# How Many TV/Movie Weddings Have Been Called Off in Progress? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118 "2015-01-28T17:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/41 "2015-01-28T22:42:24Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > _I Love You Alice B. Toklas_ (Peter Sellers film) > > _Will & Grace_ (at least two- one for Will and one for Karen) > > _Northern Exposure_ Didn’t karens wedding happen but then they decided to divorce that same day? I might be remembering it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/42 "2015-01-28T22:46:15Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Daphe and Niles left Danny standing at the altar at the very last moment in _ **Frasier** _. Though it was never shown (pity!) Diane left Frasier standing at the altar in _ **Cheers!** _ You left out the best one - Rebecca leaving Robin Colcord: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a stay: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven doth shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou owest: As long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” “I only loved you for your money!” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/43 "2015-01-28T23:07:56Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’ve seen several recent threads in which people asked whether anyone’s actually seen a wedding in which the clergyman said “Speak now or forever hold your peace” and somebody actually objected. > > Almost everybody agreed that, nowadays, the question is rarely asked. And nobody seemed to have witnessed firsthand a wedding that was called off after the service began. > > But it sure seems to happen CONSTANTLY in movies and on TV. Fictional brides and grooms get ditched at the altar all the time. Fictional brides and grooms regularly decide during the exchange of vows that they shouldn’t really get married, and call off the wedding in a crowded church. This happens so often, that when I see a Wedding about to happen on TV, I assume that is what will occur. I have never heard of anyone really objecting (played for a joke once), or a wedding where either called it off at the wedding. I do know of one wedding where the groom got cold feet and never showed up. Kinda anticlimatic. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/44 "2015-01-29T01:56:33Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > In the ST: The Old Stuff episode “Balance of Terror,” Kirk is officiating over a wedding between two crew members when the ceremony is interrupted by a Romulan attack. Not that he actually HAS any power to officiate weddings, but really…he couldn’t say “Do you? Do You? Bythepowervestedinmeinowpronounceyouhusbandandwife.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/45 "2015-01-29T01:58:40Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > “Do you? Do You? Bythepowervestedinmeinowpronounceyouhusbandandwife.” You left out “Proceed with the execution!” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dancer\_Flight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dancer_flight/32/7601_2.png) [@Dancer\_Flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancer_Flight)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/46 "2015-01-29T03:27:33Z")
In the BtVS episode Hell’s Bells The two participants have everyone at the Church but Xander couldn’t go through with it. The ceremony didn’t start but everyone dressed and ready to go should be close enough… -DF ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/47 "2015-01-29T03:28:03Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Daphe and Niles left Danny standing at the altar at the very last moment in _ **Frasier** _. Though it was never shown (pity!) Diane left Frasier standing at the altar in _ **Cheers!** _ Actually, Diane may win this thread . She left Frasier standing at the altar AND walked out on her wedding to Sam. On **Hill Street Blues** Sgt. Esterhaus walked out of his wedding to his young fiancee when his middle-aged girlfriend showed up at the church. On the first season of\*\* ER\*\* Carol Hathaway’s fiancee walked out on their wedding. Since everyone was already gathered, she decided to throw a hell of a party. ---
**Author:** ![callander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@callander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/callander)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/48 "2015-01-29T05:36:09Z")
Tv series 4400 from 2004 or 2005, ran 4 seasons. Shawn and isabelle didn’t end up getting married. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/49 "2015-01-29T14:36:44Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Actually, Diane may win this thread . She left Frasier standing at the altar AND walked out on her wedding to Sam. Uhm, no. Sam was the one who broke it off at the very last moment because he didn’t want to stand in the way of Diane’s writing career. The final scene went something like this: “Goodbye, Diane. Have a nice life!” “That’s what you say to someone you’re never going to see again. I’ll be back in six months, after I’ve finished writing my novel.” “Right. **[Long pause]** Have a nice life!” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/50 "2015-01-29T14:41:46Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Not that he actually HAS any power to officiate weddings, but really… Why not? It was a fine tradition that Starfleet obviously had decided to revive. The ship had no chaplain. What else could they do for a couple who wanted to get married while on a deep-space mission? ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/51 "2015-01-29T17:03:06Z")
