Malicious tongues may claim otherwise, but marriage and love stories never go out of fashion! Every girl secretly dreams of being wooed and eventually married by the man of her heart. Whether a wedding ring is necessary or not is a matter of taste. Only bitter cynics might point to divorce rates and broken marriage vows. When even the green ogre from the swamp surprisingly finds his progress, the fairy tale can come true for all of us! Cheers to love with the 25 most romantic wedding movies of all time:
1. Runaway Bride (1999)
Successful provincial hardware store owner Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts) often likes to run away just before getting married. This is how the journalist Ike (Richard Gere) becomes aware of her. While researching the life of this unusual woman, he falls in love. Finally, the two want to marry. Maggie is getting ready, and indeed it looks like she has overcome her fear of commitment.
A surprising flash of lightning makes them flee again, and also Ike stands abandoned in front of the altar. Maggie retreats, and Ike sulks bitterly. When Maggie finds herself and knows who she is and what she wants, she travels after Ike. Quite unconventionally, she proposes to him and gives him the shoes she usually runs away with. After all, Hollywood’s great dream couple, Richard Gere and Julia Roberts are getting married after all. Both disappear on horses.
Every romantic just sigh loudly at this wedding film and sinks back into the TV chair, relaxed – done!
2. Father of the Bride (1991)
In this wedding film, Steve Martin plays the completely neurotic father of Annie (Kimberly Williams). She thinks he has his life and family absolutely under control until Annie announces she wants to get married. Completely exaggerated, suspicious, and plagued by paternal self-doubt, he feels the future son-in-law and his parents on the tooth.
Mother Nina (Diane Keaton) can save him from the worst missteps at the last minute. He has to realize that his jealousy almost broke up the two lovers. On the wedding day, he finally settles a dispute between the two and agrees to the marriage with all his heart.
This witty and over-the-top comedy is the remake of the 1951 black-and-white classic that starred Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor.
3. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Charles (Hugh Grant), an Englishman, lives in London with his friends and has little desire for commitment. At a wedding, he finally meets the fun-loving American Carrie (Andy MacDowell) and spends a night with her. Carrie announces that she will soon return to America but then marries the snobbish Hamish.
Spanning four marriages and one death, the pair’s love affair drags on until they finally find one another. Carrie is divorced by now, and Charles blows off the wedding to his pushy ex Fiona “Duckface.” Carrie and Charles don’t want to get married, but they decide to be happy and unmarried for the rest of their lives.
The film shows in a wonderfully British way that everything truly meant for us somehow finds its way to us, even if it takes years to get there!
Julianne (Julia Roberts) and her best friend Michael (Dermot Mulroney) agreed to marry each other if they stayed married until they were 28. On his birthday, he has not found another partner. Shortly before this date, Julianne is single, but Michael wants to marry the attractive Kimmy (Cameron Diaz).
Julianne’s feelings are overwhelmed by the situation, and she wants to prevent their wedding at all costs. When Kimmy runs away just before the wedding ceremony, she sees the error of her ways. She pursues the bride and convinces her to marry her beloved best friend and the “man of their mutual dreams” after all.
A wonderful homage to the victory of friendship over jealousy and greed. In the end, there will be enough for all of us, including Julianne!
5. Sex and The City (2008)
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) finally want to get married! For pragmatic reasons and in the context of a small celebration, the love should finally become official. Carrie’s fashion craze, however, quickly causes the festivities to grow rapidly. Big doesn’t like this getup, especially since he has already been divorced twice, and he still feels a bit insecure.
Completely unnerved, he leaves Carrie on her wedding day. She then goes on a girl’s vacation with Samatha, Charlet, and Miranda. The women sum up their relationship with love, men, and fidelity. Big and Carrie finally get married, very small and simple in the circle of their closest friends.
The wedding film is the brilliant climax of one of the most successful series of all time!
6. Muriel’s Wedding (1944)
This wedding is only romantic for the Australian Muriel (Toni Colette). She has long wanted to escape the stink of her small hometown and the ridicule of the village bitches. A bit fat and not particularly pretty, she moves to Sydney and lives there for a while with fun-loving Rhonda.
When she finally comes down with a tumor and Muriel is offered the opportunity to marry South African swimming star David for a hefty fee, the two women’s friendship falls apart. Initially thrilled by the beautiful glow of her wedding, she soon realizes that happiness can’t be bought. Muriel and David reconcile, but she leaves him anyway. In the hometown of Porpoise Spit, she picks up a wheelchair-bound Rhonda and takes her back to Sydney.
A tribute to friendship and to the fact that love has many faces!
7. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Toula (Nia Vardalos) is already a bit gray and, according to her extended Greek family, should have been married by now at age 30. Toula would like to escape her father’s control and the dull existence in the family restaurant “The dancing Zorba’s.” Secretly she goes to college and falls in love with Ian (John Corbett).
She slowly transforms from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan and finally wants to marry Ian. Ian first has to fight through Greek customs and prejudices but is finally baptized Orthodox and thus also welcomed as a vegetarian in Toula’s clan. Of course, the round dance ends with lots of charm, wit, and Greek folklore.
The material, which first served as a successful stage play, is based on the true experiences of the main actress Nia Vardalos. Hilarious and extremely romantic!
Gaylord “Gregg” Focker (Ben Stiller) wants to finally marry his beloved Pam (Teri Polo). After the future father-in-law Jack (Robert de Niro) has already bullied him to the bone in the first part, now it’s the turn of the future parents-in-law. Bernie and Ross Focker (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand) live in the warm south of the USA. Gregg is desperate to keep secret from strict Jack that his father is an unemployed, but happy stay-at-home dad and his mother is a successful sex therapist.
