Christmas may be Hallmark Channel’s bread and butter but it produces movies all year round, often timed to the different seasons – winter movies after Christmas, spring movies as the weather warms, summer movies for the hottest months and then autumn movies before Christmas comes back around again. While I tend to watch more of the Christmas movies, I do like to check out the channel’s other fare and I must say I was intrigued by the idea of The Wedding Veil Trilogy movies – The Wedding Veil, The Wedding Veil Unveiled and The Wedding Veil Legacy.
The Wedding Veil trilogy surrounds three friends who meet up every so often to go antiquing together. On one of these trips, they find a beautiful wedding veil. According to the shop owner, anyone in possession of the veil will find true love. The friends decide to split the cost and buy it, vowing to wear it at their weddings. One by one, the veil brings them love and happiness.
Uniting three of Hallmark’s leading ladies – Lacey Chabert, Autumn Reeser and Alison Sweeney – this movie trilogy certainly got 2022 off on the right note.
We’ll go movie by movie, so let’s start with The Wedding Veil!
You smiled, you smile, and then the spell was cast/And here we are in Heaven, for you are SPOILERS!
Avery Morrison (Chabert) buys a wedding veil with her best friends Emma Lowell (Reeser) and Tracy Goodwyn (Sweeney) that comes with a legend about how it will bring its own true love. Avery believes in it, Emma’s a bit on the fence and Tracy thinks it’s nonsense but thinks the veil is beautiful. Avery gets to keep it first and along the way meets Peter Hastings (Kevin McGarry), though she doesn’t know his name at first. They bond over art and being from Boston before heading back to the hotel. When Peter sees the veil, he assumes Avery is getting married and starts to distance himself from her.
Confused, Avery returns to Boston and focuses on getting the full curator position at the museum where she works. She is up against her colleague Jason (Zachary Gulka), who seems very competitive and not above underhanded tactics. Thankfully, Avery has executive assistant Lucy (Fiona Vroom) on her side. Lucy reveals she’s getting married in a month and asks Avery to help plan it. Avery is more than happy to do it.
In addition to planning the wedding, head curator Sonya (Catherine Lough Haggquist) puts Avery in charge of their biggest fundraiser, their annual gala. Avery will be working with their newest board member…Peter!
Awkward.
Peter and Avery have a rather tense reunion and he continues to believe she’s getting married, especially now that she’s helping Lucy with her wedding. They are constantly drawn together but then Peter will misinterpret something and get cold again.
During some renovations, Avery ends up going into the museum’s basement to see if there’s anything they can use. She finds an old painting and shows it to Peter, saying it could be a painting from a great Italian painter known as Amici. Avery thinks it got misplaced during some major renovations to the museum in the 1960s and has been gathering dust down in the basement. Once it’s authenticated, she and Peter decide that they will use the gala to unveil the painting. Avery convinces the board and they are off with a plan.
Which is to theme the gala as a wedding since the painting is called Portrait of a Bride. Things are about to get more awkward! Especially when Lucy’s brother Ryan (Thomas Darya) arrives on the scene. He and Avery are in charge of the music and so when he picks her up one day, Peter believes Ryan is Avery’s fiance.
But between the planning and the misunderstandings, Avery and Peter do get to know each other better while Emma and Tracy get to comment on their relationship through phone and video calls. Peter reveals that he really loves art and wanted to pursue it as a career like Avery, Emma and Tracy did but instead took over his father’s foundation in order to preserve his father’s legacy. Avery encourages him to find ways to still pursue his passion for art but he seems hesitant.
Meanwhile, Jason continues to sabotage Avery’s bid to become a full curator. An art restorer calls to tell Avery that there’s an issue with Portrait of a Bride and Jason does not pass on the message purposefully. Thankfully said restorer does call Avery directly and informs her that the painting needs a lot more work. It may not be ready in time unless he clones himself and works around the clock. Avery decides to get permission to get another restorer to work with him to see if that could work.
