catherinewaters-91738

Wow, this is now my favorite ever Hallmark movie. The core story is universal: a devoted mom struggling to truly let go and let her daughter use her own wings. The daughter is 22, in love and wants to marry her boyfriend. The young couple both have Downs Syndrome. Their chemistry is lovely and genuine and their acting is excellent. Their relationship and potential wedding plans are filled with pure love, sweetness, delight and a few struggles. As the bride's mom rides the waves of change, it is believable and touching. The mom is also an excellent actor. Supporting cast is terrific too. I loved the feisty, up-for-anything grandmother, the mom's own steady love interest and the friends of the young couple. This is a story of pure young love, later in life love, devotion to family. The bride guides everyone in such a genuine, uplifting way. This movie is a jewel.

First, let me qualify: 9/10 on The Scale of Hallmark. Haha! Wedding of a Lifetime has a different & fun premise. It's a refreshing change. It takes place during an intentionally cheesy reality tv show competition where a broken-up couple end up trying to win an all-expense paid wedding. Brook and Jonathan were super cute together-I found their chemistry and acting believable and was pulling for them. The plot and the many other characters of tv production staff, family members and other competitors held together well enough to keep my attention. The ridiculous competitions were kind of funny. And the musical montage of trying on of dresses and tuxes & the tasting cakes, etc was cute. This is a light-hearted movie yet the characters still do some heartfelt self-reflection and figure out what they want. No surprises. A fresh premise with that inevitable and always welcome Hallmark happy ending.

I had not read any info about this one when it came on so I was happily surprised by the detour the plot took. An unsure engagement leads 1 new fiancée' to escape with her silly best friend on an adventure. The two gal pals have fun banter and land themselves in silly situations. Certain "souvenir photos" made me laugh. They end up on a ranch and of course there is a Hallmark-esque fundraiser. This has more comedy than most and the two lead actresses are believable friends and funny together. Autumn Reeser is perfect in her role as is Vanessa Matsui. Autumn's character has her choice of two very different men and definitely makes the right decision, of course. I enjoyed watching their sweet romance develop and the beautiful scenery.