Weddings are the new proms.

Less than a decade ago, the movies were mad for proms. "She's All That," "Jawbreaker," "10 Things I Hate About You" and "Never Been Kissed' were just a few that made moviegoers seem as if they needed to shop for gowns and strappy stilettos.

Now, it's all about weddings, although that could shift to babies. Tomorrow brings Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson as frenemies in "Bride Wars."

On Jan. 16, "Last Chance Harvey" will feature Dustin Hoffman as a jingle writer who flies to London to attend his daughter's wedding, only to discover her stepfather will walk her down the aisle. But he meets Emma Thompson, so it's all good.

In March 20's "I Love You, Man," Paul Rudd plays a newly engaged real-estate agent who discovers he has no male friend close enough to serve as best man. He embarks on a series of "man dates," only to find a great pal (Jason Segel) who endangers his relationship with his fiancee.

On June 12, "The Proposal" will feature Sandra Bullock as a book editor who faces deportation. What's a girl to do? Pretend she's engaged to the assistant (Ryan Reynolds) she's tormented for years. And "The Accidental Husband," once slotted for 2008, could open this spring, too.

More than a year ago, we explored marrying in the movies for a special bridal publication, but another half-dozen films have opened since then. A look at just some of the marriage-minded:

Anne Hathaway is not the betrothed and, for a while, it looks as if she may not even be a guest. She is the bride's sister and a recovering drug addict whose re-entry into the family at the wedding reopens old wounds.

Lesson learned: The rehearsal dinner might not be the time to make amends per the 12-step program, but it's certainly good for an actress's Oscar chances.

Blame that darn Vivienne Westwood wedding gown. Once Carrie Bradshaw traded her sensible (and plain) vintage suit for a breathtaking dress, all hopes for a small ceremony went out the window.

Lesson learned: It's about the marriage, not the wedding, and fairy-tale endings sometimes involve forgiveness.

Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan play decade-long best friends. When she returns from Scotland after six weeks with a fiance in tow, Dempsey agrees to be her male "maid of honor," even as he realizes he's in love with her.

Lesson learned: Of all the days to declare your love for the bride, does it have to be on her wedding day? When you're not the groom.

Katherine Heigl, whose romantic life on "Grey's Anatomy" has taken a bizarre turn, is a single gal who has been a bridesmaid 27 times and has the dresses and parasols to prove it. But she hits the wall when her younger, spoiled sister wins over her boss and secret crush and a persistent reporter questions her always-a-bridesmaid life.

Lesson learned: Payback can be a bitter pill to swallow or wear.

Elisabeth Reaser is a mail-order bride who arrives in Minnesota in 1920 to marry a young Norwegian farmer (Tim Guinee). She speaks no English, and her German heritage and lack of official immigration papers make her an object of suspicion in the years after World War I.

Lesson learned: Language barriers can be breached and love cultivated under the most trying of circumstances.

Robin Williams is a minister who puts a newly engaged couple (Mandy Moore and John Krasinski) through a bizarre marriage prep course that could end in their breakup.

Lesson learned: Better to watch Krasinski's Jim tiptoe toward the aisle with Pam on "The Office" than this lame comedy.

This is a delightful, dizzily imaginative tale about a hapless, spindly legged bachelor who unwittingly marries a dead woman -- on the eve of his wedding to a woman who is very much alive. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter lend their voices to this inventive tale, set in a Victorian-era village and told with stop-motion animation.

Lesson learned: More fun than a Pittsburgh cookie table and none of the calories.

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are divorce mediators who masquerade as invited wedding guests, work the angles and the room, and pick up chicks.

Lesson learned: Never hurts to have someone double-check the guest list or seating chart.

Director Mira Nair infuses her movie about an arranged marriage between an Indian television producer and an engineer living in America with music, marigolds and complications galore.

Lesson learned: Julia Roberts doesn't have to play the bride for the watcher to have a jubilant time.

Nia Vardalos took every Greek wedding she ever attended, including her own, and "on a scale of one to 10, I turned it up to an 11." She is a former frump turned travel agent and college student who meets Mr. Right (John Corbett), despite the fact he isn't Greek and is a -- gasp! -- vegetarian.

Lesson learned: In addition to the curative powers of Windex, love will triumph.

Filmed in the Strip District, it stars Scott Baio as a corporate shark whose heart lies in the bakery he operates with his brother and the elderly Italian couple who live upstairs. When the neighbor, Bella (Rosemary Prinz), becomes ill and laments the fact that her only daughter is single and unsettled, Baio hatches a plan to help.

Lesson learned: It's all the sweeter when food or romance is made from scratch. And don't watch this on an empty stomach, unless you want to order takeout.

Mary Fiore (Jennifer Lopez) is a wedding planner who can calm a jittery bride, feed the best man his lines and diplomatically relocate the guest with the Marge Simpson bouffant. Can she handle a doc (Matthew McConaughey) who seems like her dream date but turns out to be the groom in the biggest job of her life?

Lesson learned: Old-fashioned happy endings haven't gone out of style.

Julia Roberts is a small-town resident with famously cold feet who just may find love with a Manhattan writer (Richard Gere).

Lesson learned: As the almost-father of the bride says, "Wedding cake freezes. This we know."

Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Nia Long. This is one attractive wedding party. But the ceremony may never take place if the groom reads an advance copy of his buddy's tell-all novel.

Lesson learned: Be careful how you research your books and always opt for God, friendship, living in the moment and occasionally basking in a tub sprinkled with rose petals.

Adam Sandler is a jilted wedding singer who begins insulting and frightening guests with his performances. He finds love again with a sweet waitress played by Drew Barrymore who, it turns out, is engaged to a jerk.

Lesson learned: Those 1980s fashions were a nightmare, and double check that your wedding singer isn't coming off a bad breakup.

Roberts, again, stars in this romantic comedy as a restaurant critic who decides that maybe she does love her best friend (Dermot Mulroney) after all. But it's a little late, because he's about to marry that nice Cameron Diaz. Rupert Everett tries to come to the rescue as her faux fiance.

Lesson learned: Nothing saves the day like a rendition of "I Say a Little Prayer."

Kevin Kline is terrific as a teacher who is "outed" by a former student at the Oscars. Even as he's busy assuring his fiancee (Joan Cusack), parents and students that he's not gay, a reporter (Tom Selleck) makes him realize maybe he doth protest too much.

Lesson learned: Just because your fiance loves Barbra Streisand doesn't mean he's gay but ...

This delightful romantic comedy has eight friends, five priests, 11 wedding dresses, 16 in-laws, 2,000 champagne glasses and two people -- Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell -- who clearly are made for each other but may never get together.

Lesson learned: You can never go wrong with Hugh Grant or David Cassidy, from his "Partridge Family" days, of course.

Although everyone associates this Aussie hit with infectious ABBA songs, it has dark undertones. Toni Collette is Muriel, an unhappy, unemployed singleton who tries to reinvent herself and become somebody. In her mind, that means getting married.

Lesson learned: As with "SATC," it should be about the marriage, not the wedding or dress.

Pick your pair. Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor. Or Steve Martin and Kimberly Williams. Both mine the seriocomic bond between doting fathers and their engaged daughters, not to mention doting fathers and their bank balances.

Lesson learned: Women who have fathers to walk them down the aisle are lucky, for starters.

This sophisticated comedy stars Jimmy Stewart as a reporter sent to cover a high-society wedding that doesn't come off as planned -- thanks to soul-searching and champagne-soaked midnight swims. Classy co-stars include Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Lesson learned: As one of the characters wisely remarks, "We all go haywire at times, and if we don't, maybe we ought to."