History Main / RejectedMarriageProposal

It can definitely be TruthInTelevision and is likely [[OlderThanDirt as old as the institution of marriage itself]]. Compare RunawayFiance, where someone flees an ArrangedMarriage before the big day, and RunawayBride, in which the bride or groom calls it off ''on'' the day of the wedding. Compare and contrast AccidentalProposal, in which someone mistakenly believes another character is asking them to marry them. Can be related to CommitmentIssues and DifferingPrioritiesBreakup. It's a common outcome to AndNowYouMustMarryMe. See also ChildMarriageVeto, in which a character refuses a marriage proposal set up for them by their parents. If it's rejected after being initially accepted, it may become BreachOfPromiseOfMarriage.

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit:'' Rollins rejects Dr. Al's HonorableMarriageProposal he springs on her while she's ''in labor'' with their child. Since he was a RomanticFalseLead, this is handled with little emotional fanfare. It's mostly done to give [[DoggedNiceGuy Carisi]] a {{Tearjerker}} ReactionShot, since he had driven Rollins to the hospital and ended up being ForcedToWatch.

* In ''ComicBook/DoctorDoom'', Victor proposes to Fruzsina within five minutes of meeting her. She replies that she would never even consider marrying him.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Diana turns down quite a few proposals from ComicBook/SteveTrevor, but he keeps asking because they're dating and they both want to get married. It's just that as the Amazon Champion she's not supposed to get married until she finishes her never-ending mission. As there are loopholes in the rules, like her having to keep her word if she promises to marry him if he beats her in a contest, they do eventually get married.
* [[ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} Scott Summers]] and ComicBook/JeanGrey of ''Franchise/XMen'' have a complicated history with marriage proposals. When Scott proposes to Jean in ''[[ComicBook/XFactor X-Factor]]'' #53, Jean can't overlook her absorbed memories of Scott's previous proposals to Phoenix, the cosmic entity that lived as Jean while Jean was in a healing coma, and Madelyne Pryor, Jean's clone whom Scott married and had a child with after Phoenix's apparent death. With those intrusive memories, the expectations of their friends, and feeling like she's a CosmicPlaything weighing on her, Jean rejects his proposal. A few years later, Jean proposes to Scott and he accepts.

-->'''Janeway:''' I don't know how to tell you this ''(shoots Chaotica with her RayGun)'' but the wedding's off!

* In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Blood Fever", Vorik comes down with a sudden bout of ''[[MateOrDie pon farr]]'' and spontaneously proposes to B'Elanna, declaring ''koon-ut so'lik''. Unsurprisingly, B'Elanna turns him down, but he's [[NotGoodWithRejection mentally in no shape to take "no" for an answer]], and things rapidly spiral out of control.

* "champagne problems" by Music/TaylorSwift's ''Music/{{evermore|2020}}'' is from the perspective of a woman whose boyfriend pops the question in front of his whole family just before Christmas, and she turns him down, ripping his heart out in the process. Curiously, she never actually explains why she says no, just that she feels she must; all the lyrics indicate her boyfriend is a perfectly nice guy and she [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy hopes he'll find someone else after he recovers from the breakup]]. It's implied she has some mental health problems that make her feel like she isn't suited for a lifetime commitment, or that he deserves better than her.

* ''Literature/BloodAndChocolate'' has a bizarre inversion of sorts, combined with AccidentalProposal. Vivian, a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent loup-garoux]], inadvertently wins the Bitches Dance, a fight between the females of the pack where the victor becomes the new pack leader's mate. Vivian wasn't actually participating and only gets involved to [[ParentsInDistress protect her mother]] but as a result, she's declared the winner. The pack leader, Gabriel, is fine with it as he's in love with Vivian, but Vivian herself is horrified and refuses to become his mate, not least because she's already got a boyfriend, Aiden. [[spoiler: However, she eventually comes around and they up being happy together]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has [[InUniverseNickname "Marriage Proposal"]] Lola, who asks any man she encounters to marry her only to be rejected. According to her crew members, she has been rejected ''4452'' times. The zombie created from her shadow also has her proposals constantly rejected by Absalom.

