| rdfs:comment | - Uh-oh. Did you just have a one-night stand with the Farmers Daughter? Whoops, didn't quite turn out like you figured, huh? Her old man found out, and ow you and Daisy Mae are standing in an altar at a rural church, with your petulant in-laws pointing a shotgun at your back. There's no escape. No Big Damn Heroes are going to rush in and rescue you in a dramatic overblown fashion. You've made this bed and now you're going to lie in it. For the rest of your life. Oh, well--at least Daisy Mae is somewhat pretty... for a girl with only one tooth. Oh my sweet Lord, what were you thinking?!
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| abstract | - Uh-oh. Did you just have a one-night stand with the Farmers Daughter? Whoops, didn't quite turn out like you figured, huh? Her old man found out, and ow you and Daisy Mae are standing in an altar at a rural church, with your petulant in-laws pointing a shotgun at your back. There's no escape. No Big Damn Heroes are going to rush in and rescue you in a dramatic overblown fashion. You've made this bed and now you're going to lie in it. For the rest of your life. Oh, well--at least Daisy Mae is somewhat pretty... for a girl with only one tooth. Oh my sweet Lord, what were you thinking?! The traditional Shotgun Wedding (replete with gun-toting relatives) is a common staple of comedies set in rural, "hillbilly" areas. Any big-city fellers who wander into such areas had best be discreet about any "mingling" they do with the local female population, lest they find themselves being forced to stay a lot longer than they had intended. And God help them if they knock up any of the local women. They may be shot even before they get dragged to the altar. Female main characters must also take care when journeying into these kinds of areas, lest an affair forces them to stay as well. Sometimes sex isn't even required for one of these occasions. One of the local boys or girls may take a shine to a travelling protagonist and attempt a forced marriage at gunpoint. In cases like these, the Big Damn Heroes are much more likely to jump in and save the day. But if you get into this situation by sowing your oats a little too wildly, then you're pretty much on your own. Nowadays, a Shotgun Wedding can also refer to any marriage that occurs upon learning that the bride is pregnant (when characters in older media talk about "having" to get married, this is what they mean). The prospective groom doesn't necessarily need to be forced into it at gunpoint. This kind of activity was a lot more common, of course, back when there was more of a stigma attached to unmarried parents. A main character in this day and age can remain "honorable" without marrying the girl as long as he provides for her and the baby. But, really, he should've just used a condom in the first place... well....a good condom. Even so, a bride going up the aisle clearly pregnant just looks bad. It's still Truth in Television in the more socially conservative areas, If the wedding effectively happened when the groom wasn't looking, it's an Accidental Marriage. This is a subtrope of Altar the Speed. May end in Babies Ever After. Compare and contrast Captive Date, where one side of a romantic evening would rather not be there, but isn't allowed to leave. Break Up Demand would be an inversion. Examples of Shotgun Weddings (with actual guns)
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