This is possibly to piggy-back onto Jesse and Rebecca renewing their vows.

* In ''Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon'' Usagi and Mamoru set up their wedding so suddenly and in such a hurry that Ami is ''abroad'', with the rush and Usagi's mood swings implying she's pregnant.
* ''Series/GraceAndFrankie'': Robert and Sol push up their wedding plans when Robert is scheduled for emergency heart surgery, leaving their titular ex-wives scrambling to find an officiant. After a rabbi they grab in the hospital hallway backs out because Robert isn't also Jewish, Frankie, who got ordained over the internet, officiates the wedding herself.
* The ''Series/TheGhostAndMrsMuir'' episode "Haunted Honeymoon". On their way to get married, Gladys and Harvey's car breaks down outside Gull Cottage on a very wet night. Mrs. Muir puts them up, much to the captain's annoyance, as he wants to update his sea charts and Harvey is to sleep in his alcove (room). As Claymore is a justice of the peace, the captain gets him to marry the couple so they can sleep together in the spare room.
* One episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' ends on a happy example. After rescuing a Marine who missed his wedding due to being a POW, Tim and Delilah rush to get him to a Justice of the Peace so he can be reunited with his fiancée and married before the Justice's office closes for the weekend. They technically miss the deadline, but upon hearing the circumstances, the Judge agrees to work a little late to perform the ceremony, and Tim and Delilah stand as witnesses for the wedding.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Towards the end of the ''Peacekeeper Wars'' [[WrapItUp miniseries]], Aeryn demands that Stark marry her to John Crichton ''immediately'' as they're caught in a warzone and she's moments away from giving birth to their son. To be fair, they had tried to get married before but [[WeddingSmashers kept getting interrupted by their enemies]]. Stark wisely keeps the ceremony [[SkipToTheEnd very short]].

* Mike and Paige in ''Series/TheBigLeap'' decide to get married after only dating a few months because [[spoiler: Paula's cancer is back and she doesn't want to go through chemo again, so they only have a little more time left together]]. Since they're both on a reality show, they use executive producer Nick's resources to make it happen because Paula knows orchestrating a wedding for the show is like catnip to him.

* On ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', the kids' aunt Tiana and her guy Bob get married the same day he proposes, because they have a trip planned right after and Candace is holding Tiana to an old promise that she gets to be a bridesmaid at her wedding.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0000453323_4615.jpg]]

For some reason the wedding needs to occur sooner rather than later. Common versions include {{Elopement}}, when the [[ParentalMarriageVeto parents oppose the marriage]], and the StarCrossedLovers need to make it official before the parents stop them. The exact opposite justification is the ShotgunWedding, when the parents ''insist'' on the lovers marrying, usually because [[MyGirlIsNotASlut "My daughter is not a slut"]] or even more serious, a baby is on the way. Might be considered a DeadHorseTrope in these versions nowadays.

* In ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', Piper and Leo have to get married quickly before [[CouncilOfAngels the Elders]] split them up. They end up getting split up anyway, but eventually they're able to get married.

** The relationship between Lindesfarne Dewclaw and Fenton Fuscus has ZigZagged this trope every which way:

* Done in ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell''. Lindesfarne wanted to wait until she finished getting her bachelor's degree before getting married. She had expected to need another year to finish, but a new ruling decreed that the AP Foraging credits she had earned as a herbivore (before officially changing her diet to insectivore) ''do'' count on her transcript, meaning Lindesfarne could graduate in May. She kept her promise to Fenton to go ahead and marry.
** And her future mother-in-law had been trying to invoke this trope. Why she did so was only found out the day before the wedding: [[spoiler: Desdemona is really a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire bat]], and she was afraid once Lindesfarne found out, she would call off the wedding.]]

** Averted with Rudy and Fiona: Following TheirFirstTime, [[https://kevinandkell.com/2021/kk0212.html they agree not to rush to the altar,]] choosing to see what happens once they graduate from Beige University.

** ''Literature/TheMoonAndTheThorn'': Mahaffy's ArrangedMarriage was moved up due to war - in case Mahaffy died in battle, the girl's father, Lord Macsen, wanted to ensure that his daughter would have the legal rights of a widow. Since Lord Macsen's troops were vital, Mahaffy had no choice but to agree.

