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36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
Occasions,LifestyleJAN 19, 2026

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”

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Sometimes, a couple can look like a match made in heaven both to themselves and everyone around. And so, in such cases, the next common step is a wedding - why not get committed to each other legally, if you're so perfect together?
The only thing is that sometimes marriage is what shows the cracks in that perfect relationship that weren't visible before. Or maybe they were ignored. And so, marriages fall apart, sometimes way faster than anyone would have guessed.
More info: Reddit

#1

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
I know a couple who at the reception he smashed the cake in her face and she turned around and said forget it I want to break up.
40points

#2

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
3 Weeks. My brothers 3rd bride found out on the wedding night that he had no money and my father owned his house, car etc....

She ended up in jail that night for hitting my brother. I did the pictures for the wedding because it was his 3rd wedding. Low budget.

I put together a photo album for the family with her mugshot as the last picture.
33points

#3

Me. I lasted 9 months.

Got married for a visa to be able move to china with my husband whom I'd been with for 12 years since the first week of university. A month later he left for china and I was gonna join him when I found a job but I immediately realised how much happier I was without him. One day, 5 months after he left, I kind of woke up and realised he'd been emotionally violent. That he'd forced me to be intimate with him on multiple occasions, properly hit me a few times but physically hurt me often, shouted at me daily and that he isolated me from my family and friends. I grew up in a bad family so I just sort of blocked out the worst of it and carried on. It took being alone for the first time to feel safe enough to process a whole lifetime of trauma. I flew to China to break up with him and he acted like I was going to change my mind even as I tearfully left for the airport.

Years later I'm with the most peaceful, kind man I've ever met, we have a bunch of wonderful friends and we hang out with my good family members all the time. Life is good when you don't have the wrong people in it.
22points

There is no one set time for how long a couple has to be together before tying the knot. According to this poll, on average, modern couples tend to spend quite a lot of time together before getting married – around 4.9 years. 

That’s due to the fact that people like to get to know their significant other in all the good and the bad before committing to them legally. After all, you cannot really learn everything about a person within a few months or so; such knowledge only comes with time and various experiences. 

#4

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
My cousin. Got married mid-June, when we visited for the July 4th holiday, he had moved out. She told us that he got mad at her during the wedding, never slept in at the house again and filed for divorce. She literally dated him for years and after their wedding, never spoke to him again.
21points

#5

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
In japan couples can divorce simply by going to city hall and doing the paperwork--excluding getting there and any waiting time, it might take a half hour. One person can even do it on behalf of the couple by taking their partner's hanko (personal seal) and doing the paperwork alone.
20points

#6

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
I got divorced in less than a year. She was cheating, delivered a kid about 7 months after the divorce.
19points

And the thing is that this approach is kind of working. According to the study, which surveyed 3,000 married folks, the likelihood of divorce decreases by 50% when a couple dates for 3 or more years before getting engaged. 

Still, dating for such a relatively long time doesn’t inherently guarantee a long and successful marriage; people who spend more than half of their lives together still end up separating. 

#7

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
A friend of a friend had a destination wedding in Hawaii and divorced within a week of returning. Apparently they had a series of huge fights BEFORE the wedding but didn't want to cancel and ruin everybody's plans.

EDIT: Since everyone keeps pointing it out - I don't know if they did or didn't sign the marriage license, so they may or may not have been legally married, but they broke up and went their separate ways immediately after the wedding.
17points

#8

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
Some years ago, my best friend took me as his plus one to the wedding of his childhood best friend. Let's call her Jane. Jane and her new husband had been together for years, owned a house together, etc. Great wedding, gorgeous ceremony, fun reception. Their vows were quite beautiful.

Two months later, I was with my best friend out at the bar when he was like "Oh no, don't look over at that table." Of course I looked, but didn't recognize who was sitting there. My friend was like "That's Jane's ex-husband. Remember? We were at their wedding."

I was like... "EX husband? But like... that was two months ago?"