Judy Benjamin (_Private Benjamin_) walked out of her wedding after sucker punching the groom! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/52 "2015-01-29T18:16:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Uhm, no. Sam was the one who broke it off at the very last moment because he didn’t want to stand in the way of Diane’s writing career. > > The final scene went something like this: > > “Goodbye, Diane. Have a nice life!” > > “That’s what you say to someone you’re never going to see again. I’ll be back in six months, after I’ve finished writing my novel.” > > “Right. **[Long pause]** Have a nice life!” That was the final scene. The wedding itself was a little more complicated. [Start here at about the 21:00 minute mark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDZRJlVk1fs) after Diane’s publisher has called with the news about her manuscript. She’s obviously distracted. Sam stops the ceremony and tells Diane she should work on the book. Diane says no, and tells the justice of the peace to continue. Sam stops the ceremony again and tells her writing may be the one thing she’s good at. They discuss it and Sam asks her if she agrees that postponing the wedding would be the best thing. Diane says “I do” and the wedding is over. So it may be a little hyperbolic of me to say Diane “walked out” but the way I see it, she was the one who made the final break. And even if it doesn’t matter in the long run, it’s worth watching the wedding scene just for the reactions of the gang.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/53 "2015-01-29T18:39:35Z")
Diane also interrupted Frasier’s wedding to Candi (with an “i” like Ghandi, so people would take her seriously), but in the subsequent argument in Sam’s office the couple called it off. Actually, when the minister said, “does anyone…” Diane answered, “I do,” to which Frasier replied, “Right answer, wrong ceremony.” ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/54 "2015-01-29T18:57:14Z")
_Glee_ had a couple in the “well, technically the ceremony hadn’t started yet” category; Will and Emma (everybody is in the church, but Emma runs out and, IIRC, catches a taxi, all while singing “(Not) Getting Married Today” (from _Company_); also, Finn and Rachel were just about to start their ceremony, but they were waiting for Quinn to arrive when she got into a car accident while answering a text. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/55 "2015-01-29T19:11:36Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Judy Benjamin (_Private Benjamin_) walked out of her wedding after sucker punching the groom! And he got off lucky, compared to her first husband! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/56 "2015-01-29T19:14:29Z")
Hmm, can any of the Legal Eagles here tell us if the people paying for the wedding (usually the brides parents, but it depends) can sue the other party if they change their mind at the last moment? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/57 "2015-01-29T19:48:57Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > And even if it doesn’t matter in the long run, it’s worth watching the wedding scene just for the reactions of the gang.🙂 The bit of bets changing hands had me in stitches the first time I watched it! It was almost as good as the moment in the first season finale when Sam swung the office door open and _everybody_ was there, listening to the argument he and Diane were having. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/58 "2015-01-29T22:37:38Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > In the ST: The Old Stuff episode “Balance of Terror,” Kirk is officiating over a wedding between two crew members when the ceremony is interrupted by a Romulan attack. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Not that he actually HAS any power to officiate weddings, but really…he couldn’t say “Do you? Do You? Bythepowervestedinmeinowpronounceyouhusbandandwife.” He probably has the same power to officiate at a wedding as a Justice of the Peace, Judge, Notary Public (in some jurisdicitons). It’s a civil ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/59 "2015-01-29T22:43:17Z")
Every movie version of _Great Expectations_ makes reference to a character who was left at the altar. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118/60 "2015-01-30T21:11:40Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Please elaborate. I thought the first episode was where Aunt Bee comes, and Opie doesn’t like her, and she almost leaves. I also know of the Danny Thomas episode that introduced Andy and his son Opie. Don’t remember any called-off weddings early in the series (I remember one kinda called-off wedding when the Darlings discover it’s Barney Fife and not \_\_\_\_\_ (can’t remember) in the wedding dress, and another where a couple of con artists try to get money out of Barney for breaking an ‘engagement.’). The intro to that episode where Aunt Bea almost leaves has the wedding scene for Andy’s former housekeeper. A lot of the intros and tags were trimmed in re-runs to make room for more commercials. There was the called off “arranged marriage” between Opie and Charlene Darling’s baby. They had Opie write with disappearing ink to make them think the match was jinxed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-tv-movie-weddings-have-been-called-off-in-progress/711118.md?page=2)