Do you Take This Movie? Weddings Inspired By Focus Films

With so many happy couples planning on exchanging vows this June, we wanted to offer some help for setting the right tone for your nuptials. In recent years, the charmingly quirky wedding between Suzy (Kara Hayward) and Sam (Jared Gilman) in Moonrise Kingdom helped many Wes Anderson fans find the perfect look for their special day. “7 Ways to Have a Moonrise Kingdom-Inspired Wedding” highlights just a few easy techniques to transform your event into magical adventure.

Sam and Suzy, however, are not the only inspiring couples from Focus films. Photographers and wedding planners from Utah to the United Kingdom have translated the look and feel of films from Pride & Prejudice to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind into unforgettable moments for their betrothed clients. We look at just a few.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind inspires unforgettable engagement shots.

In Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) attempt to scrub the memory of the other from their minds only to discover their love is unforgettable. For their engagement photos, Julia and Jim worked with Toasts of Leeds’ photographer Shelly Mantovani to let Gondry’s spirit help them capture the right tone. “They had rewatched Eternal Sunshine—because you can never watch it enough right?—and emailed me late at night to say that could I possibly figure out a way to replicate some of the scenes,” remembers Mantovani. “I think everyone identifies with Joel and Clementine—the excitement, the overwhelming sense of giving everything to someone else, yet being afraid of commitment,” Mantovani adds. Shot in Manchester, England, Mantovani staged a number of scenes to recapture Gondry’s signature look, including substituting the local bus for the Long Island Rail Road. 

Get Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind now on iTunes or at Amazon.

Pride & Prejudice adds classic romance to a wedding.

In Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, nothing is more romantic than Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) finally proposing with all his “body and soul” to Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley). Photographer Terra Cooper, who admits falling in love with Jane Austen after reading Emma as a teenager, believes “women love these books and love to incorporate them into their weddings because they bring us back to a time of gentlemen and simple romance.” While Cooper lives in Utah rather than Hertfordshire, she wanted to photograph a Pride & Prejudice wedding to “show others that you could bring this theme to any landscape.” In setting up her shots, Cooper “was inspired by certain scenes from the 2005 Pride & Prejudice film—especially the scenes with the cliffs and when Mr. Darcy walks up to her and proposes for the second time.” Like in an Austen novel, it takes a village to pull a wedding off. See the whole glorious event unfold, along with a list of the talented people who helped her, at Cooper’s online article laying out her Pride & Prejudice Inspired Wedding.

Get Pride & Prejudice now on iTunes or at Amazon.

Love endures in Jane Eyre-inspired engagement pictures.

Based on Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel, Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre brings to the screen one of the most enduring romances of all time. Despite every setback, Jane (Mia Wasikowska) persists, ending up finally married to the formidable Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender). “I wanted to share a modern-day version of this story,” exclaims wedding photographer Sarah Carpenter who got much inspiration from this latest cinematic interpretation. “Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre is so romantic,”  she notes. Shooting at St. Abb's Head National Nature Reserve in Scotland, Carpenter lyrically translated the film’s complex emotional palette into a series of engagement photos. The story is a testament to the enduring qualities of lasting love. “It’s about having to work for the relationship,” explains Carpenter. “They don’t just fall for what they think is there; they fall for what is real.”

Get Jane Eyre now on iTunes or at Amazon.

Brokeback Mountain serves as model of what can be.

While the love between Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain doesn’t end in a wedding, it influenced a national discussion about same-sex marriage. Artist Michael Leavitt created a wedding artifact using Ennis and Jack to speak out for equality. “In 2009, right after the passage of Prop 8 [a state proposition that sought to ban same-sex marriage in California], I thought it would interesting to make a series of celebrity same-sex wedding cake toppers (like Ellen and Portia),” remembers Leavitt. “It was a sort of political gesture. The Brokeback Mountain topper was a one-of-kind sculpture I exhibited in a  gallery show.”

Get Brokeback Mountain now on iTunes or at Amazon.

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