From the tantrums of bridezillas, to the red faces that follow every best man's speech, weddings are notorious for providing more than just big hats and the exchanging of vows. With no marriage ceremony seemingly complete without jealous bridesmaids, that roguish black sheep of an uncle and the mother-in-law who believes no girl is good enough for her son, drama and conflict have become as accepted a part of any big day as confetti and the words "I do". All this has helped make the modern wedding one of cinema's most well-trodden settings, from Four Weddings and a Funeral to Bride Wars.
In case you hadn't heard, this week will see the union of a couple who are likely to one day become the King and Queen of England. While a greater sense of decorum is expected at the royal wedding than the average bash, guests at any such event would be wise first to familiarise themselves with the potential dangers that can befall a big day. And what better way of doing this than by seeing what movies have to say on the matter?
Father of the Bride (1950)
Tagline: "The bride gets the thrills. Father gets the bills."
Daughters are renowned for causing their fathers all manner of heartache when it comes to weddings, but imagine if your daughter were Elizabeth Taylor. That's the situation in which Spencer Tracy finds himself, in the archetypal wedding comedy Father of the Bride. From the announcement of her engagement to Buckley Dunstan to the big day itself, Tracy's increasingly weary character is forced to endure humiliation in the face of Dunstan's wealthy parents and the threat of financial ruin as the cost of the wedding begins to spiral out of control.
The Princess Bride (1987)
Tagline: "It's as real as the feelings you feel."
They say every girl secretly dreams of a fairytale wedding, but in the cult favourite The Princess Bride it is actually more like a nightmare for the lovely Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn). On the day of her marriage to the evil Prince Humperdinck, she is kidnapped and held against her will in order to start a war. Only her childhood sweetheart Westley (Cary Elwes) can save the day. With wizards, ogres and plenty of swashbuckling it's not the average wedding move, except, of course, that true love doth prevail.
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Tagline: "Love is in the air - run for cover."
Nothing is more likely to make single people believe they'll never find happiness than attending the nuptials of others - that's the idea that makes this British comedy one of the best wedding movies ever made. It sees the gaffe-prone Charles (Hugh Grant) and his group of still-unmarried friends attend a series of drama-filled ceremonies. Being seated at a table with several of his exes makes things excruciatingly difficult for the protagonist, but things improve when he falls for sassy American gal Carrie (Andie MacDowell).
My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
Tagline: "Julianne fell in love with her best friend the day he decided to marry someone else."
Making a pact with your best friend to marry one another if you're still single at 28 is the kind of thing that only happens in movies. But the contrivance is permissible when it leads to hilarious scenes of Julia Roberts trying to sabotage the wedding of the man she has decided she now loves (Dermot Mulroney), when he plans to marry another woman. This includes (bizarrely) taking the soon-to-be-weds to a karaoke bar, so he can discover what an awful singer his bride-to-be (Cameron Diaz) really is. Nope, we're not sure why either.
The Wedding Singer (1998)
Tagline: "He's gonna party like it's 1985."
If you think working at weddings every weekend will help you understand love, think again. Failed rock star-turned wedding singer Robbie (Adam Sandler) and lovable waitress Julia (Drew Barrymore) are clearly meant to be together - the problem? They're both engaged to other people. When Robbie agrees to help plan Julia's wedding, and the true nature of her relationship with unfaithful, oafish fiancé Glenn is revealed, he can't keep his feelings secret any longer. A series of increasingly convoluted misunderstandings keep them divided, but (once again) true love prevails in the end.
Monsoon Wedding (2001)
Tagline: "The rain is coming... and so is the family."
If proof were needed that family entanglements and rivalries are not limited to marriage ceremonies in the West, Monsoon Wedding delivers it. The film sees a father (Naseeruddin Shah) organise a huge traditional Punjabi wedding for his daughter (Vasundhara Das), who is about to marry a man whom she has known for just a few weeks. When family members arrive in Delhi from all around the world, long-forgotten tensions and resentments rise to the surface. All the while, the bride must come to grips with the future that has been chosen for her.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Tagline: "Love is here to stay... so is her family."
As though two families joining as one weren't tricky enough, intercultural weddings can add an extra layer of drama. This indie hit sees Toula (Nia Vardalos), an American 30-something of Greek extraction, under pressure because she has so-far failed to "marry a Greek, make Greek babies, and feed everyone until the day she dies".
Unsurprisingly, when Mr Right finally comes along, and isn't Greek, her parents hit the roof. But that doesn't stop them from giving their permission - and then meddling with their daughter's wedding plans.
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Tagline: "Life's a Party. Crash It."
Agreeing on a guest list can be one of the most difficult parts of planning any wedding, so it's no surprise that freeloaders are generally unwelcome. This sharp comedy sees Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn "crashing" a series of wedding receptions by pretending to be distant relations of the newlyweds. Their aim: to load up on free food and ensnare love-starved women at their most desperate. Their biggest mistake: picking the wedding where one terrifying patriarch -played by Christopher Walken - is footing the bill.
Bride Wars (2009)
Tagline: "Best friends should share everything... except their wedding day."
While some movie contrivances lead to great wedding-related comedy, others fall flat. If the notion that two female best friends should decide to have rival weddings on the same day isn't ridiculous enough, the idea that they would turn into backstabbing brats as they compete to have the perfect day, is simply crass. The film only succeeds in briefly making you believe that two of Hollywood's loveliest actresses, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson, should never have been allowed to walk down the aisle.
William and Kate: The Movie (2011)
Tagline: "Let love rule."
More of a biopic of the royal couple than simply a wedding movie, the US-made TV film tells the story of Wills and Kate from when they met at university, right up to their big day. Mercilessly ridiculed just days after its first broadcast, the drama has been heralded as so bad... it will probably be a smash. With cringe-worthy dialogue in which Kate refers to Wills as "just a guy" and locations that glaringly reveal the film was shot mostly in the US, William and Kate: The Movie might just become a cult classic.