Summary of Four Weddings and a Funeral

Four Weddings and a Funeral was the most successful film of 1994. All over the world, people were charmed by this romantic English comedy.

Charles is a charming and good-looking young Englishman, with a delightful group of friends. But he has a problem – although he loves women, he just doesn’t want to get married. Also, he’s rather shy. He meets Carrie, a beautiful and sophisticated American woman, at a wedding, and although it’s obvious he likes her, he’s much too shy to make advances to her. So Carrie has to make the first move. A romantic comedy begins, as the couple meet at three more weddings and a funeral. One of the weddings is Carrie’s, but it’s not Charles who she’s marrying. One of the weddings is Charles’s but he’s not marrying Carrie. Finally, Charles finds the courage to declare his love, when he realices that he can’t live without Carrie. Love – in all its forms – also comes to many of the other characters in the story. Along with love, a few tears come too.

Chapter 1: Charles is best man at Angus and Laura’s wedding. Charles and his roommate Scarlett arrive just in time for the wedding. Charles realizes he has forgotten the wedding ring he was supposed to bring for the bridegroom. At the wedding, an American woman named Carrie catches Charles’s attention.

At the wedding reception, Charles and his friends talk together and meet others. Charles talks briefly to Carrie, but it is an awkward conversation. As best man, Charles gives a funny speech. He also congratulates the couple on getting married, a step he says he cannot take.

After the wedding, Charles and his friends are invited to stay at a nearby castle which is owned by the family of Tom and Fiona. Carrie tells Charles that she is staying at a local pub. Charles begins the trip to the castle but then he decides to make his way back to the pub where he meets Carrie. She is trying to hide from George, a boring guest from the wedding. Carrie and Charles end up spending the night together. Carrie leaves the next morning for the United States. Charles is left to think about her.

Chapter 2: Charles and Scarlett are late again for another wedding. This time, Scarlett is the bridesmaid. Lydia and Bernard, who met at the previous wedding, are getting married. Charles is wondering about love and marriage and talks it over with friends. Charles is pleased to see Carrie at the wedding, but is shocked and disappointed to be introduced to her fiancé, Hamish. Charles wonders why he is always attending weddings and never getting married. At the reception dinner, Charles finds himself seated at a table with four old girlfriends who exchange stories about him. To make things worse, he meets Henrietta, another old girlfriend, who is upset with him. Charles then finds himself trapped in a room with the bride and groom and then has another unpleasant encounter with Henrietta.

Immediately after this, he meets Carrie who invites him to her place. They spend the night together again. Charles leaves in silence the next morning.

Chapter 3: Charles is enjoying a Saturday without a wedding when he opens an envelope and finds an invitation to Carrie’s wedding. Before meeting his brother, Charles goes to a shop that is listed on the invitation as a place to go for wedding gifts. Charles meets Carrie there and she asks him to help her choose a wedding gown. They have an interesting discussion about relationships and then Charles races off to meet his brother. In a very awkward way, Charles tries to tell Carrie that he loves her. Carrie tells him he is sweet and walks away.

Chapter 4: Charles arrives late to the wedding of Carrie and Hamish. Gareth tells the group of friends he’d like to attend one of their weddings in the future and asks them to try to find true love. Charles again meets Henrietta who tells him she is happy and involved with someone else. Fiona sees that Charles like Carrie. Fiona tells Charles that she has always loved him. In the middle of the Redding speeches, Gareth collapses and dies.

Chapter 5: Everyone arrives for Gareth’s funeral and listens as Matthew (Gareth’s long-time partner) talks about their friend. After the funeral, Tom and Charles discuss how Gareth and Matthew were right for each other. Charles wonders if he should forget about getting married if he can’t find someone who is just right. Tom says he’s not looking for ‘thunder and lightning’ but just a nice girl he can be happy with.

Chapter 6: Charles has a final gathering with his friends before his own wedding to Henrietta that day. While waiting for the wedding to begin, Scarlett meets an American friend that she met earlier and Tom is attracted to a distant cousin. Just prior to the wedding, Charles sees Carrie who tells him that she and Hamish have left each other. Now Charles has second thoughts about his upcoming marriage to Henrietta, and talks with Matthew and David. He decides to go ahead with the marriage. However, the ceremony is disrupted by David who says (through sign language translated by Charles) that he suspects that Charles loves another woman. Charles admits to this and is attacked by Henrietta.

The wedding of Charles and Henrietta doesn’t happen. Later at home, Carrie comes to visit Charles. They realize they want to be together, even if they don’t get married. Looking to the future, we see that the group of friends is all happy in their situations and that Carrie and Charles have a child.