Marriage minus weddings

October 8, 2010 12:56 PM

Movies with marriages, minus the huge wedding?

I'm looking for movies that have scenes where characters choose to skip the big wedding, and go for a quiet sort of marriage ceremony.

Doesn't matter if there's a wedding later in the movie or whatever -- just looking for movies where there's more of a sense that... it's the legal marriage itself that counts, and the wedding is secondary. Sort of along the lines of Carrie and Big in the first Sex in the City movie, for example. Gay or straight examples, doesn't matter.

Bonus points if the characters are doing it to avoid a huge spectacle and/or resist consumerism! Thanks in advance!

posted by crawfo to media & arts (18 answers total)

The Wedding Banquet.
posted by Melismata at 1:00 PM on October 8, 2010

A Walk to Remember might count.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:01 PM on October 8, 2010

101 Dalmatians (animated, 1961) - just shows Roger & Anita getting married in a chapel by themselves.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 1:06 PM on October 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

The "Honeymoon Hotel" segment of 1933's Footlight Parade has a couple get married at said hotel in about thirty seconds.
posted by griphus at 1:07 PM on October 8, 2010

Any adaptation of Jane Eyre. Doesn't really come out as planned, but it certainly fits the description.
posted by valkyryn at 1:18 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Not sure if this counts, but I think "Notting Hill" ends either with their just deciding to live together or to get quietly married. Been years since I've seen it, but while that film hit several chick-flick romance cliches, I remembered they avoided the big wedding ending.

Also can't remember if or how it's depicted in the movie, but in the movie "Shadowlands" C.S. Lewis and Joy Grisham get married in her hospital room. In real life, they were later married in a low-key religious ceremony as well, if memory serves, but can't remember how that's depicted in the movie.
posted by randomkeystrike at 1:29 PM on October 8, 2010

The Clock, with Judy Garland.
posted by yarly at 1:39 PM on October 8, 2010

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.
posted by SMPA at 1:39 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

a) I am not going to say that this is a good movie
b) It ends up not happening, I think

But - The Wedding Planner features Jennifer Lopez as the type-a planner of huge, expensive weddings who ends up opting for a simple wedding at City Hall.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 1:49 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Fandango (the movie, not the ticketing service) involves one of the characters essentially fleeing from both the Army and an upcoming marriage to a rich girl. Hijinks ensue. At the end of the film, the characters throw together a wedding by conning a small town of strangers into donating everything needed for a small, nontraditional, but incredibly awesome, wedding.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2010

Julie and Julia is fantastic at showing Julia Child's warm and functional marriage to her husband.
posted by slow graffiti at 2:09 PM on October 8, 2010

How about The Runaway Bride? Didn't she just end up marrying (Richard Gere) in a quiet ceremony?
posted by Sassyfras at 2:30 PM on October 8, 2010

Romeo & Juliet?
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 2:59 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Heh - Secretary.
posted by purlgurly at 3:33 PM on October 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

Sex and the City....SPOILER...the huge wedding destroys them and they opt for a small ceremony.
posted by fyrebelley at 3:41 PM on October 8, 2010

In The Incredibles both Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible are out catching bad guys 15 minutes before their ceremony. It's in a big church but there are very few guests and no major hoopla.

And I 2nd the Fandango suggestion by Cool Papa Bell and am going to add it to Netflix right now.
posted by victoriab at 4:11 PM on October 8, 2010

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Though it wasn't exactly a "quiet" ceremony, it contrasted sharply the trappings of the large-scale wedding disrupted at the beginning of the previous film.
posted by SMPA at 4:17 PM on October 8, 2010

TV Tropes:
Altar the Speed
My Own Private I Do
Skip to the End
posted by SMPA at 4:22 PM on October 8, 2010