Hallmark Lacey Chabert, Alison Sweeney and Autumn Reeser in "The Wedding Veil Expectations"
For the trio of actresses who star in Hallmark Channel‘s blockbuster “Wedding Veil” series, they say one of the best things about co-starring in the hit movies, which follow the lives and loves of three longtime girlfriends, is how much their real-life friendships have deepened. With “Wedding Veil Inspirations,” the fifth of six movies in the series, set to premiere on January 14, 2023, co-stars Lacey Chabert, Alison Sweeney, and Autumn Reeser have opened up in recent interviews about the ways filming together has impacted their bonds with each other.
Lacey Chabert Says Filming ‘Wedding Veil’ Movies is Like Going to Summer Camp
HallmarkAlison Sweeney and Autumn Reeser talk to Lacey Chabert in “The Wedding Veil Expectations”
The idea for the original “Wedding Veil” trilogy, which aired in early 2022 with record-breaking ratings for Hallmark, came from Chabert, her producing partner Beth Grossbard and writers Sandra and Judith Berg, but took several years to come to fruition.
Chabert got to handpick her co-stars, whom she’d already gotten to know through various Hallmark events and felt a common bond with, she told Forbes.
She explained, “We’re all moms, we’ve all been with Hallmark Channel for a really long time, so we all understand what’s it like to be ‘that girl’ in these movies, you know? We’ve gotten to share so many stories and really support each other.”
Chabert suspected Reeser and Sweeney would make great castmates but didn’t realize spending so much time together on and off the sets would strengthen their real-life connections so much. Filming in distant locations like Greece, Bulgaria, and Italy for weeks at a time meant they leaned a lot on each other, she told Forbes.
“Getting to share a real adventure together has been really special,” she said. “It’s not something that happens every day.”
After filming the first set of movies, Reeser told People, “We all stayed in the same hotel. Ali and I stayed across the hall from each other, and she literally came over to my room to borrow a cup of sugar. I was like, ‘This is so unique. We never get the opportunity to work with each other like this. We all work for the same network, but we never get to do movies together.’ It was a real treat.”
Sweeney said traveling together and chatting over late-night glasses of wine in their hotel rooms allowed them to dive deep into each others’ lives.
“It was such a great female bonding time,” she told People. “You don’t realize until you’re away from all the normal comforts, you can really connect with each other, and we had so much fun.”
In an early January interview with KTLA, Chabert compared the experience to summer camp.
She explained, “When you’re on location, you are really, like, together every minute of the day, all staying in the same place typically. We’re all eating together. It kind of felt like camp. You start speaking in unison! These are the things that happen when you make six movies together.”
When Hallmark Channel execs agreed to film a second trio of “Wedding Veil” movies for release in early 2023, the cast jumped at the chance to work together again and continue the characters’ stories.
Sweeney told KTLA, “When Lacey called me to say that she and the other executive producers had agreed to make more of these movies, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, I want to be part of it again, of course!'”
‘Wedding Veil’ Castmates Applaud Hallmark for Celebrating Female Friendships
HallmarkAutumn Reeser, Lacey Chabert and Alison Sweeney in “The Wedding Veil Expectations”
Though each “Wedding Veil” movie also has an adjacent storyline that caters to Hallmark fans’ love of romance, the films’ stars have applauded Hallmark’s willingness to focus on the importance and complexities of female friendships.
Chabert told Forbes that the movies have become a case of art imitating life since the friends in the “The Wedding Veil” films are different but share strong common bonds, just like her and her castmates.
“Much of what you see on-screen is very much what’s happening in real-life,” she said. “It’s funny, I think that Ali, Autumn and I are very different and yet very much the same, in different ways. We have a lot in common and yet, we also are different and really complement each other. I’ve gotten to get to know them in a deeper way and I’ve enjoyed that so much.”
In a Facebook Live session with the cast on January 6, Reeser said that leaning on the support and advice of close friends is a critical part of navigating romantic relationships, so she’s glad for the chance to showcase that in “The Wedding Veil” movies.
“My friendships in life have been essential to my well-being and particularly when you get into relationships,” she said. “Relationships have ups and downs, and you have to have people that you trust who know you deeply that you can go to, to hold you as you navigate that.”
“That’s what these girls have together,” she added, “and I feel so lucky that I have friendships like this in my life to draw on.”
The fifth movie in the series, “The Wedding Veil Inspirations,” airs January 14 at 8 pm Eastern while the sixth movie, “The Wedding Veil Journey,” premieres on January 21, also at 8 pm Eastern.