* [[ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} Scott Summers]] and ComicBook/JeanGrey of ''Franchise/XMen'' have a complicated history with marriage proposals. When Scott proposes to Jean in ''[[ComicBook/XFactor X-Factor]]'' #53, Jean can't overlook her absorbed memories of Scott's previous proposals to Phoenix, the cosmic entity that lived as Jean while Jean was in a healing coma, and Madelyne Pryor, Jean's [[CloningBlues clone]] whom Scott married and had a child with after Phoenix's apparent death. With those intrusive memories, the expectations of their friends, and feeling like she's a CosmicPlaything weighing on her, Jean rejects his proposal. A few years later, Jean proposes to Scott and he accepts.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'' episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseFutureS1E13TogetherForever Together Forever]]", Steven proposes to Connie. She gently rejects him, saying that while she does care about him, she thinks it's way too soon in both of their lives to consider it (Steven's only sixteen years old and Connie is even younger than he is). Steven suggesting that they spend all their time fused together doesn't help, as Connie wants to be her own person. Steven is upset but accepts her rejection graciously. It's indicated that Steven mostly asked Connie to marry him as a poor attempt to cope with his trauma, as he was afraid of losing Connie when she revealed she was leaving to attend college.

* In ''Film/FantasyIsland2020'', Gwen's biggest regret is turning down her boyfriend's marriage proposal five years ago; she uses the island's power to live out a fantasy in which she accepted his proposal and has a family with him. However, she eventually becomes disilluisoned with the fantasy and realizes her biggest regret is actually [[spoiler: not saving her neighbor from a fire she accidentally caused]].
* ''Film/TheFinestHours'': At a dance early in the movie, Miriam suddenly asks Bernie to marry her. He's so taken aback, he reflexively says "no". Hurt, Miriam rushes out into the parking lot, where he catches up with her and eventually agrees to it after he clears it with his commanding officer.
* In ''Film/ForrestGump'', Jenny turns down Forrest when he asks her to marry him, saying he doesn't want to marry her. In response, Forrest says he'd make a good husband and that even though he isn't "a smart man", he does know what love is, [[CallBack referencing]] Jenny telling him he didn't understand love when he first confessed his feelings to her years earlier. It's implied that Jenny refuses to marry Forrest despite being happy with him because she thinks she isn't worthy of love (especially considering her background involving an abusive father and a string of horrible boyfriends have given her a warped view of herself). [[spoiler:Several years later, after Jenny and Forrest are reunited and she reveals he's the father of her child, she asks ''him'' to marry her and Forrest accepts; they're briefly HappilyMarried until Jenny succumbs to illness]].

** In Booth's backstory, his son's mother, Rebecca, rejected his proposal after she got pregnant. When Brennan corners her and asks about it, she says she was always very independant and didn't want to be seen as needing a man to help with the baby. By the time she realized she could still be the same person even married, it was too late.

* In Creator/ChrisFleming's video "What To Do If Your Boyfriend Proposes on Christmas Eve", he suggests that not only you ''should'' reject the proposal if he proposes on Christmas, but you should piledrive him and throw Disney VHS tapes at him for the presumption of surprising you with a life change, then suggests, as a power move, hiding in his car and asking him first.

* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': Upon visiting Kate after she's awaken from coma, Anthony apologizes and immediately proposes to her, but she turns him down, thinking he does it out of obligation. [[spoiler:Later in the near-end, when he sincerely [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove confesses his true feelings]] for her, she eventually accepts it.]]

* At the end of the second ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' novel, Edward asks Bella to marry him, saying it's his condition for him turning her into a vampire. She rejects him because she thinks eighteen is too young to get married, especially as her mother drilled into her that getting {{married too young}} like she did is a terrible mistake. Edward continues to suggest it throughout the third book, but Bella remains reluctant, though she does try negotiating that Edward have sex with her while she's still human in exchange for marriage. However, Edward is iffy about this because he's old-fashioned and doesn't believe in sex before marriage. Bella finally accepts when Edward agrees they can consummate the marriage ''before'' she becomes a vampire (and he formally proposes with a ring).

* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIV'': Part of Rosella and Edgar's [[ZigZaggedTrope game of pinball]] when it comes to StandardHeroReward. Lolotte tried to invoke this and a cross of AndNowYouMustMarryMe when it came to marrying Rosella (disguised as a peasant) to her hunchbacked "son" Edgar. Turns out Edgar was GoodAllAlong and helped Rosella escape due to IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy. After Lolotte was killed, her rival Genesta restored Edgar to his true form of a [[SuddenlySuitableSuitor handsome fairy prince.]] Edgar offered ''himself'' as StandardHeroReward for Rosella, but she had to turn him down ("Sorry, Eddie. Gotta get the magic fruit to my sick dad...") ''Wisely,'' when they meet again in the seventh game, he merely asks for a proper courtship. Both the FanSequel and the Telltale Games version show that TheyDo.

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