Hallmark For All Seasons

I’m back everyone!  Thank you so much for allowing me to take a few months off from writing up all our favorite movies.  The respite was much appreciated!  Starting today I’ll be catching up on most of the movies that aired January – March, as well as writing up the new ones that come out going forward.

First up, “The Wedding Veil,” which originally aired on January 8 on Hallmark Channel.  It was Part 1 of a 3-chapter group of movies and starred Lacey Chabert, Autumn Reeser and Alison Sweeney as well as Kevin McGarry.  It was filmed in Victoria, Canada and the hotel where the movie opens is the Prestige Oceanfront Resort in nearby Sooke.

The script was penned by Sandra and Judith Berg, and claims to be “inspired by” Lori Wilde’s book series, There Goes the Bride (affiliate link), although when you look at the descriptions of those books you can see the movie is definitely not BASED ON any of the books.  Terry Ingram directed.

Music: The opening credits and scene at the wedding featured The First Day by Todd Carey.  Carey is featured later during Lucy’s wedding while Avery and Peter dance.  That song was Infinity (affiliate link). At Avery and Peter’s wedding we heard a version of Chicago’s Colour My World. We also heard a bit of Ezra Jordan’s Only Got Eyes for Her.

In a nutshell

Let me start off by saying I LOVE that Hallmark is trying to get multiple popular Hallstars in one movie.  I just wish they had more to do together than just a couple of scenes.  Can we not have a family reunion type movie where we get 10-12 Hallstars together in a room under the guise of being extended family and just having an afternoon of fun while a neighbor invited to the reunion has a meet cute with one of the family members?  Is that too much to ask?

Ok fine.  This will have to do.  It was fine.  The movie was fine.  But a bit boring too.

The Plot of “‘The Wedding Veil”

Three longtime college friends discover a mysterious, antique veil fabled to unite its bearer with her true love. After discovering a long-lost painting, museum curator Avery and new board member Peter investigate the artwork’s origins as they plan a gala to unveil it.  

Actors & Chemistry

The casting was solid.  Not only did this movie feature three lovely leading ladies and a handome leading man, but it also featured one Hallmark dad, Greg Rogers, playing an art restorer this time around.  And I was thrilled to see Christine Willes as the antique shop owner.  Willes was on a show called “Reaper” that I loved back in the 2000s.  She played a demon that worked at the DMV and was great.

As for chemistry, I don’t know that Chabert and McGarry had a lot of intense chemistry, but I could definitely feel the general attraction between the two characters.

Tropes

Non-holiday movies tend to have way less tropes, but it started with a drone shot over the city skyline, so it had a strong opening!  There’s going to be a GALA and if it goes well, Avery will get the promotion! Avery has to plan a wedding for her co-worker. During the zoom calls the women had, the wine glass wasn’t empty, but those coffee/tea cups sure were!

Did I Hear/See That Right?

Um…is California a yellow cab kind of state where random yellow cabs will pull up to fancy hotels with long circular driveways when people stick out their arms and flag them down?

In the first scene when we were introduced to Kevin McGarry’s character, I had NO INKLING that he was from Boston – no accent.  Then suddenly in the next scene when they are smelling the roses, he pulls out his best attempt but it sounded more Chicago than Boston.  The accent was in and out the remainder of the movie.

These two people are adults, right?  There is NO WAY on the planet, having gotten to know each other pretty well, and finally discovering that she’s not engaged, and making it plain that he’s interested, and knowing she’s interested….that they don’t kiss when he takes her home from Lucy’s wedding.  He basically tells her, “the caught bouquet doesn’t scare me away,” and she says, ‘I gotta work early in the morning.”  WHAT?

I’ll tell you a story.  Back when I was single, I met a guy that I really liked.  We spent some time together, and clearly we both liked each other.  Trouble was – he was moving to Japan in a week. But one day during that week we spent an entire day together – from morning until that night.  In the evening we were all hanging out (he, me and my housemates) and he said he needed to leave to get back to his place (which was a couple hours away).  I escorted him to the door where we said good night – but no kiss.  After he left my housemates (who had scattered when we were saying goodnight to give us some privacy) were shocked that he and I had not kissed.

“Go downstairs and kiss him before he leaves!” one roommate said, the other quickly agreeing.  Before I could think twice, I ran out of my apartment, down the stairs, into the parking lot, where I caught up with him as he was getting in my car.  As I approached him, I said something like, “Uh, you forgot this,” and I kissed him.  He said, “I’m really glad you came downstairs.” And he kissed me back.

Was it a whirlwind romance after that?  Nah – we went on one official date after that, and then he moved to Japan for a 3-year stint (he was in the Army) and despite writing letters back and forth for a couple years, we lost touch and he eventually married a woman he met there.  But my goodness that’s a romantic memory I’ll always have.

In this movie, Peter should NOT have let Avery go inside – after that dance and that wedding – without kissing her good night.

So, Avery and Peter are at the altar.  Everyone is all gussied up and ready for a beautiful ceremony.  And that wedding ceremony consisted of two questions, a statement and a kiss.  It literally took 30 seconds.  The wedding march down the aisle was longer than the ceremony.  WHAT?  I hope no one traveled long distance to attend…oh wait.  The BRIDESMAIDS did.

Feelgoods

I didn’t necessarily have any moments where I had big feels.

General Thoughts

They managed to keep the ruse of the misunderstood veil going until the 1:20 mark in the movie.  I was impressed with how long it took, if only because the movie managed to make the misunderstanding kind of work.  It wasn’t the typical “overheard conversation that has a pause that goes on too long and the listener walks away before finding out what’s really being talked about” scenario.  You know the trope I’m taking about.

BUT, had he just said, “Hey, I notice you aren’t wearing an engagement ring,” it would have cleared things up a bit faster, and no, I don’t think that is too forward of a question to ask.  If I thought someone I was getting to know was engaged and was not wearing a ring I’d totally ask if it was a personal preference or if the ring was on the way.

Why were these Veil movies not released in June during their June Weddings promotion?

Re-watchability of “The Wedding Veil”

I’m not big into the June weddings movies in June, much less in wintertime.  But while I won’t watch this one again, I am interested in seeing the other two if only to see what happens to the veil at the end of the third one.

The Ranking

“The Wedding Veil” scored much higher than “Where the Heart Belongs,” which starred Jen Lilley and Christopher Russell.  I did not review that one because of how much I disliked it.  But while this one scored higher, I suspect as the year goes on it’ll fall lower and lower on the list.

1. The Wedding Veil (air date: Jan 8) – 508 pts – weighted score: 83.3 (58.4%)
2. Where the Heart Belongs (air date: Jan 1) – 435 pts – weighted score: 74.5 (52.3%)

To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of “The Wedding Veil”?  Comment below and let me know!