20 Films People Should Watch Before Getting Married

If you want a fairy-tale ending, watch a Disney film. If you want pure romance, watch a Nicholas Sparks film. If you want a hilarious send-up of wedding madness, watch Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. The Zac Efron-Anna Kendrick comedy hits theatres this weekend and everyone who's not being dragged to yet another wedding will no doubt be guffawing into their popcorn.

Of course, if you want a movie that gets really, really real about this whole marriage and wedding business, you can always turn to Woody Allen and John Cassavetes. At the risk of sending every little lovebird out there screaming down the altar and demanding their deposits back from the harpist and caterer, some films get that marriage isn't the saccharine love-fest that Hollywood often makes it out to be. It's messy, it's complicated, it's agonising.

These films get that. Sure, your own nuptials may not involve trust issues, infidelity, ennui, or Viagra, but it's always good to go into something with your eyes wide open. And if it all gets a bit bleak, you can always go back to watching Wedding Crashers.