70 Fun Facts About Wedding Movies

Who wrote My Big Fat Greek Wedding and also starred as Toula Portokalos?

Vardalos based the story on her own Winnipeg family and her marriage to non-Greek actor Ian Gomez; it began as a 45-minute one-woman stage show.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding went on to gross more than $368M worldwide. What was its production budget?

It was released by IFC Films and never once topped the weekend box office, growing steadily as a sleeper hit instead.

What is the name of the Portokalos family restaurant where Toula works in My Big Fat Greek Wedding?

The restaurant exterior was a real building on Simcoe Street that was demolished the same year the film came out.

Which 2016 animated film took My Big Fat Greek Wedding's record as top-grossing film never to be number one?

Adjusted for inflation the Greek wedding was still bigger, worth about $322 million in 2016 dollars.

In which city was John Corbett offered the role of Ian Miller after complaining in a bar he'd missed the auditions?

Corbett was in town shooting Serendipity; the film itself is set in Chicago but was shot largely in Toronto, including the Portokalos house in East York.

In Wedding Crashers, what do John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey do for a living?

Co-writer Bob Fisher drew on his days as a Washington intern crashing lobbyist events for the free food.

Christopher Walken's William Cleary in Wedding Crashers holds which government post?

John McCain and James Carville cameo as guests congratulating the Clearys at their daughter's wedding.

Which comedian appears uncredited in Wedding Crashers as Chazz Reinhold, who now crashes funerals?

Chazz lives with his mother as a middle-aged man, and the funeral he drags John to is what finally changes John's mind about love.

Which more comedic actor did New Line want instead of Christopher Walken for Wedding Crashers?

Dobkin also cast Bradley Cooper as Sack Lodge without watching his audition tape, purely on the strength of a test reading.

Who plays Lillian, the bride whose best friend Annie spirals in Bridesmaids?

Rudolph and Kristen Wiig were Saturday Night Live castmates, which is where much of the film's improvised chemistry came from.

Which Bridesmaids cast member received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress?

Rebel Wilson and Busy Philipps both auditioned for the same part of Megan; Wilson improvised for an hour and was given the smaller role of Brynn instead.

What was the name of Annie's bakery in Bridesmaids, the business that failed in the recession?

Officer Rhodes recognises Annie as its former owner during a traffic stop, and spends the film nudging her to bake again.

Which group performs their 1990 hit "Hold On" as themselves at the reception in Bridesmaids?

The song is Annie and Lillian's karaoke anthem earlier in the film, which is what makes the surprise booking land.

What was the working title of Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo's screenplay before it became Bridesmaids?

The two writers met at the Groundlings improv troupe in Los Angeles and pitched the idea shortly after Wiig was cast in Knocked Up.

Which American actress plays Carrie opposite Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral?

She read the script while in London promoting Groundhog Day and took a 75% pay cut to do it, then earned far more from a share of the profits.

Which actor played the vicar at two weddings in Four Weddings and a Funeral to save money?

The budget was so tight that extras wore their own wedding outfits, and the entire shoot took just 36 days.

For how many consecutive weeks did Wet Wet Wet's 'Love Is All Around' top the UK singles chart?

Richard Curtis later reworked it as "Christmas Is All Around" for Bill Nighy's washed-up rocker Billy Mack in Love Actually.

What was Richard Curtis's working title for his 1994 Hugh Grant comedy before Helen Fielding suggested adding a funeral?

Curtis started writing at 34 after realising he had attended 65 weddings in eleven years, and the script took him 17 drafts.

In which year is The Wedding Singer, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, set?

Writer Tim Herlihy chose the decade after being inspired by a radio show called "Lost in the '80s".

Which rock star helps Robbie serenade Julia on the flight at the end of The Wedding Singer?

In the Broadway musical version, the airplane scene was replaced by a Las Vegas chapel full of impersonators, including a fake Ronald Reagan and Imelda Marcos.

What song does Robbie write for Julia and sing over the plane's intercom in The Wedding Singer?

The film was the first of three Sandler-Barrymore pairings, followed by 50 First Dates and Blended.

In the 1991 Father of the Bride, Steve Martin's George Banks owns a company that makes what?

Annie walks down the aisle in a pair of his sneakers, and the family lives in San Marino, California.

Who plays Franck Eggelhoffer, the eccentric European wedding coordinator in the 1991 Father of the Bride?

Steve Martin brought Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers onto the project because he had loved their film Baby Boom.

Aline Brosh McKenna wrote 27 Dresses after the success of which earlier screenplay of hers?

