My Own Private I Do/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Basic Trope: A couple decides to marry their way at the last minute.
  • Played Straight: Alice and Bob have a big white wedding planned, but elope at the last minute.
    • Alice and Bob are planning to elope, but then decide to have a bigger wedding so their families and friends can be part of it.
  • Exaggerated: Alice and Bob bring the entire wedding with them through a drive-thru chapel in Las Vegas.
    • Alice and Bob throw together a $30,000 fancy wedding in a week's time
  • Justified: Alice and Bob got frustrated with wedding planning for various reasons (finances, contracts, meddlesome relatives), or never wanted a big wedding in the first place
    • Alice and Bob decided they didn't want to alienate family members and friends
    • One of them has cancer and they aren't sure how things are going to be, so they have a civil ceremony at the courthouse for themselves and have the big fancy dream wedding if and when things get better.
    • Alice and Bob wanted to have a destination wedding, but knew a lot of their families and friends wouldn't be able to afford the trip, so they are having a separate reception for that social circle when they return or on their anniversary.
    • Alice and Bob had a civil ceremony, but then religion became important to them later, so they decided to renew their vows in a religious setting.
    • Alice and Bob went to the courthouse, but are planning to have a big party later (maybe with a vow renewal, maybe not), probably on an anniversary, when they have more money.
  • Inverted: Alice and Bob prepare a big fancy white wedding ahead of time.
  • Subverted: Alice and Bob plan a destination wedding.
    • Alice and Bob are living together, but hadn't thought about marriage.
    • Alice and Bob want to have a small, simple wedding that won't break the bank.
    • Alice and Bob are planning to get married, but end up breaking up and calling off the wedding.
  • Double Subverted: Not a lot of people show up anyway, and it ends up being a very small and intimate affair.
  • Deconstructed:
  • Reconstructed:
  • Parodied: All decked out in their wedding regalia, Alice and Bob stop at a drive-thru chapel (also a fast-food joint) and get married...as well as order fast food.
    • In a Good Angel, Bad Angel situation relating to wedding stress, while Alice debates whether she and Bob should go ahead with the with the Vegas wedding or get their families involved, the Good and Bad angels on Alice's shoulder skip to Las Vegas and get married.
  • Lampshaded: "We decided it was better to just keep it simple. Wedding-planning is a bitch."
    • "We were just going to elope, but we didn't want to leave you guys out."
  • Averted: Alice and Bob have the wedding they plan
  • Enforced:
  • Invoked: Alice and Bob get tired of being bombarded with ideas and expectations, and/or don't want to spend $20,000+ on a party when they could be putting that money towards something like a first house.
    • Alice and Bob start to feel guilty about leaving their families and friends out of their wedding celebration.
  • Defied: Alice and Bob have already signed contracts with vendors and doled out non-refundable deposits, and sent out invitations, so they decide to do things as originally planned.
    • Alice and Bob decide they don't want to get involved with wedding-planning, and decide to just go with their original idea of eloping.
  • Discussed:
  • Conversed:
  • Played For Laughs:
  • Played For Drama: The decision causes a rift in the family.
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