My new initial consultation portfolio book has been ordered! And the combination of staring at all those pictures of happy new married couples, inspiring details, and smiling families and friends, plus watching a showing of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, got me thinking about wedding movies. And, yes, I’m a movie junkie. I already was before I married another movie junkie. If it wasn’t for residency, our addiction might just have spiraled out of control. Did I really just express thankfulness towards residency?

The following includes my personal list of the Best 20 Wedding Movies of all time:

1. The Princess Bride (1987) – Ok, so we don’t actually get to see the wedding between Wesley and Buttercup, but this is still the obvious and only choice. “As you wish,” “My name is Amigo Montoya…,” all those sappy kissing parts, that cute little kid from The Wonder Years? It’s the ultimate romantic fairy tale complete with giants, an evil prince, swords, the beautiful Princess Buttercup and the one and only Wesley.
 

2. Four Wedding and a Funeral (1994) – I love this movie, but I have to agree with my sister, who wrote in one of her newspaper film reviews in college, that the ending was all wrong. Charlie did not belong with Carrie! The British gal played by Kristin Scott Thomas was so much MORE worthy of Hugh Grant’s debonair charms! Aside from the ending, come on, who doesn’t love a good British comedy about weddings?

               3. Father of the Bride (1991) – I can still remember seeing this movie for the first time, and I can pinpoint it as that moment where my obsession with weddings began. I wanted to be Annie – with her handsome fiance and her successful career as an architect and that wedding – oh what a wedding! This movie demonstrated that an at-home wedding can be anything but casual, with ice sculptures, geese, and a house spilling at the seams with orchids. Other reasons to love this flick? Well Fraaaank put wedding planners on the map before J-Lo. And Steve Martin’s bittersweet portrayal of a father going nuts at the thought of losing his daughter gets me every time.

4. Sense and Sensibility (1995) – My favorite Jane Austen book is also my favorite of the Austen film adaptations, which rarely seems to be the case. The story has many themes, including family, sisterhood, woman’s struggle to survive financially at a time when they could not work, but, at it’s heart, it is a romance for those with sense and sensibility. The wedding scene at the end of the movie melts both the most practical and romantic of hearts. And, need I say, Hugh Grant?

               5. Love Actually (2003) – Another British comedy about weddings: what’s not to love? I could watch this movie over and over and over again, and it would never get old. And it costars Hugh Grant (am I sensing a theme here?), Liam Neeson and Mr. Darcy – I mean Colin Firth! The moment when the heartbroken Mark surprises Juliet and Peter with an orchestrated rendition of “All You Need is Love” is one of my favorite wedding movie moments. There are so many awesome scenes in this film filled with love and warmth, all meant to demonstrate that love comes in an infinite number of shapes and sizes. Watching it, you so want Sarah to make it work with Karl and you feel her turmoil about choosing between the sexy Karl and her mentally ill brother. You cry for Danielle as he says goodbye to his Joanna and you laugh as he recommends a viewing of Titanic to help his lovestruck stepson Sam (because sometimes we all need a little Kate and Leo). You want to smack Harry for taking advantage of Karen. And, my personal favorite, your heart melts when Jamie proposes to Aurelia in mangled Portuguese.

6. Mamma Mia (2008) – This movie is just as much about a love between a mother and a daughter as it is about Sophie wanting to find her real father to walk her down the aisle. I watched this movie with my mom, and when Donna helps Sophie get ready for her wedding into a gorgeous Grecian look, we were both sobbing. Meryl Streep sings, “Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning. Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile.
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness. And I have to sit down for a while. The feeling that Im losing her forever. And without really entering her world. Im glad whenever I can share her laughter. That funny little girl. Slipping through my fingers all the time. I try to capture every minute. The feeling in it. Slipping through my fingers all the time. Do I really see whats in her mind? Each time I think I’m close to knowing. She keeps on growing. Slipping through my fingers all the time.” We of course completely lost it when Sophie asks her mother to walk her down the aisle. If this hasn’t sold you yet, Colin Firth makes an appearance and the wedding is an absolutely gorgeous family affair.

7. Ever After (1998) – Again, like The Princess Bride, we don’t actually get to see the wedding between Danielle and Henry, but we don’t need to. We have Henry’s proposal and the ultimate Cinderella tale.

8. My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) – A great. totally rewatchable movie, but, as with Four Weddings and a Funeral, I wanted Michael to leave Kimmy for Julianne. I thought they were a better match, and my heart breaks when Julianne loans the new married couple her song with Michael.

9. Steel Magnolias (1989) – This movie would have been higher up on my list, if it wasn’t so sad. Like Terms of Endearment, this is a movie that I just can’t turn off when it’s on weekend TV and I end up being a tearful mess. The sad ending excluded, the movie showcases the group-friendship between six women and the love of a mother for her daughter. The opening wedding scenes are pure fun with Shelby’s two shades of pink (blush and bashful) for her wedding colors, the incorporation of Southern wedding traditions, and the total-1980s bridesmaid’s dresses.

10. Beauty and the Beast (1991) – My favorite of the Disney animated classics, this movie is total bliss. This scene says it all.