Of course, it goes for Gregg again from one faux pas into the other, and finally, he blabs high from the truth serum all sorts of secrets. But he still gets his Pam, and they get married on the colorful Focker Island. Pam’s weird ex, Kevin (Owen Wilson), performs the wedding ceremony, and we all know this story is far from over.
A cheer for truth, love, and libido!
9. Maria, ihm schmeckt’s nicht! (2009)
The wedding plans of clumsy Jan (Christian Ulmen) take him and his family to rural southern Italy. The father of the half-Italian bride Sara comes from there. He and his parents unerringly fall into the traps of Italian hospitality and prejudice. The families’ fight over justice and cultural advantages escalate when Jan commits the faux pas of admitting he doesn’t like a dish. Sara wants to leave in a huff. However, Papa Antonio and Jan bring them back.
They don’t want to get married for the time being; instead, they finally marry Sara’s parents, whose marriage was not valid in Italy until now. More funny-romantic multicultural love story!
10. Wedding Crashers (2005)
Divorce lawyers John and Jeremy (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn) are professional wedding crashers on the side. This means they sneak into weddings disguised as guests to pick up the bridesmaids. Because of their bitter work, the two don’t believe in love but just want uncomplicated sex. At the wedding of the Minister of Finance, the two finally meet the female duo Claire and Gloria (Rachel McAdams and Isla Fisher).
For Jeremy, this changes everything; he and Gloria want to get married. On the other hand, it does not quite want to work out between John and Claire. As John, now a funeral crasher, realizes the bitterness of his lonely life, he finds his way back to Claire. In the end, the love quartet is perfect, and all is well.
11. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The 1940 classic tells the story of the rich and aloof Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn). She wants to marry again but is not quite finished with her ex-husband Dexter (Cary Grant) yet. On the other hand, Dexter gets caught in a blackmail scheme and is supposed to spy on Tracy and her wealthy fiancé. For this purpose, he infiltrates two employees disguised as reporters (one of them James Stewart).
Tracy smells a rat and drunkenly falls head over heels in love with one of the two reporters. When she wakes up from her drunken stupor and regains consciousness, she discovers that she really only loves Dexter. The wedding is rebooked, and the ex-couple renews their former vow of love.
A delightfully old-fashioned yet timeless wedding film starring a terrific Katharine Hepburn and the only film superstars Grant and Stewart has ever been in together.
12. Shrek (2001)
Shrek is a green ogre and lives lonely but happy in the swamp. When a lot of mythical animals and a talking donkey suddenly disturb his idyll, the usually peace-loving Shrek gets into an adventure. He is to help the beautiful princess Fiona, with whom he eventually falls in love. Saddened that he is an ogre and she is human, he flees back to his swamp. His friend, the naughty donkey, finally convinces him to save Fiona from marrying the nasty Lord Farquaad. In the process, Shrek learns that Fiona also transforms into an ogre after sunset.
The two marry in one of the most colorful ceremonies the animation world has ever seen. When Shrek and Fiona finally take off on their honeymoon in a wedding carriage, even the last cold curmudgeon’s heart lights up!
13. Bridesmaids (2011)
Annie is a bit of a weirdo and has a penchant for the wrong kind of guys. When her friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) decides to get married, Annie and a crazy troupe of other girls become bridesmaids. They bicker and makeup, steal each other’s ideas and vie for success. Along the way, Annie meets the equally quirky but immensely likable police officer Nathan Rhodes.
However, she runs away from him after a night together when he confronts her about his strange passion for baking. The Bridesmaids’ adventurous journey culminates in the romantic wedding of Lillian (Maya Rudolph) and her fiancé Doug. After the party, Nathan is waiting for Annie, and they leave together.
Star comedian Kristen Wiig doesn’t miss a beat in this romantic comedy. But isn’t life the same way? A bit crazy, but immensely endearing!
14. 27 Dresses (2008)
Jane (Katherine Heigl) is something of a professional bridesmaid. She has already been to 27 weddings in this position, and she wore a different dress at each one. After even officiating at two weddings in just one day, she meets the cynical Kevin (James Marsden) in a cab they share. What Jane doesn’t know, Kevin is a journalist and rather reluctantly writes a romantic wedding column.
Eager to move up in the newsroom, he secretly plans to publish a nasty report about the eternal bridesmaid Jane. She has to learn that she gives too much for others and does too little for herself. She finally drops the bomb at her scheming sister’s wedding and exposes the sister at last. She finds her way to Kevin, and they finally marry.
The comedy teaches us in a charming way that we can also find love only if we can get involved in it ourselves!
15. Corpse Bride (2005)
In 2005, the wonderfully weird director Tim Burton gave us one of the most unusual wedding films of all time.
Victor is a bit clumsy and messes up the wedding rehearsal with his Victoria. When he practices secretly and alone in the forest, he accidentally marries himself to his corpse Emily. The bitterly disappointed ghost bride was once jilted by her fiancé and is glad to have finally found a husband in Victor.
He is not very enthusiastic, but he can’t get rid of Emily either. It leads him on a bizarre journey through the world of the dead, from which he eventually finds his way back to the world of the living. He marries much more confidently than before his Victoria and also redeems Emily from her curse. She is allowed to dissolve into a thousand butterflies in the darkness of the night and is finally free.
A wedding film, creepily touching and beautiful!
16. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)
17. The Wedding Planner (2001)
18. The Five-Year Engagement (2012)
19. Mamma Mia! (2008)
20. Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
21. Love Actually (2003)
22. The Proposal (2009)
23. Wedding Date (2005)
24. The Wedding Singer (1998)
25. Bride Wars (2009)
Love, blows, and confusion! Wedding movies don’t always end with the main protagonists getting married, but they always end on a good note. For some, great happiness may lie in marriage, while others find fulfillment in friendship and professional achievements. As is well known, for every pot, there is a suitable lid!