* Bella and Edward have a very quick wedding in ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Breaking Dawn]]'' so that Bella can be turned into a vampire before she is too much older than Edward is.
** In case you wonder why they have to be married to turn her into vampire: Bella wants to have sex with Edward as a human once before doing it as vampire, and Edward is against sex before marriage.
* In the second ''Literature/CodexAlera'' book ''Academs Fury'', Bernard and Amara are trapped in a cave the Zer...er, the Vord, and don't expect to survive battle the next day, so they have a quiet conversation about Bernard's earlier offer of marriage.
-->'''Bernard:''' But if this is to be my last night as a man, I would have it be as your man.
-->'''Amara:''' I never thought anyone would want me, Bernard. Much less someone like you. I would be proud to be your wife.
-->'''Doroga''' ''(Having been standing there unnoticed)'': Well, good enough for me. I now pronounce you man and wife.
-->'''Amara:''' What?

** This also happens in a few of Creator/LMMontgomery's short stories, with the most extreme case occurring in "The Twins and a Wedding". (Twins Sue and Johnny, having never been to a wedding, are upset that their parents refuse to take them to their cousin Pamelia's wedding, even though they were invited. They decide to buy train tickets after their parents have left and attend anyway, but unfortunately get off a stop too early. While looking for their uncle's home, the two come across a couple in the midst of an argument, as the man has to leave for a four-year trip to Japan and the woman refuses to get married with two days' notice. Upon discovering the twins' distress over missing the wedding, the couple decides to get married that afternoon so that Sue and Johnny can still get to enjoy a wedding.)
* An attempt to do this in ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'' inadvertently saves the day when the happy couple discovers [[spoiler: that a minister can't be retained because it's Sunday, not Monday, meaning there's still time to win the eponymous race]].

For some cases where a wedding was rushed because the couple wanted to, see MyOwnPrivateIDo. Can lead to a WartimeWedding and may be a LastWishMarriage. If the couple can't get the official wedding, they might opt for an unofficial, deeply felt wedding-like private ceremony that leads to MetaphoricalMarriage.

* Webcomic/BugMartini [[https://www.bugmartini.com/comic/neverending-wedding/ proposes this trope]] rather than having a lengthy ceremony.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13398957/1/When-Ginny-and-Harry-Eloped-Sort-Of When Ginny and Harry Eloped - Sort Of]]'' a Ministry of Magic official threatens to take control of Harry and Ginny's wedding plans, so they decide to get married secretly at the Burrow the following Sunday.

* One chapter of ''Manga/BlackJack'' revolves around a young lady with cancer so advanced that only the titular charater's skills can save her life. Jowever, she's absolutely certain she's going to die and is obsessed with the idea of getting married to the point of refusing to so much as be ''treated'' without being married first. So Black Jack marries her in a quickie ceremony, and once he's done giving her life-saving surgery, immediately divorces her.

* Repeated almost verbatim in ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'', although it's the engaged's request to be married quickly so that they could finally get down with the consummation part.

* In ''Film/MeetTheFockers'', the happy couple decide to bring their planned wedding date forward as Pam is pregnant, and they don't want her dad to realise they have had premarital sex.

--> The stupidity with which he was favoured by nature must guard his courtship from any charm that could make a woman wish for its continuance.

* One episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' ends on a happy example. After rescuing a Marine who missed his wedding due to being a POW, Tim and Delilah rush to get him to a Justice of the Peace so he can be reunited with his fiancee and married before the Justice's office closes for the weekend. They technically miss the deadline, but upon hearing the circumstances, the Judge agrees to work a little late to perform the ceremony, and Tim and Delilah stand as witnesses for the wedding.

It can also be a very [[TearJerker moving]] and realistic event; either in a war movie (still a TruthInTelevision trope, but due to ValuesDissonance between Hollywood and the Heartland, it isn't seen much anymore), or in some cases someone very close to the bride and/or groom is dying, and everyone agrees to move up the wedding so they can live to see the couple get married.

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Howard and Bernadette move up their wedding day so that they'll be married by the time Howard is sent into space. After failing to find anyone willing to conduct the ceremony at short notice, ''all of their friends'' get ordained as ministers online (Sheldon apparently gets ordained ''twice'', once by the State of California and once by the [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingon High Council]]) and conduct the ceremony as a team on the roof of Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, just as the Website/{{Google}} Earth satellite was photographing the area. They time it so that [[GoogleEarthZoom the photo is taken]] [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome just as the newlyweds kiss]].