History Main / RealFakeWedding

The Real Fake Wedding occurs when someone attempts to trick someone into marrying them by staging a fake [[Main/BigBad wedding]] with their intended partner (by saying it is for a play, that they need a stand-in for the bride/groom at a wedding rehearsal, etc) then replacing the fake celebrant with real celebrant.

The Real Fake Wedding occurs when someone attempts to trick someone into marrying them by staging a fake wedding with their intended partner (by saying it is for a play, that they need a stand-in for the bride/groom at a wedding rehearsal, etc) then replacing the fake celebrant with real celebrant.

* In the [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherwoods Sandalwood]] film ''Film/GowriGanesha'' a woman named Gowri agrees to take part in a staged wedding reception as the "bride". She [[HealthcareMotivation desperately needs money to pay for a life saving heart surgery]] while her "groom" Chandramouli is doing this so his parents in distant Punjab will think he has actually got married and won't disinherit him. However, it [[GoneHorriblyWrong backfires tragically]] when Chandramouli's parents, livid at not being asked to participate in the nuptials, try to guilt trip their son into flying to them by pretending to have been victimized by terrorists. He takes a flight to Punjab that night [[{{Irony}} which is actually attacked by terrorists]] and dies. Because he had to suddenly leave, he couldn't pay Gowri and she dies penniless of her heart condition.

* In [[Film/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2004 A Series of Unfortunate Events]] Count Olaf stages a play, with Violet as a bride as part of a scheme to gain the children's inheritance by casting a real judge to perform the marriage. When the scheme was exposed, the judge was horrified by what she almost did.

* In the first book of ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', Count Olaf casts his ward Violet as the bride in his play in a bid to gain full control over her inheritance. Olaf definitely plays this trope straight and casts a real officiant in the play, who is very distressed to learn she had been tricked. [[spoiler: Violet gets out of it, however, by signing the marriage certificate with her non-dominant hand, rendering it null and void.]]

* In ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', Count Olaf casts his ward Violet as the bride in his play in a bid to gain full control over her inheritance. Olaf definitely plays this trope straight and casts a real officiant in the play, who is very distressed to learn she had been tricked. [[spoiler: Violet gets out of it, however, by signing the marriage certificate with her non-dominant hand, rendering it null and void.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic "Trixie at the Royal Wedding", Twilight's friends play a prank on Trixie that leads into a play wedding between her and Twilight. Unfortunately, they find out afterwards that Pinkie Pie, who officiated the ceremony, is a licensed minister, meaning that Twilight and Trixie actually ''did'' get married.

* In one episode of ''Series/HappyDays'', Fonzie agrees to be Jenny Picalo's date to a party on a boat, and he agrees to a fake wedding. However, Roger later tells Fonzie that he thinks a wedding ceremony on a boat, even if it's meant to be fake, means that the marriage is legally real. Of course, in this case Jenny had not intentionally tricked Fonzie into marrying her, though she is happy to learn the news. [[spoiler:And Roger eventually finds out that he was wrong and they are not legally married.]]

* In ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', Count Olaf casts his ward Violet as the bride in his play in a bid to gain full control over her inheritance. Olaf definitely plays this trope straight and casts a real officiant in the play, who is very distressed to learn she had been tricked.

Compare AccidentalMarriage and BrideAndSwitch. See also MetaphoricalMarriage.

* At the end of ''Film/TheMuppetsTakeManhattan'', Piggy and Kermit are supposed to get 'married' at the climax of the big musical. Gonzo was supposed to play the minister but Piggy replaces him with a real minister. (To add to the metatextuality of the affair, the man in question was a real-life Presbyterian pastor.)

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'': Trying to impress her sister, Christine gets Peabody to hold a fake wedding with him on-show, having Mr. Hobson officiate so that it won't count, but things get complicated when an emotional sister insists on officiating the wedding herself which would make the wedding real.

* In the Marisa Berenson of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' episode, Miss Piggy has Kermit agree to participate in a wedding sketch at the end of the show, which is implied to be a ''real'' wedding. [[spoiler: Kermit escapes by, instead of saying "I do", introducing Lew Zeland and his boomerang fish act, who had earlier lobbied unsuccessfully to be in the show.]]

