Amidst all the craziness and, if you are like me, puking from a stomach flu, of the week leading up to your wedding, you think you won’t have time to watch 5 movies or any movies (or write a blog about movies). But you will, at 4 a.m., when you wake up worried about whether or not you remembered to write a note for a gift or being just plain excited as hell. The wedding week is filled with insomnia, whatever the reason may be. So after you’ve caught up on “Scandal”, here are five films about weddings that that will make you laugh, cry, and maybe help you get back to sleep for a few hours (you need your beauty sleep!).
#1 “Bridesmaids”
How could this not be the first movie you watch before your wedding? Not only does it contain one of the funniest scenes ever to take place on an airplane (“I am Mrs. Iglesias”) but it is a great movie about friendship. And it is a reminder about how important it is to maintain those friendships during the whole process (especially in the week before, because y’all I would have died without my maid of honor) and how sane your friends will keep you and sometimes how insane they will drive you. It’s also a great way to make you feel better about an hiccup you’ve had in any of your wedding events. Sure your dress might have been hiked up inside your underwear during your bridal shower, but did your maid of honor have an epic meltdown and try to crush a giant cookie? Bonus eye candy in the adorable Chris O’Dowd (Yes, you are getting married but as my mother says “Just because I’m not hungry doesn’t mean I can’t look at the menu.”)
#2 “Father Of The Bride”
Just the first one because the second one is about a baby, and we aren’t there yet (or maybe ever). This is a great movie about the family side of it. It is a sweet, funny reminder about what some of your family (especially dad) might be feeling about this big day. Steve Martin reminds me a bit of my own father in this movie, especially in the grocery store scene, ripping hot dog buns out of packaging because “George Banks is not going to take it any more”. It puts a lot of those budget arguments in perspective too.
#3 “Steel Magnolias”
I feel like this is probably mandatory viewing in the South before your wedding. There is no Southern girl that cannot recite at least the first scene by heart (“My reception! My reception! Ferns, dancing, tons of people! Every pink flower west of the Mississippi. Wedding cake in the dining room and the groom’s cake… Hidden in the carport?”). The movie only begins with a wedding, almost to remind you that there is a life after your wedding, as Shelby says to Clairee, “there are still good times to be had!”. But the wedding is the catalyst for everything else that happens afterwards to a certain degree, all the happy and the sad. This classic is also a good look at the mother and daughter relationship that often gets strained during the stressful planning process. Obviously Shelby and M’Lynn don’t agree on too much with her wedding…except the groom’s cake (“It’s awful!”), or her life choices, but that’s life. Also, if you’re worried about any of the choices you made fashion or decor wise you can take solace that your ceremony venue probably doesn’t look “like it’s been hosed down in Pepto Bismol”. Unless that’s your thing….
#4 “Four Weddings and A Funeral”
A rom com told a bit from the guests’ point of view, you can almost get a whole different perspective of your wedding. Sure, this might be the most significant day of the your life, but for some people, even though they love you dearly (or maybe in secret), this is just another wedding they will go to in their life. Your guests are people with problems, lives, loves, and jobs. Remember they have taken this time and spent money to come and be with you and your spouse to be…not that this should make you feel pressure, just that you should remember how amazing it is that all these people want to celebrate the beginning of your lives together when they might be dealing with tons of other bullshit. Bonus eye candy with 90’s floppy haired Hugh Grant bumbling his way into Andie MacDowell’s heart….and our’s.
#5 “The Wedding Singer”
Another movie full of fashion do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts), this fun rom com has a great soundtrack and the adorable Barrymore/Sandler pairing. The wedding from the staff’s point of view almost, the movie shows Adam Sandler in various states of sanity singing at weddings (and falling in love with Drew Barrymore). If nothing else, this movie might make you happy that you chose a DJ.
Bonus: “Inglorious Basterds”
Full disclosure: this is what I watched when I was sick this week. It’s long so you can doze off and still wake up knowing what is happening. No wedding related reasoning behind it, it’s just, who doesn’t love Brad Pitt killing Nazis?
Less Flowers More Feelings 