Wedding and Engagement Tropes



"The big day

In your wedding suit today

Like on the big day

Yes you're looking fine

The big day

Sign on the dotted line

The big day

It's your wedding march today"

- XTC, "Big Day".

Since marriage is a powerful force in human life, it shouldn't be surprising that it is also a powerful organizing force in fiction as well. Thus we have several tropes about them.

Most of this is Newer Than They Think though. Most wedding "traditions" in the Western world (like the big white dress and the huge, figurine-topped wedding cake) are derived from Queen Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert as well as some of the weddings of her daughters.

So, anyone want to go to a wedding?

Sister Tropes:

 * Love Tropes
 * Marriage Tropes

Tropes:

 * Accidental Marriage
 * Altar the Speed
 * And Now You Must Marry Me
 * Arranged Marriage
 * Perfectly Arranged Marriage
 * Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage
 * Best Woman
 * Bitter Wedding Speech
 * Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress
 * Bouquet Toss
 * Bride and Switch
 * Bridezilla
 * Cake Toppers
 * Childhood Marriage Promise
 * Child Marriage Veto
 * Citizenship Marriage
 * Deconfirmed Bachelor
 * Elopement
 * Engagement Challenge
 * Engaging Conversation
 * Fairytale Wedding Dress (although the bride isn't always the only one in a Pimped-Out Dress)
 * Fourth Date Marriage
 * Gay Groom in A White Tux
 * Give Away the Bride
 * Guess Who I'm Marrying
 * Honorable Marriage Proposal
 * Lohengrin and Mendelssohn
 * Lost Wedding Ring
 * The Maiden Name Debate
 * Mail Order Bride
 * Married At Sea
 * My Own Private I Do
 * Old New Borrowed and Blue
 * Parental Marriage Veto
 * Prenup Blowup
 * Sad Bollywood Wedding
 * Runaway Bride
 * Shotgun Wedding
 * Skip to The End
 * Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
 * The Graduate Homage Shot
 * Suddenly-Suitable Suitor
 * They Do
 * Wacky Marriage Proposal
 * Wartime Wedding
 * Wedding Day
 * Wedding Deadline
 * Wedding Enhanced Fertility
 * Weddings for Everyone
 * Weddings in Japan
 * Wedding Smashers
 * Why Waste a Wedding
 * With This Ring
 * You Have Waited Long Enough