There is nothing like curling up on the sofa, in your pyjamas with a glass bottle of wine, some pop corn and watching a wedding film.
I love wedding films because they are NOT inspirational and NOT desirable in any shape or form! Honestly, think about it! This in my eyes makes them even better. Who wants to watch a film about a perfectly planned, beautifully styled, hitch-free, love-full, puke-worthy wedding? I sure as hell don’t! I want to watch a wedding movie that takes the ‘p’ out of the nightmare side of wedding planning; the stress, the pretentiousness, the costs, the family squabbles and makes one big joke of it all and of course has a happy ending!
The best and most important thing about wedding movies is that they make you see that weddings should never be taken too seriously and I think some people could do with a little reminder of that once in a while.
So if you feel your wedding planning is getting you down and getting a bit stressful, you must watch at least one of these films to remind you of the bigger picture (pun intended!). And if you’re getting married and you’ve not even seen any of these, well, I’m not even going to finish the sentence….
So here’s my list and summaries of my absolute favourite wedding films of all time and by the way, yes I have seen ALL of these films, once or twice millions of times. And please note, although they are ordered from one to ten, they sure are not ranked that way. These films are impossible to rank but if you threatened to kick me in the shin I would have to say that 2, 9 and 10 are my absolute favourites. Ah hell, what about 3, 7and 8? Forget it, there are no favourites, they are ALL too good.
1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I loved this film. I love Greek food and I swear every scene showed someone cooking or eating some amazing Greek dishes. You know me and food! That alone made me love this film. But what was also brilliant about the film was the way it showed how families can drive you bloody crazy when it comes to your wedding. The basic premise is that the main character who is Greek, is getting married to her non-Greek boyfriend and as you can imagine all hell breaks lose when she tells her very traditional, close knit Greek family. So in the best and funniest, light hearted way possible, we also are treated to a range of problems that couples in multi-cultural relationships may face when they announce their plans and I think this film deals with it brilliantly. Great film. Go watch.
2. Four Weddings and a Funeral
You can’t have a list of favourite wedding films and not have Four Weddings and a Funeral on it. That would be like having a list of best dance films and not having Dirty Dancing on it. These films were meant to be listed! Four weddings is the ultimate wedding film for the utterly bonkers and total nonsense that weddings can be. The film opens with a brides maid and wedding guest (the delicious Hugh Grant) turning up disastrously late for the wedding, with only the F-word being uttered between them for the entire time of the opening scene and so the theme is set. We get to witness weddings at their hilarious worst; brides in hideous dresses, cheesy wedding singers, guests non-discreetly snogging each other’s faces off, guests non-discreetly slagging off other guests, nervous vicars who can’t conduct ceremonies well, and even a death at a wedding. And in between all of that there is a genuine love story, too. I could watch this film once a week. In fact from the ages of 17 to 27 (when I got married!) I think I probably did!
3. My Best Friend’s Wedding
There is too much that I love about this film to mention but Dermot Mulroney as Julia Robert’s (character’s) best friend and soon-to-be groom is decidedly swoonsome. The films starts with Dermot telling Julia that he is getting married and the shock of it is sufficient to make her fall off of the bed she is lying on. She cannot believe that her best friend is getting married and that it’s not to her! And so we then get to meet his fiance, a very young and fresh faced Cameron Diaz who as you can imagine Julia is not impressed by AT ALL. This becomes the basis of the story. One of the best characters in this film is Rupert Everett who plays Julia’s gay BBF. You have to watch the film just for his rendition of Dionne Warwick’s Say A Little Prayer alone! Like Four Weddings, we are treated to some of the worst of weddings such as outspoken and outrageous family members, which is far funnier in film than it is in real life!
4. The Wedding Planner
It goes without saying that the Romcom queen, Jennifer Lopez, obviously gets her title by being in a hell of a lot of films about love, romance and weddings and that some of her films, hands down, are the best in the genre. However, please don’t watch this film and then have nightmares thinking your love bunny is going to run off with the wedding planner! I’m not giving anything away but you do learn early on that the wedding planner (J-Lo) starts to develop feelings for the groom-to-be played by Matthew McConaughy. How can this possibly be a good film to watch, I hear you shout! But it really is because among the heartbreak and love, this film has a wider message about being true to yourself and knowing what is right for you and not just going with the flow, all things which apply not just to life but to weddings too. It has a happy ending so don’t watch in fear!
5. Bride Wars
Of all the wedding films, Bride Wars is one of the ones with the most outrageous story line, with OTT acting and silly scenarios but it is still a very good film to watch. Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson make perfect besties who fall out when they both get engaged on the same day and then, due to a scheduling error with a top wedding planner they’ve both hired, they manage to have their weddings booked on the same day. Besties no more, frenemies all the way! As I said, it is all a bit crazy and a bit far fetched but hey we are talking about wedding films here not nature documentaries. And again, like I said before, as with so many of these fantastically funny wedding movies, we get to see the ugly potential of what could happen when you step into the dark side of wedding planning! Is any wedding ever worth losing a true friend over? Maybe that’s a post for another day!
