16 of the best wedding dresses from the movies

The beautiful Givenchy gown that Audrey Hepburn wears in the latter part of this film cuts a striking ballerina silhouette – perfect for the former classical dancer. Hepburn’s character Jo Stockton makes a tearful getaway in the dress after walking a runway show, thinking she’s missed an opportunity with her love interest Dick (Fred Astaire). When they reunite, Jo is still wearing the exceptionally beautiful bridal gown, which makes for a picture-perfect romantic moment.

So it wasn’t the husband we approved of, but when Carrie (Andie MacDowell) gets married to Hamish (Corin Redgrave) in a Scottish Castle, she wears a cream silk dress that’s slit at the front, with a beaded bolero on top – a look that her true love Charles (Hugh Grant) helped her pick out in an improbable twist of heartache. For more wedding dress inspiration, we’ve got our eyes peeled for Mindy Kaling’s adaptation of the film out later this year – her new Four Weddings-inspired series for Hulu is led by Game of Thrones alumna Nathalie Emmanuel.

When all Carrie Bradshaw’s birthdays come at once and Vivienne Westwood gifts her a bridal gown, special arrangements must be made to accommodate its epic size. Sadly, the dress never actually makes it down the aisle, but it’s seared onto our brains anyway. Based on Westwood’s ‘Cloud’ dress introduced in her FW07 collection, and reworked for its film debut, the version Sarah Jessica Parker wore as Carrie featured a sculptural gold and ivory silk corset layer, a white taffeta skirt and was accessorized with that divisive bird headpiece.

And the bride wore pink. This candy-floss, fairy-tale dream of a wedding dress isn’t on screen long, but it’s everything we wished for when we were six years old. Aside from its pinkness, the dress has a slim bodice, gargantuan princess skirt (requiring meters upon meters of glittering tulle to create) and is topped off with a gold crown. Actress Shari Headley pulls off the look with appropriately regal poise as her character Lisa McDowell marries Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem (of the fictional African nation Zamunda) in this 30-year-old comedy.

Barbra Streisand gave a stunning turn as Fanny Brice in this rags-to-riches musical. The role put the singer on Hollywood’s radar in a big way – in 1969, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance (tying with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter). As for the wedding dress? She wears it to sing the film’s famous ‘bride number’, His Love Makes Me Beautiful. The dress’s long sleeves, scoop neck and generous veil are timelessly elegant, and the statement flower crown still looks modern.

As nervous bride Maggie in this classic romantic comedy, Julia Roberts wears several dresses and leaves several men at the altar. So, the final wedding dress is the one that matters, because Maggie actually makes it down the aisle in it, to wed Ike (Richard Gere) in an off-the-shoulder ball gown with a sweetheart neckline and fitted bodice. It’s glamorous, yet also practical enough for horseback riding, as Maggie proves in the film’s final scene.

This vintage romantic comedy sees Elizabeth Taylor in the role of the beautiful bride, being fussed over by her devoted but misguided dad, played by Spencer Tracy. Taylor’s real-life marriage to her first husband, Conrad ‘Nicky’ Hilton Jr., happened just a few weeks before the film’s premiere, and American costume designer Helen Rose created both Taylor’s on- and off-screen gowns. The dress in question is a picture of ’50s elegance, with a pleated satin scoop-neck finished with a lace collar, and a split waterfall skirt that reveals more luxurious lace.

The sheer dress with feathery trim that Keira Knightley wears as Juliet for the opening scene of Love Actually is, actually, all sorts of excellent. And clever. As Juliet moves in the gauzy, long-sleeved dress, you get glimpses of her lacy, petal-detailed reception outfit beneath. We’ll ignore the part in the film where the groom’s friend produces the creepiest wedding video of all time, and focus instead on the tear-jerking-in-a-good-way bit where a flash mob performs a rousing edition of All You Need Is Love at the church.

This raucous film that gave us the iconic Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend ends with a double wedding for Marilyn Monroe’s character Lorelei and her on-screen friend Dorothy (played by Jane Russell). They marry the characters Esmond and Malone respectively and the women wear coordinating wedding dresses with high-necked floral lace bodices and fluted sleeves complemented by full tulle skirts and neat headbands. Do as they did and pair with a bright red lip for all-out ’50s glamour.