15 best weddings in pop culture ranked by how memorable they’d be to attend

Melancholia Wedding

Let’s put it this way: the wedding you attend right before a rogue planet (in this case, Melancholia) collides with Earth, causing catastrophic annihilation, is going to be pretty memorable.

That’s the central conceit of Lars von Trier’s 2011 film Melancholia, which he says he found inspiration for after his psychoanalyst told him “melancholics will usually be more level-headed than ordinary people in a disastrous situation.”

That’s certainly the case for Kristen Dunst’s Justine. The film takes place on the day of and immediately following her wedding and examines her depression, her failing relationship with her new husband, Michael, and her strained relationship with her sister, Claire.

Justine and Michael’s wedding day is an unmitigated disaster. They show up two hours late to their own reception; Justine’s histrionic mother is thrown out for causing a scene; Justine’s boss presses her on a work deadline during his toast; Justine disappears during the cake-cutting to take a bath (?); and Justine sleeps with her boss’ nephew, Tim, on the estate’s golf course. Yikes.

Oh, yeah—and the world is about to end.

As Melancholia approaches Earth, however, Justine’s depression gives way to a serene sense of calm, while Claire’s previous composure crumbles in the face of the looming catastrophe.

Disaster is too small a word to describe this ill-fated wedding, but it’s a great film, nonetheless.