6. Sex and the City; the movie
Although, not strictly billed as a wedding film, Carrie and Big’s wedding is a huge part of the story line and one that SATC fans like me, were dying to see. And just in the way that the Sex and the City tv series never shied away from being brutally honest and real about EVERYTHING, they made no exceptions with the film. Here we get to see what happens when small plans turn big, quiet celebrations go epic and another bride-to-be gets swept up, carried away and brutally spat out by what is the whirlwind of wedding planning. As funny as hell as many of the scenes are, there is quite a serious message to take from this film. Sometimes we do need to be reminded that a wedding does involve two people, as do all of the plans and the ideas, and that even if one of the couple is doing most of the planning, the other should still be 100% happy with what is going to happen. Thank you Carrie and Big, we will learn from you!
7. Guess Who?
With most weddings starting with an engagement, this film takes a hilarious look at the difficulties that some couples face on the road to marriage. Zoe Saldana and Ashton Kutcher are planning on announcing their engagement to her family and the film follows all the chaos and disruption that comes from doing so. This will not only be the first time that the bride-to-be’s family will meet their future son-in-law, it’s also the first time they find out that he is white! And here begins a hilarious story of the protective dad, who can’t yet get to grips with his daughter having a white fiancé. I love this film on so many levels. It is so funny and Bernie Mac who plays Zoe Saldana’s father, his levels of hysteria are so OTT but so bloody hilarious too. I also love that fact that it’s a re-telling of the original ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? ‘ but the skin colours were reversed and it was a white bride-to-be who was bringing home the legendary Sydney Poitier (not him, his character) to meet her family. Whereas the original film was not as comedic and was set in the sixties where mixed relationships were frowned upon, to put it lightly, the remake has more fun with the theme because it can. It deals with racism and prejudice in such a way, that all it can do is to show how ridiculous it all is and that ultimately love is love, not matter who the people, no matter the colour of their skin. If my dad had been like Bernie Mac’s character, I would have bought him this DVD and sat him down to watch it, to see the ridiculousness of it all! Thankfully, he was not.
8. Monster-in-Law
I love the film poster: Yup, that totally sums up the film!
Although, I have never seen Jane Fonda in another film, I can say, without doubt, that this is her best film ever!! It’s got to be, because I can’t imagine her being better in anything else. She is, as the film title suggests, the mother-in-law-to-be, from hell! She plays a successful, powerful and wealthy talk show host who finds out that her precious son and only child, Michael Varten is getting married to a woman who is a kooky, boho artiste-cum-dog walker (played by J-Lo, again!), the absolute opposite of herself. This revelation pretty much turns her neurotic. And so we get to see the outlandish results of her trying to thwart their engagement at every turn possible. As amazing as Jane Fonda is, this film would be nothing without comedian Wanda Sykes, as Jane Fonda’s personal assistant. I have tears (of laughter) in my eyes just thinking about some of the scenes. Ten out of ten and then some.
9. Father of the Bride
I love FOTB because I love Steve Martin so much and I can’t watch this film without imagining him being my own dad; sweet, warm, cuddly and slightly nuts. But I also love it because it is so side splittingly funny and actually everyone in it is amazing. This film is one of the original wedding themed films and still with all the time that has past (23 years to be exact) it still is a popular and firm favourite. You can’t help but fall in love with Steve Martin’s character George, who struggles with not only having to let go of his precious daughter but getting his head around the logistics of wedding planning, namely the spiralling COSTS and the fact that he can’t recycle his own wedding day suit, that no longer even fits, to save money! And when the super camp wedding planner Frank pronounced Fraunk (he’s German or Austrian), played to perfection by Martin Short gets onboard to get everything in order and make sure that Annie gets the day she wants, you don’t know what will happen first to George, the loss of his mind or the heart attack. Charming, funny, sweet and pure joy are just a handful of words I can say about this film.
10. Bridesmaids
A testament to how funny this film is, is the fact that it nearly killed me! Seriously. I choked on my pop corn so many times through laughter that I had to stop eating it. This film is ‘oh my goodness, you’re gonna wet yourself’ hilarious. It covers so many issues which I’m sure we’ve all had to deal with and it covers them in ways that your stomach will hurt for a few days afterwards. We’re talking about, toxic boyfriends, toxic girlfriends, jealousy, envy and competitiveness, just for starters, oh and love, of course! Kristen Wiig as the main actress and one of the writers of the film, is just a bloody genius. You can’t help but feel her pain throughout the film and as much as you are laughing with her, you’ll find yourself laughing at her ALOT. And a stellar support cast in the shape of Rose Byrne (from Damages fame), Maya Randolph, Jon Hamm (Mad Men) Chris O’Dowd (The IT crowd) and the funny as hell, Melissa McCarthy, you just can’t not laugh. The real out loud, uncontrollable laughter. Try and you will see!
And that’s my ten. I really enjoyed this! And know it has made me need to watch ALL of these again, several times over. I totally forgot how utterly hilarious they all are.
Have you any favourites? Did I miss some classics that should be on this list? Do tell x.
