Disaster on-screen weddings are nothing new. Think Ross saying “Rachel” at the altar in Friends, that horrendous cat fight between Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson's characters at the end of Bride Wars and a bomb scare at Jake and Amy's wedding in Brooklyn Nine Nine to name a few, as well as countless jiltings. But what's currently very in vogue, apparently, is an on-screen wedding that reaches into the horror world for its drama.
Take Euphoria's mortifying wedding episode as a recent blood-stained example. Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie (Sydney Sweeney)'s nuptials are full of drama, particularly after the revelation that Nate went to a loan shark to pay for part of their eye-wateringly expensive wedding. When Cassie discovers that Nate has borrowed money off a wedding guest and friend, and is called out about it by his wife Heather, things get seriously ugly. Metaphorically and physically.
The bloody aftermath of the wedding, which sees the couple attacked by loan sharks – Nate's toe is cut off by pliers and Cassie receives a blow to her nose – has been compared by fans to the Game of Thrones' Red Wedding. As well as the gruesome imagery, we see the absolute worst of these characters on such a milestone day in their lives. Nate's betrayal is revealed, while Cassie screams "This is so unfair! It was supposed to be the best day of my life!" as blood spatters her wedding dress, with seemingly no concern for her seriously injured husband.
Euphoria is known for its controversial storylines, especially this season with Cassie's painfully two-dimensional depiction of an OnlyFans creator and sex worker. But could the fact that other TV shows are exploring on-screen weddings through a horror-inspired lens mean that we are entering into an era of more nuanced storytelling beyond the picture perfect day with the princess bride in the puffy dress? You could also argue that it's a refreshing take on a market that in real life has become cripplingly, laughably expensive. A real-life horror.
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After all, one in 10 UK couples are now hiring a “content creator” to actually curate – you guessed it – content for one of the biggest events of your life. On Google Trends, there has been a 299% increase in searches for “wedding content creator” in the last year. Forget experiencing it, you need reels and videos of your your relationship's utter perfection to post on socials for the rest of your life. That's what marriage truly is, right?
Which leads us to recent movie release The Drama. Starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, it navigates the lead-up to a young couple's big day, after Pattinson's Charlie discovers something truly shocking about his wife-to-be, Zendaya's Emma that derails not only their wedding but how they view each other and their relationship. By the end of the ceremony, Pattinson is fleeing the reception with a black eye and a bloody nose, his wedding tux also soaked through with blood. Zendaya is wearing an orange puffer jacket over her gown, which is irrelevant to the horror theme but no less iconic.
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The glamorous – again, often curated – milestones of a wedding, including the speeches, the selection of the florals, a painful practice photo shoot, are all threaded with suspense and tension, making the wedding itself a psychological horror as well as a bloody one. At the centre of it all, The Drama questions whether you can truly fully know a romantic partner – the best and worst parts – and the danger of romanticising either a person or one day out of your life to commemorate your love for them.
Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have also subverted the horror genre in a similar way with their recent Netflix TV series Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen. Starring The Night Manager star Camila Morrone, the series immediately creates a sense of foreboding, anxiety and horror around getting married. The opening scene sees Morrone walking down a spooky aisle, looking ghostly in a white bridal dress, with the wedding march playing over her ragged breathing.
The series itself explores Morrone's Rachel's feeling of dread in the lead up to her wedding (which is to be held at a super creepy cabin in the woods owned by her fiancé's family, just why?). It dives deep into supernatural lore, with mention of a curse on those who don't marry their soulmates and a boogey man who cuts women open looking for his bride.
These depictions are asking us to delve a little deeper under the surface of how we perceive our relationships, as well as those of others in our lives. Especially on a wedding day, we expect curated perfection. An advertisement of how perfect two human beings are for each other. A perfect match. A soulmate.
But what we forget – whether we are planning, attending or criticising a wedding – is that no relationship, human or wedding is actually perfect. And the pressure to be so, and the assumption that you can and should know everything about your partner and the life you will lead are two very interesting existing, prominent dynamics in modern relationships that should be challenged and interrogated. Let's face it: in real life, your wedding realistically may not be the best day of your life, but it also is unlikely to be your worst.
These portrayals of TV weddings encourage us to face up to the fears we have around our own relationships, commitments and dreams of intimacy – and the horror that often looks back at us.
You can watch Euphoria on HBO Max, Sky and Now.
