Movies With Wedding Scenes

The early part of The Deer Hunter centers around a working-class wedding in a Pennsylvania steel town, and Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep play members of the wedding party. The wedding takes place in an ornate Russian Orthodox church, and attendants walk behind the bride and groom, holding crowns over their heads. The sequences of the elaborate wedding reception in the American Legion hall are among the best in all of cinema, and I get a little teary-eyed when I watch the guests dancing as a local grocer belts out a mediocre rendition of "You're Just Too Good to Be True."

An 18-year-old Elizabeth Taylor makes a lovely bride in this classic comedy, but the film belongs to Spencer Tracy in the title role. The movie steps us through the whole sequence of events surrounding a traditional big wedding from the engagement announcement party to the wedding reception. I can still hear the weary tone in Tracy's voice as he says, "An experienced caterer can make you ashamed of your house in fifteen minutes." But what I like best about this film is its insight into the upper-middle-class American family circa 1950.

Julianne (Julia Roberts) and Michael were romantically involved several years ago, and since their breakup they have been best friends. Then Julianne gets a call from Michael where he tells her he's marrying Kim (Cameron Diaz) in four days and invites her to his wedding. Julianne suddenly realizes she wants desperately to marry Michael, and she sets out to destroy his relationship with Kim and win him back for herself. This unconventional movie offers up a strange mix of funny moments, dark moments, and musical moments. My favorite line is where Rupert Everett says, "The misery! The exquisite tragedy! The Susan Hayward of it all!"

About the first half-hour of The Godfather takes place at a wedding reception, where Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) must grant favors to those who ask him. "It's part of the wedding," explains Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall). "No Sicilian can refuse any request on his daughter's wedding day." It's during the reception that the Don delivers the famous line, "I'm gonna make 'im an offer he can't refuse," and it's also during the reception that he tells a Sinatra-like crooner, "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." I love it when the reception guests take turns singing choruses of "Luna Mezz' 'O Mare."

Starring Howard Keel and Jane Powell, this MGM musical is set in 1850 Oregon Territory, where there are ten men for every woman. When the six youngest of seven brothers are having trouble finding wives, the eldest tells them what the ancient Romans did in a similar situation: They abducted the Sabine women. The six brothers then head for town, where they seize six young women and bring them back to their isolated farm. There are still a few obstacles to overcome, but all seven brothers have taken brides by the end of the movie. My favorite scene is the energetic dance number that is performed at a barn-raising.

Four Weddings and a Funeral is a funny and satisfying romantic comedy. Charles (Hugh Grant) meets an attractive woman named Carrie (Andie MacDowell) at a wedding, and they make love that night. But things keep coming up that prevent this pair from forming a lasting relationship as the film follows them through three more weddings and a funeral. I like the scene where Carrie tells Charles that he was her 32nd lover and she is currently on number 33. I laughed a lot in this movie, but it has a very moving moment as well, namely a reading of W.H. Auden's poem "Funeral Blues."

After Elaine (Katharine Ross) discovers that her boyfriend Ben (Dustin Hoffman) had a sexual relationship with her mother, she marries another. But Ben drives hundreds of miles to arrive at the church just after Elaine and her new husband have finished their wedding vows. Ben bursts in anyway, and wielding a large cross to fend off the crowd, he and Elaine run out of the church and board a municipal bus. I'm always intrigued by the film's enigmatic ending, where Ben and Elaine stare silently ahead as the bus takes them toward an uncertain future while Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence" plays on the soundtrack.

During the Great Depression, runaway heiress Ellie (Claudette Colbert) and newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable) are forced by circumstances to take a long road trip together. Whenever they stay in a motel, Warne puts up a clothesline between the room's twin beds, then hangs a blanket over it and refers to the divider as the "Walls of Jericho." But Ellie and Warne gradually fall in love, get married in a big society wedding, and spend their wedding night at a secluded motel. I love the ending of this film: A blast from a toy trumpet sounds, a blanket is shown dropping from a rope to the floor, and the screen goes black.