Fourth Date Marriage/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A marriage that happens in the very early stages of a relationship.

  • Played Straight: Alice and Bob have been dating for a month, and get married.
  • Exaggerated: Alice and Bob have known each other all of three days, and get married.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted:
    • Alice and Bob have known and loved each other for a long time, possibly since childhood, and they marry.
    • Alice and Bob have both loved each other for a long time and still haven't married.
    • Or Alice and Bob have only just started dating, but haven't yet discussed marriage, kids, etc.
  • Subverted:
    • Alice and Bob have been dating for about a year.
    • Alice and Bob aren't getting married, just moving in together.
    • At first they believe they've found true love, and get engaged very quickly -- but then one or both parties decides to slow things down, and the relationship takes a more regular pace.
  • Double Subverted:
    • But not exclusively.
    • But they're engaged to be married in the near future.
    • After about a month of a "regular pace," Bob and Alice simply elope.
  • Parodied:
    • Alice and Bob just met 5 minutes ago and get married.
    • Dating for years before saying "I Do" is seen as weird.
  • Deconstructed: Because Alice and Bob haven't known each other that long, their differences can cause problems. And what happens when the chemistry/butterflies/shiawase bubbles wear off? The marriage doesn't have a solid foundation, so it's a crapshoot whether or not it'll actually work out.
  • Reconstructed: Alice and Bob learn to compromise and work out their conflicts in a healthy manner. They also remember what's attractive about each other, even when Bob skips shaving for a day or two, and even when Alice is "retaining water." As a result, their hasty marriage is as healthy as (or healthier than) that of couples that dated for years before tying the knot.
  • Zig Zagged: Some couples marry early in their relationship, others marry much later.
  • Averted:
    • Alice and Bob marry after they've been dating exclusively for several years.
    • Alice and Bob do not get married.
  • Enforced:
  • Lampshaded: "Alice and Bob together forever...ALREADY?!"
  • Invoked: Bob proposes to Alice on their four-week anniversary...and Alice accepts.
  • Defied: Neither Alice nor Bob will even so much as discuss marriage until they've been together exclusively for at least a year, believing that a Fourth Date Marriage will not be a healthy or happy one.
  • Discussed:

"You think they'll last?"
"It's hard to say...they haven't known each other that long..."

  • Conversed: "Wait, those characters just met! Why make them marry now?"
  • Played For Laughs: Alice (who is six months pregnant and out on the street) sees Bob at a bar, and gets her girlfriends to serve him "upside-down martinis" until he doesn't know what's what. She then drives him off to Vegas, where they have a quickie-wedding. The next morning, Bob has a hangover, and Alice has a husband.
  • Played For Drama: All the getting-to-know-each-other they have to do puts strain on Alice and Bob, both as individuals and as a couple. Can they get through it, and become stronger both as individuals and a couple? Or will they get divorced as quickly as they got married.

Back to Fourth Date Marriage and by the way, congrats on the great spouse! Wait--you've known them for how long?

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Fourth_Date_Marriage/Playing_With?oldid=1106844"