Director Anne Fletcher asked for the 27 bridesmaid dresses to be "big, ugly, and bright", and most of the film was shot in Rhode Island.

In Crazy Rich Asians, Rachel Chu flies with Nick to which city for his best friend's wedding?

The Colin and Araminta wedding was shot at CHIJMES, a former 19th-century convent, with the reception at the Supertree Grove in Gardens by the Bay.

For how much did Kevin Kwan option the film rights to Crazy Rich Asians in exchange for creative control?

The finished film became the highest-grossing romantic comedy of the 2010s, earning about $239 million on a $30 million budget.

Runaway Bride (1999) reunited its two stars, its director Garry Marshall and Hector Elizondo from which 1990 hit?

Despite poor reviews it grossed $309 million worldwide, and its opening weekend was the biggest of its leading lady's career until Ocean's Eleven.

Most of Mamma Mia! (2008) was shot on location on which Greek island?

Donna's villa was actually a set on the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios, complete with real trees watered by an automated system.

In The Hangover, whose tiger do Phil, Stu and Alan find in their Caesars Palace bathroom?

The tiger, the baby and the police cruiser were all added by Todd Phillips and Jeremy Garelick in a rewrite of the original script.

Which film held the record for highest-grossing R-rated US comedy for almost 25 years before The Hangover?

Adjusted for inflation the record was less clear-cut, as several older comedies including Porky's had sold more tickets.

In Muriel's Wedding, which band's songs soundtrack Muriel's daydreams of escaping her dead-end hometown?

Toni Collette's performance earned a Golden Globe nomination, and the film later became a stage musical with new songs by Kate Miller-Heidke.

Which group did Muriel's Wedding's makers consider substituting when ABBA's music rights were unconfirmed?

The rights came through in time, and "Dancing Queen" was even reworked as an orchestral piece for the score.

Muriel's Wedding is set in a fictional dead-end Australian beach town. What is it called?

Tweed Heads stood in for the town, though Muriel and Rhonda's departure was shot across the border in Coolangatta.

Which star of The Philadelphia Story (1940) won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film?

He thought the award was really compensation for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and later lent the statuette to his father's hardware store for display.

What was MGM's 1956 musical remake of The Philadelphia Story with Crosby, Kelly and Sinatra called?

The original was Katharine Hepburn's comeback after theatre owner Harry Brandt's 1938 list branded her "box office poison".

Which tycoon helped Katharine Hepburn buy the film rights to The Philadelphia Story?

Screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart called it "the easiest Oscar you could imagine. All you had to do was get out of the way."

In Bride Wars, Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway's characters both dream of a June wedding at which New York hotel?

A scheduling mix-up books both weddings for the same day, and the film received an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Fight for the two brides' brawl.

Which Bride Wars cast member was nominated for the Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress?

She plays Marion St. Claire, Manhattan's most famous wedding planner, whose double booking sets the whole feud in motion.

The screenwriter of Rachel Getting Married (2008) is the daughter of which legendary director?

Jenny Lumet is also Lena Horne's granddaughter and was teaching junior-high drama when Jonathan Demme filmed her first produced script.

In The Graduate, Benjamin runs out of gas racing to stop Elaine's wedding in which California city?

The church was actually the United Methodist Church in La Verne, and the scene was modelled on the ending of Harold Lloyd's 1924 comedy Girl Shy.

Which actor was cast as Mr. Robinson in The Graduate but fired during rehearsals?

Ronald Reagan was considered for Benjamin's father, and Doris Day turned down Mrs. Robinson because the nudity offended her.

Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding (2001) won the Golden Lion, the top prize at which film festival?

Nair became only the second Indian filmmaker to win it, after Satyajit Ray for Aparajito.

Which future Oscar winner directed The Wedding Banquet (1993), about a gay Taiwanese immigrant's sham marriage?

It won the Golden Bear in Berlin and was remade in 2025 with Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran.

In Ready or Not (2019), the bride's in-laws hunt her after she draws which card on her wedding night?

Fox Searchlight put it into 2,818 theaters, the widest release in the studio's history, and it grossed $57.6 million on a $6 million budget.

By how much did Palm Springs' record $17,500,000.69 Sundance sale beat the previous record?

Later reports put the Neon and Hulu deal closer to $22 million once guarantees were counted.

In Sweet Home Alabama, Jake secretly makes glass sculptures by planting rods in the sand to attract what?

The film's $35 million opening was the biggest ever for September until Hotel Transylvania beat it a decade later.

