Feeling exhausted from all that wedding planning? You’ve earned a little break. Kick back and prepare to be inspired by our favorite movie and television nuptials. Here are 25 tips we’ve learned from them.
By: Chrisanne Grise1. Your wedding should reflect your personality.
Parks and Recreation: For Leslie’s wedding to Ben, her best friend Ann creates a one-of-a-kind dress by sewing meaningful documents and photos from Leslie’s career into a skirt. The result looks fashionable and adds a personal touch to the proceedings.
2. Talk to your partner about his or her vision for the wedding, too.
Sex and the City: When it comes to Carrie’s wedding to Mr. Big, she goes all-out and plans an epic ceremony. The problem? She doesn’t consider that her groom wants something more intimate. She’s devastated when he doesn’t show up and soon realizes that she shouldn’t have let the day get “bigger than Big.”
3. A wedding planner can be a lifesaver.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: When it comes to her marriage to Edward, Bella is not at all interested in planning an elaborate ceremony. Instead, she passes the job off to Alice, her enthusiastic future sister-in-law. It turns out to be the right decision — check out the gorgeous forest setting:
4. For better or worse, you’re marrying into a whole new family; do your best to embrace them.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Toula’s family can be a little overbearing sometimes (okay, all the time!). To Ian’s credit, he handles the meddling rather calmly and even agrees to be baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church. Since the couple is still together in the upcoming sequel, it looks like they found a way to make it work, crazy family and all.
5. Savor the moments, both big and small.
The Office: After years of romantic tension, Pam and Jim finally got hitched in the sixth season. As they get ready for their big day, Pam proposes that they take “mental pictures” of important moments. During an emotional scene later on, Pam is upset because she ripped her veil, so Jim cuts his tie to make her feel better. So sweet!
6. Set aside time to hang out with your significant other.
Shrek: Romance is great, but one of the nicest aspects of Shrek and Fiona’s relationship is their close friendship. Before they actually get together, they enjoy just goofing around together. All those laughs and shared memories only bring them closer together in the end.
7. Hire a reliable videographer.
Love, Actually: After her wedding, Juliet is disappointed to find out that she has no good footage from her big day. However, she noticed Peter, her husband’s best friend, was filming, so she asks to take a look at what he shot. What she doesn’t realize is that Peter is secretly in love with her, so he filmed no one but her the whole time. #awkward
8. Remember that this is an emotional time for your parents, too.
Father of the Bride: Respect your parents' wishes, but if you feel strongly about something, stick up for yourself. And don’t forget to thank them for their help after! When Annie announces she’s engaged to Bryan after just three months, her father is (understandably) not thrilled. Plenty of wacky antics ensue — including George getting arrested at the supermarket — but he eventually learns to accept his new son-in-law.
9. Meet with your officiant in person.
The Princess Bride: “Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday.” He might be called The Impressive Clergyman, but unfortunately, you can barely understand a word said by the man presiding over Princess Buttercup and Prince Humperdinck’s nuptials.
10. Let your partner have some time with his friends.
I Love You, Man: Peter’s always been more of a “girlfriend guy,” so when it comes time to pick a best man, he realizes he needs to befriend some guys. His relationship with new buddy Sydney weirds out his fiancée, Zoe, at times, especially when she finds out Peter’s been talking about their sex life. But ultimately, she understands that every man needs a little bro time once in a while — especially to blow off some wedding-planning steam!
