Friends. There are all different types of friends – best friends, regular friends, family friends, enemies. Everyone started as something, affecting the way that you are, the way that you grow, the person that you become. Part of the beauty of friends in The Wedding Veil franchise is that they are the people that understand you. They are the people that make you grow.
They are your heart.
Friends are magic.
Add in a veil and a legend, and then what you’ve got is a story that will tug at your heart strings and remind you of the beauty of love.
In the first movie of this sequel trilogy, The Wedding Veil: Expectation, Avery (Lacey Chabert) and her husband Peter (Kevin McGarry) are in the midst of renovating the old house they’ve purchased, which is proving to be a bigger undertaking than they anticipated. Avery has some exciting news to share with him but is waiting for just the right moment. Meanwhile, Avery’s mother-in-law Grace (Karen Kruper) reconnects with a former beau, and Peter has concerns. Between that, the pitfalls of remodeling and navigating the politics of having a new boss at the museum, Avery is lucky to have Emma (Autumn Reeser) and Tracy (Alison Sweeney), who offer support from afar as well as in person, when they decide a video chat won’t suffice. When newlywed Tracy returns the antique wedding veil to Emma, the friends may find that they haven’t seen the last of its magic.
While the first three movies in the franchise wrapped up everything so perfectly that when the movies were announced, there was some trepidation on how this would be. You know how when you love something so much, you fear anything additional. There is this thought of what will happen if it’s not as perfect, if the story doesn’t progress in a natural and beautiful way… and that’s exactly what it was with me.
There was a sense of fear turning on this movie. But within minutes, I knew that something was as equally special about this part of the franchise.
Avery and Peter are this little slice of perfection. They aren’t perfect, but what they are – two people who are willing to go through everything together. They’ve settled into their married life and their routine. They’ve bought a house and settled in to build a life together in Boston.
Avery is still working at the museum and Peter is still in his families company. But he’s also working on following his passion of bringing art to children. He’s working on a proposal to the school board to bring the program he’s envisioned city wide.
We instantly have the reunion of our three besties – Avery, Tracy, and Emma. Tracy and Emma have come to bring pieces of lace to Avery for her exhibition. It’s in their lunch together that Avery tells them that she thinks she’s pregnant. She’s not sure and since she’s had a false positive from a over the counter pregnancy test, she doesn’t want to say anything until she knows for sure.
While I love the journey that Avery and Peter are on and all the lengths that she goes to in order to tell him that she’s pregnant, I will admit that the only thing that was missing for me from this movie, was seeing her visibly pregnant. Let me explain before you get angry at me.
Avery’s pregnancy journey is adorable – we get to see her go through so many symptoms, but it’s something that Peter says that makes me miss this part of the story. When she finally breaks and tells Peter, he’s so visibly happy. He’s that kind of happy that you can only imagine that you would get from someone that you love. It’s the next morning after that when he tells her that he can’t imagine a more beautiful site than her pregnant, after she talked about visibly showing.
And because of that moment, as well as all the moments that these two share – you just want to see that joy. You want to see her little baby bump and her looking at her, assuring her that she’s still the most beautiful woman in the world and always will be.
The two of them are the most supportive of each other. They help each other find a path, and support the way that they go, in order to make their dreams come true.
Avery even steers Peter on the right path when he becomes upset over his Mom dating. The power of the veil was at work on this one. While holding the veil, her ex from many years ago walks in. Grace is finding happiness with him, but Peter just thinks that someone wants to be with his Mom because she’s rich.
It’s actually infuriating how we see Peter behave, but also understandable. How do we accept that our family moves on when someone we love passes away? Grace is willing to give up loving again, because she puts Peter in his place and reminds him that his Mom deserves happiness. She deserves to be loved.
It’s actually quite sweet that Avery is always putting everyone in front of her. It’s also quite sweet that she makes sure that no matter what, her husband knows that he is loved. Avery doesn’t neglect herself, while taking care of others.
And her friends know when to be there for her.
When Avery’s new boss wants to send the Amici painting to London, and basically calls Avery’s lace exhibit a snooze fest, she devises a way to get her exhibit on the television, and manages to bring a lot of people to the exhibit.
While Avery’s methods aren’t always traditional, she, along with her best friends, manage to get whatever they set out to do, done. For Avery, that is a long, complicated list, but she manages to make time for it all. The people in her life are her family. Her job is important to her also.
What is one of the biggest lessons that I learned, one of the things I loved the most was that you knew that no matter what happened – good or bad – all of these characters were going to be there for each other. Family is sometimes who you choose.
And well, this family of friends is definitely something we want to see more of every year.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- I want to find my own Peter
- The mid-credits scene was everything, but his accent was also the first thing I noticed too
- Grace getting married – HERE FOR IT
- Peter and Avery are couple goals
- I love Peter and Avery’s house
- Avery’s new boss is a douche nozzle – but I care so little about him I forgot his name.
- Can you really have two godmothers?
- Does the christening gown also have a legend? I know they said it doesn’t, but I feel like it does.
- How does Emma always have the perfect hair?
- Hat goes off to Avery, being pregnant and able to walk in those heels.