In The Proposal, Margaret travels to her assistant's family home in which Alaskan town?

Oscar Nunez's Ramone works there as waiter, shopkeeper, exotic dancer and, at the finale, the minister.

In The Princess Bride, Buttercup is forcibly betrothed to which prince of Florin?

Westley later assures her the marriage is invalid because she never actually said "I do".

What is the Bride's real name in Kill Bill, finally spoken in Volume 2?

Elle Driver says it while telling Bill she has killed her, moments before the Bride ambushes her outside Budd's trailer.

In My Best Friend's Wedding, the bride Kimmy's father owns which sports team?

Kimmy is played by Cameron Diaz, and the film opened second at the box office behind Batman & Robin before out-earning it worldwide.

Which Bacharach-David song does Rupert Everett lead a restaurant in singing in My Best Friend's Wedding?

Everett's scene-stealing turn earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Which Steel Magnolias cast member earned her first Oscar nomination for playing Shelby?

Robert Harling wrote the original play in ten days about his own sister's death from diabetic complications after childbirth.

Wedding Crashers (2005) opened at number two at the US box office. Which film beat it that weekend?

Tim Burton's Wonka remake had opened the same day; Wedding Crashers still finished the year as the sixth highest-grossing film in the US.

Wedding Crashers set which box-office milestone for R-rated comedies?

It made about $209 million domestically on a $40 million budget, a run later matched by The Hangover.

In Wedding Crashers, what do John and Jeremy spike Sack's wine with at the Cleary dinner?

The trick buys John more time with Claire; the real-world effect of drinking eye drops is far more dangerous than the film suggests.

Where does Sack shoot Jeremy during the hunting-trip prank in Wedding Crashers?

The wound gives Gloria a chance to nurse Jeremy, and it is while she tends to him that she admits she lied about being a virgin.

Which state hosts the Cleary family compound where most of Wedding Crashers' weekend retreat takes place?

The script originally set the story on Cape Cod, but a spring shoot made New England impractical, so the director moved it to his home turf around Washington.

The big Cleary wedding reception in Wedding Crashers was filmed at which Chesapeake Bay hotel?

The inn sits in St. Michaels on Maryland's Eastern Shore; principal photography had begun in Washington, D.C. on 22 March 2004.

Roughly how many actresses did David Dobkin audition before casting Rachel McAdams in Wedding Crashers?

McAdams arrived fresh from Mean Girls and The Notebook; Isla Fisher, then barely known in the US, was cast on the strength of Home and Away and her UK profile.

Which actor was considered for Chazz Reinhold in Wedding Crashers before Will Ferrell?

Chazz has graduated from weddings to funerals, and it is his grieving-widow outing that sends John running back to Jeremy's ceremony.

Which then-sitting US senator had a cameo at the Cleary wedding in Wedding Crashers?

Democratic strategist James Carville appears alongside him, a bipartisan pairing for a Treasury Secretary's guest list.

Wedding Crashers won Best Movie at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards. Who won Breakthrough Performance?

Vaughn and Wilson also won On-Screen Team; the film had led all nominees with five nods.

Which future Bond did David Dobkin want as a rival crasher in an unmade Wedding Crashers sequel?

New Line later hired writers Van Robichaux and Evan Susser, but by 2022 the sequel was still stalled.

Under what name was the unrated home-video cut of Wedding Crashers sold?

The DVD arrived in January 2006 and the film went on to earn an estimated $145 million from home media alone.

Wedding Crashers was written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, drawing on Fisher's time as what?

The pair sold the script to New Line for a mid-six-figure sum after doubting the premise could carry a feature.

In The Wedding Planner, what is Steve's profession when he rescues Mary from a dumpster?

Mary only learns later that Steve is 'Eddie', the fiancé of heiress Fran Donolly, whose society wedding she has been hired to plan.

The Wedding Planner (2001) was the feature directorial debut of which director?

The Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey vehicle grossed $94.7 million despite negative reviews.

Which two ABBA members composed the score for the 2008 film Mamma Mia!?

Catherine Johnson adapted her own book from the 1999 stage musical, and Phyllida Lloyd directed.

Where at Pinewood Studios was the full set of Donna's Greek villa built for Mamma Mia!?

Real trees on the set were watered daily by an automated system and given daylight so they kept growing during the shoot.

In which state, including Newport's Rosecliff and Marble House, was 27 Dresses mainly shot?

Director Anne Fletcher asked for bridesmaid dresses that were 'big, ugly, and bright'; about fifty designs were considered.