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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:
- Alice and Bob really are a match made in Heaven, and they know it very early on.
- Alice and Bob had sex, and must get married because Alice is (or may be) pregnant, and her Overprotective Dad and Knight Templar Big Brother both insist on it.
- Alice and Bob are going into an Arranged Marriage. They aren't marrying for love, but for their families' interests.
- Alice and Bob come from a culture where a short courtship is common.
- Alice and Bob were very close friends to begin with.
- 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:
- The writer is a hopeless romantic, writing Chick Lit.
- Alternatively, the writer is deconstructing the trope, because of Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids.
- 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:
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"You think they'll last?" |
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- 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?