Needless to say, such a "wedding" would have no legal standing in the real world. This is because a marriage certificate still has to be registered and the wedding itself is typically a fancy way of signing paperwork. In most areas, you have to wait a couple of days before you can have the wedding to prevent this trope from happening. Some even requiring blood work before the certificate can be signed. However, characters in fiction will almost always treat such a ceremony as if it was legally binding.

** The comic book adaptation has a scene where Miss Piggy asked Gonzo if he'd found a doctor to look at Kermit's amnesia, but Gonzo replies that he found a minister, with no hint that Miss Piggy asked for one.

Needless to say, such a "wedding" would have no legal standing in the real world. However, characters in fiction will almost always treat such a ceremony as if it was legally binding.

* In ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', Count Olaf casts his ward Violet as the bride in his play in a bid to gain full control over her inheritance. Olaf definitely plays this trope straight and casts a real officiant in the play, who is very distressed to learn she had been tricked.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* In ''ComicBook/BodieTroll'' 2015 Free Comic Book Day issue. While making a delivery, Bodie comes across a girl playing tea party who invites him to join her. He does so, surprisingly getting intoxicated despite the "tea" being root beer, and during one of their games, they do a fake wedding. However, the kingdom they live in has some very oddball laws, one of which allows the wedding to be ''legal''. Luckily Bodie's friends, Cholly and Miz Bijou, find out about the root beer and reveal that the drink has an alcoholic effect on trolls (since rotted roots are their favored food as opposed to sugared roots) and, as such, Bodie wasn't in his right mind at the time to consent to the wedding. Thus getting the wedding annulled.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Inverted in one Literature/SherlockHolmes story, where the groom claims the pastor (and therefore the wedding) was legitimate. Holmes replies that even if the pastor was real ([[SinisterMinister doubtful at best]]) the forced wedding won't hold up in court.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
* On ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', Dwight gets a priest who only speaks German for Andy and Angela's wedding. He does a practice ceremony where he stands in for Andy, and makes the priest believe Dwight's the groom and it's a real ceremony. Angela does not accept it as a real marriage, however. She does end up having to anull the marriage, however, since Dwight had his cousin Mose sign as one witness and tricked Andy into signing as the other on the pretense of signing a rental contract for the wedding venue, then had the priest file the paperwork before anyone knew what had happened.

* In the Marisa Berenson of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' episode, Miss Piggy has Kermit agree to participate in a wedding sketch at the end of the show, which is implied to be a ''real'' wedding. [[spoiler: Kermit escapes by, instead of saying "I do", introducing Lew Zeland and his boomerang fish act, who had earlier lobbied unsuccessfully to be in the show.]]

* ''Series/CharliesAngels'' did this in a Con the Conman scenario. The conman was targeting a mousy, shy woman. The Angels convinced him he could fleece her with a fake marriage. They had Bosley pretend to be the minister so the conman could get the "real" one out of the way. The real minister performed the ceremony and the Angels already knew something the conman didn't. The bride's father was a noted underworld figure who would ensure his new son in-law made his daughter happy.

* On an episode of ''Series/{{Bridezillas}}'' one bride decided (against both her and her fiancé's better judgment) that she was going to invite her guests to an "engagement party," and then announce in the middle of it that it was really a wedding. She ''did'' manage to pull off the "surprise wedding," but needless to say, this was a logistical nightmare, and involved a lot of lying to family members. (Which ''did'' get her called out by her mother, who almost missed the wedding, thinking it was only an engagement party which she was only going to make an appearance at for a short while).

* In season 3 of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' George Michael and his [[KissingCousins cousin/crush]] Mabey take part in a fake wedding at the hospital for alzheimers patients, only for a real preist to step in. While it's mentioned in the next episode and is legally binding, it's not mentioned again.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill,'' a prank war erupts between Bobby (who's twelve) and Luanne (his older cousin). After he replaces her birth control pills with candy, she [[MissConception convinces him]] that women have to take a birth control pill every day or they get pregnant. Hank and Peggy actually get in on the joke and put on a fake ShotgunWedding, to Bobby's horror. Then, to teach Luanne a lesson too, they claim that the celebrant, Bill, is actually an ordained minister and their marriage is valid. Also, you supposedly can't get divorced in Texas for at least a year.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'': Trying to impress her sister, Christine gets Peabody to hold a fake wedding with him on-show, having Mr. Hobson officiate so that it won't count, but things get complicated when an emotional sister insists on officiating the wedding herself which would make the wedding real.