Apparently they broke up a few weeks after the wedding. I don't know why.
17points

#9

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
Severely narcisstic friend made it 3-4 months I think. He had an early summer wedding and one of his friends had one a couple months later in the same year. He couldn't stand that everyone stopped congratulating him on getting married and had shifted focus to the friend's upcoming wedding instead, so he tried to steal the spotlight by telling people that he was getting divorced at the friend's rehearsal dinner. He lost interest after the friend's wedding was over, but his new bride was so angry that she demanded they go through with it.
17points

And sometimes it takes even less time for the marriage to end. Just take a look at today’s list – it’s full of marriages that can barely be called that due to how short they were. From 6 months to 3 weeks to 55 hours (looking at you Britney Spears and Jason Alexander)... It all depends on what you consider a short period of time, but neither of these screams “long marriage”, do they? 

Interestingly, it’s said that the shortest recorded marriage took only 3 minutes… Can you imagine? Just 3 minutes! This took place back in 2024 in Kuwait. Apparently, when the couple was walking out after the ceremony, the bride tripped and heard her new husband mocking her. 

#10

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
I got married about 40 years ago . About 2 months in, it had been just weird and he was super needy. I mentioned a concert I was going to get tickets to. He said I wasnt going to do that. I called in sick the next day, packed what I wanted and was out of there. The who marriage, including the mandatory 6 month wait period to divorce, was just over 8 months.
17points

#11

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
My cousin cheated on her husband almost from day one (found out she'd been cheating before the wedding and resumed right after the honeymoon), and they separated after 3 months, divorce was official 3 days short of five months.
16points

#12

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
100% real. Starting with this because honestly it still blows my mind.

Some guy I worked with had a kid with his girlfriend. A year or so later they got married, proper wedding with friends and family.

The next morning they’d put a Facebook post up saying that they’ve decided not to stay together and were separating.

Since divorced.
16points

This was enough of a reason for her to go to the judge and ask for annulment of their contract. Basically, they didn’t even make it out of their wedding ceremony as newlyweds before it was called off. Ouch! At the same time, maybe she dodged a bullet – what kind of man makes fun of his wife in such a precious occasion, even if she trips? 

Well, reasonable or not, short marriages typically aren’t that short. Again, it all depends on how you look at it. Even a year isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things but imagine getting stuck with a person you know you don’t belong with, or even worse, you can’t stand for a year. That’s such a long time! Even half of this time doesn’t seem pleasant in such a case.

#13

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
I had a cousin who got married to her boyfriend and they were divorced within 6 months. Turns out they knew they weren’t going to work before the wedding, but they really wanted to have a party lol. It’s put a huge strain on her relationship with her parents considering they were the ones who foot the bill.
16points

#14

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
Britney’s first one

55 hours.

Edit: Honorable mention, Kim K lasting 72 days.
16points

#15

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
My father and I were on a 20 acre working ranch. After my mother left us I think he wanted to make sure that I had a mother so he married pretty quickly and she moved in. I was 6ish years old so I don't remember much. From what I was told by my grandparents that as soon as she was expected to do work on the ranch she divorced him. I was told it was 2 weeks.
15points

So, while short marriages might seem rather entertaining looking from the side, sometimes they have rational reasons to happen this way. 

What is the shortest marriage you know of? If you’re open to it, please share about it in the comments!

#16

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
I have an in-law. 10 marriages. Not 9. He is up to 10. No exaggeration.
15points

#17

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
Mine. He cheated on me after 9 months of marriage. I found her clothing in my laundry basket and it was part of her work uniform so I knew who she was. She was a mutual friend. I took that woman out for her birthday. Worked out great though because I have bow been married to the man of my dreams for almost 20 yrs.
15points

#18

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
My cousin got married and found out she was pregnant within a week. Her husband said he wasn’t ready to be a dad yet and they got the marriage annulled. I was told they planned for kids, but he literally just didn’t want to have them that soon. She had the baby and remarried. The ex-husband has never met the kid.

Another cousin married a guy and he completely took down the mask after the wedding. Stopped working, stopped doing anything around the house, then started being mean, etc. She found out he had a bunch of secrets, including legal trouble in another state. I wanna say it took about 6 months til the divorce was final.
14points

#19

36 Marriages With The Shortest Gap Between “I Do” And “Bye Forever”
I was a bridesmaid and went to a joint bachelor-bachelorette party in Vegas. At a pool party during the day, all the married groomsmen cheated on their wives right in front of us. The marriage lasted about 6 months… guess why.
14points

#20

Some acquaintances got married and the bride cheated during the reception. Groom called the JOP the next day and said don’t bother filing the papers.
14points
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