The Wedding Cottage is about a wedding guide creator who convinces an artist and owner of a wedding cottage to allow her to renovate it so she can host a contest-winning couple for their wedding.
Starring: Erin Krakow and Brendan Penny
Image: Hallmark Media
One of the most charming movies to premiere during Hallmark's Spring 2023 line-up was The Wedding Cottage with Erin Krakow and Brendan Penny.
The movie is based on the book A Waterfront Wedding by Leigh Duncan from Hallmark Publishing.
What's so magical about The Wedding Cottage that is causing fans to gush about it on social media?
Here are the top five reasons this Spring Into Love feature will both entertain and delight you:
1. The Wedding Cottage Pairs the Right Actors
One giant problem Hallmark has created in recent movies is coupling male and female leads who don't gel with one another. Even if the story is good, the movie gets a thumbs down from fans when there are no sparks.
Why does this keep happening?
Let's face it--some of our favorite Hallmark talent is ageing, and Hallmark has been introducing fresh faces, no doubt scouting for younger replacements. The dreaded day will come when it will be weird to watch one of our favorite actresses at age 50 giggling over first love like the 25-year-old character she's playing. Unfortunately, much of the new talent has been underwhelming.
With Hallmark's radical obsession with diversity and inclusion, casting often seems based on checking boxes instead of choosing actors based on combined chemistry and raw talent, leading to one dud after another.
Hallmark appears to be blindly following Hollywood's lead on 2024 diversity standards that promise to be disastrous for entertainment. According to the California Globe, the requirements best picture nominees must now meet include two new standards in four categories:
Onscreen Representation, Themes, and Narratives: Either a lead actor has to be from a racial or ethnic group, the general cast has to be at least 30% women, LGBTQ, with physical disabilities, or is part of a racial or ethnic group, or the major storyline has to be about one of the previous underrepresented groups.
Creative Leadership and Project Team: Either two leadership or key crew roles are filled by those from underrepresented groups, or 30% of the crew are to come from underrepresented groups.
Industry Access and Opportunities: Film must have underrepresented groups get at least two paid internships or apprenticeships in the production, or the production has to offer crew training opportunities for those groups.
Audience Development: The production must have in-house senior executives coming from underrepresented groups.
Even though these standards only apply to the Oscars, it's clear that Hallmark is adopting the same racist and sexist criteria for their productions as well.
HERE'S A NOVEL IDEA: write creative, heart-warming stories and hire the best crew members and actors for the jobs instead of ruining movies with political posturing.
It works in The Wedding Cottage! The chemistry between Krakow and Penny is so tangible, you will find your own heart racing.
2. The Wedding Cottage Contains Humor
Writing humorous scenes is tricky. Ideally, the audience will laugh out loud, or at the very least, smile widely with amusement. Too often, Hallmark scriptwriters attempt humor which falls so flat that the scene is cringe-worthy--viewers know it's meant to be funny and feel awkward that it's not...at all.
The Wedding Cottage has tons of playful banter and two scenes in particular that are genuinely funny. The first involves Evan's and Vanessa's exchange during the leaf blowing scene, and the second is when Vanessa whacks Evan with a stick because she thinks he's a moose.
3. Everyone Loves the Quaint Cottage
Vanessa is a wedding planner-turned-author who doesn't realize the Vermont wedding cottage featured in her book, Tying the Knot, is permanently closed and in disrepair.
To increase book sales, Vanessa picks a deserving couple to win an all-expenses-paid wedding at the venue of their choice. Scott and Amy choose the wedding cottage, since their parents and grandparents had wed there. Vanessa is left with the daunting task of convincing Evan, the grandson who inherited the cottage, to let her host the wedding there AND spruce up the place. Since Scott is on active duty and must depart for Germany in one month, Vanessa doesn't have much time.
Image: Hallmark Media
Can we really call this place a cottage though?
Cottages usually provide minimal square footage, and this place looks like a moderate-sized estate, especially with the adjacent workshop where Evan is seeking inspiration for his latest sculpture.
Image: Hallmark Media
The cottage looks like a classic structure from a British novel where you might stumble upon a secret garden.
4. The Wedding Cottage Honors Veterans
There is no shortage of Hallmark movies that uplift our veterans, and The Wedding Cottage adds another one to the mix.
Scott is a Staff Sergeant, and his service in the military has earned him a prosthetic leg, which makes the bridal dance awkward and embarrassing for him.
In one sweet scene, Marilyn, a local B&B owner and also a dance instructor, helps him master enough steps to surprise his bride.
The wedding almost never happened. When Scott lost his leg, he felt like less of a man and didn't want Amy to be burdened with him. She saw past his disability, and as always, true love made a way.
Image: Hallmark Media
5. The Wedding Cottage is Family-Friendly
A huge number of Hallmark fans are fed up with LGBTQ characters being worked into more and more movies in attempt to normalize perversion. As a result, many admit they wait to hear from social media whether or not new movies are family-friendly before they bother watching them.
The Wedding Cottage is free of same-sex characters.
Final Thoughts on The Wedding Cottage
The movie plot includes the typical conflict: there's a misunderstanding that could have been quickly resolved through a brief conversation but is blown out of proportion.
The wood sculpture that Evan is inspired to create, which is dubbed his best masterpiece yet, looks like a piece of garbage, but maybe I just don't appreciate "art."
The Wedding Cottage is brimming with happy vibes, fun scenes, chemistry, good acting, and charm. Fans are already hoping it will be released to DVD soon.
Krakow and Penny look like they had a lot of fun filming. Image: Hallmark Media
The movie is NOT based on the book you referenced. Laurie Turners script was written in 2018, and we (Sandra & Judith Berg) worked on it in 2019. The book was published later, I believe.
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