But Avery has Emma and Tracy on her side. Her friends pull through and find a restorer for her to use. Avery manages to get the approval and everything looks like it’s back on track. If only she could figure out how to deal with Peter. She even starts to doubt the veil is really as magical as it seemed in San Francisco.
Finally, Lucy’s wedding arrives and Peter learns that Avery is not engaged. She tells him the story of the veil and they finally seem to have a shot at having a relationship.
Avery even manages to save Jason’s ass when he was so busy trying to sabotage her, he booked the professor who was supposed to lead his children’s program on the wrong flight. Avery convinces Peter to do it instead and it’s clear he’s really good with children and passionate about art. Jason thanks Avery and apologizes for trying to sabotage her. He seems to get off scot-free.
The gala arrives and it is a big success! Avery unveils Portrait of a Bride and it is gorgeous. She is very proud of herself.
At the party, Avery meets Peter’s mother, Grace (Karen Kruper). As Peter makes a speech at the gala, Grace notes how happy he is and what a good job he has done. Avery tells Grace that Peter has been great and his love of the arts is clear, especially when he took charge of their youth program. Grace is surprised and Avery worries she has overstepped. Grace assures her she has not.
Peter, though, has a different idea and he yells at Avery for telling his mother that he would rather be working in the arts. He says that it’s too soon after his father’s death and she shouldn’t have to worry about his father’s legacy. Avery tries to explain that she didn’t mean anything and wonders when he gets to pursue his dreams. He storms off, breaking Avery’s heart.
She once again doubts the power of the veil.
Peter has lunch with his mother, who discusses his future with him. He tries to explain that he knows how important his father’s legacy is and that Avery had spoken out of turn. But Grace defends Avery, saying she spoke the truth both of them had ignoring. She assures Peter that his father’s legacy is secure and the foundation is in good hands, that it’s clear that art is his true passion. Grace also suggests that they expand the foundation to also cover the arts. She tells him to stop running from what he wants and to go get her. Peter agrees.
(There have been small scenes where Peter talks with a friend and colleague about Avery while the colleague pesters him to review certain reports. It is made very clear that Peter does not like business and is forcing himself to do this).
Sonya informs Avery that the board has awarded her the full curator position and Avery thanks her. Lucy then tells Avery that someone wants to talk with her about the painting and when Avery goes there, she finds Peter with roses. He apologizes and asks for a second (third?) chance. Avery grants it and they share a kiss.
Nine months later, Emma and Tracy help Avery with the veil as she prepares to marry Peter. They get married in the garden of the art museum and apparently it’s warm in Boston in all year round because it was warm weather during the main movie and it’s warm again now. Go figure.
After the ceremony, Avery brings Emma and Tracy inside and shows them the painting. She tells them to look at the veil the bride is wearing and they realize it is their veil. They realized the history has a longer history than they realize. Emma offers to take the veil with her to Italy since she’s leaving for her art history course there. After checking that Tracy doesn’t want it – she and boyfriend Finn are very happy with the current state of their relationship – Emma gets the veil. Avery thinks Emma will be the next down the aisle but Emma is not looking for love.
I think we all know what’s going to happen but that’s for the sequel. For now, the story ends happily ever after for Avery and Peter.
I thought this was a cute movie that established the premise of the series and let us know what to expect. Hallmark was wise to enlist Chabert, Reeser and Sweeney for this series. Each can easily carry a movie while also working as a group of close friends. The premise of three friends sharing a veil that brings them each love has been fun and I’ve honestly been trying to figure out how to turn this into a fanfic since I first saw it.
Chabert and McGarry had a good chemistry and I find myself rooting for them. The misunderstandings got a bit old by the middle of the movie but thankfully the last one was tied up relatively quickly. I thought the main plot with the painting and gala was also interesting and a good foundation as well.
Next time, we’ll learn more about the veil as Emma explores Italia. History and amor await!
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