Charles (Hugh Grant)

The film follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles (Hugh Grant), a debonair but faux pas-prone Englishman, who is smitten with Carrie, an attractive American (Andie MacDowell), whom Charles repeatedly meets at weddings and at a funeral. 

The first wedding is that of Angus and Laura (Timothy Walker and Sara Crowe). Charles and his collection of single friends are concerned that they will never get married. At this wedding, Charles meets Carrie for the first time and spends the night with her, but he regards it as a one-night stand. Carrie teases him by pretending that now they have slept together, they will also have to get married, which Charles endeavors to respond to before realising she is joking. She then goes back home to America, observing that they may have missed an opportunity. This first wedding features Rowan Atkinson in a small role as a trainee priest. 

The second wedding is that of Bernard and Lydia (David Haig and Sophie Thompson), a couple who got together at the previous wedding. Atkinson makes his second appearance, this time as a fully fledged but gaffe-prone priest conducting his first wedding ceremony through his connection as a friend of the family. The reception is not an enjoyable one for Charles. First, he encounters Carrie, who subsequently introduces Charles to her fiancé, Sir Hamish Banks (Corin Redgrave), a wealthy politician from Scotland. Next, Charles finds himself seated at a table with several ex-girlfriends, as well as bumping into Henrietta (known among Charles' friends as "Duckface"), with whom he had a difficult relationship in the past. As the evening wears on, Charles inadvertently finds himself in Bernard and Lydia's hotel suite and is forced to hide in a wardrobe after the newlyweds suddenly stumble into the room, unwilling to delay their "wedding night" any further. He is able to sneak out unnoticed. Believing that Carrie has left the reception with Hamish, Charles later runs into her (without her fiancé), shortly after another emotional encounter with Henrietta. Charles and Carrie end up spending the night together once more. 

During the interim period, Charles receives an invitation to Carrie's wedding in Scotland; while shopping for a present in London he accidentally bumps into her in a shop and ends up helping select her wedding dress. Carrie also astonishes him with a list of more than thirty sexual partners (he learns he is #32). He later tries to confess his love to her and hints that if her marriage is unsuccessful, he would like to have a relationship with her. However, he says it rather lamely, and the confession obviously comes too late. 

The third wedding is that of Carrie and Hamish at a Scottish castle. Charles attends, depressed at the prospect of Carrie marrying Hamish. As the reception gets under way, Gareth (Simon Callow) instructs his friends to go forth and seek potential mates; Fiona's brother, Tom (James Fleet), stumbles through an attempt to connect with the minister's wife, while Charles' flatmate, Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman), strikes up a conversation with a tall, attractive American. As Charles watches Carrie and Hamish dance as husband and wife, he reveals his feelings about Carrie to his friend Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas), who is crestfallen and confesses that she has always loved Charles since they first met years ago. Charles is surprised and empathetic, but does not requite her love. At the wedding Matthew's lover, Gareth, dies suddenly of a heart attack: Matthew (John Hannah in one of his first screen roles) is called but does not reach him before he dies. 

The funeral is that of Gareth. At the funeral, Matthew recites the poem Funeral Blues ("Stop all the clocks...") by W. H. Auden, commemorating his relationship with Gareth.[3][4] After the funeral, Charles and Tom have a discussion about whether finding that one true love is just a futile effort, and ponder that, while their clique have always viewed themselves as proud-to-be-single, Gareth and Matthew had in fact been a "married" couple all the while. 

The fourth wedding is that of Charles, who has decided to marry Henrietta out of desperation. However, moments before the ceremony, Carrie arrives at the church and reveals to Charles that she and Hamish are no longer together. Charles has a crisis of confidence, which he reveals to his deaf brother David (David Bower). At the altar, when the vicar asks if anyone knows a reason why the couple should not marry, David signals to Charles in sign language not to make the mistake of marrying somebody he doesn't love. Charles says no. Henrietta punches Charles and the wedding is abruptly halted. 

At the end, Carrie visits Charles, who is recovering from the debacle, to apologise for attending. Charles confesses that he has finally realised the person he would like to spend his life with is not the woman he was about to marry. Charles makes a proposal of life-long-commitment out of wedlock to Carrie saying 'do you think not being married to me might maybe be something you could consider doing for the rest of your life.' Carrie responds by saying 'I do'. 

The end credits include a montage of photographs documenting the futures of characters in the film. All are shown on their individual wedding days (and Matthew finding love with a new partner), except for Fiona, who is shown (satirically) with Prince Charles. The montage ends with photos of Charles and Carrie, happily unmarried, with a baby boy.