• Adam Sandler as Robbie Hart, a wedding singer
• Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan, a waitress and later Robbie's love interest
• Christine Taylor as Holly Sullivan, Julia's cousin
• Allen Covert as Sammy, Robbie's best friend
• Angela Featherstone as Linda, Robbie's former fiancée
• Matthew Glave as Glenn Gulia, a businessman and bond investor who was Julia's fiancé
• Alexis Arquette as George Stitzer, keyboardist and singer in Robbie's band
• Frank Sivero as Andy, Kate's husband and Tyler's and Petey's dad as well as Robbie's brother-in-law
• Christina Pickles as Angie Sullivan, Julia's mom
• Ellen Albertini Dow as Rosie
• Jodi Thelen as Kate, Robbie's sister and Andy's wife as well as Tyler's and Petey's mom
• Patrick McTavish as Tyler, Andy's and Kate's son and Petey's brother as well as Robbie's nephew
• Gemini Barnett as Petey, Andy's and Kate's son and Tyler's brother as well as Robbie's nephew
• Teddy Castellucci, Randy Razz, and John Vana as the remaining members of Robbie's band
• Billy Idol as himself
• Kevin Nealon as Mr. Simms
• Marnie Schneider as Joyce, Flight Attendant
• Carmen Filpi as Old Man in Bar
• Robert Smigel as Andre
• Todd Hurst as Drunk Teenager
• Peter Dante as David's friend
Other notable appearances include future Queens of the Stone Age musician Michael Shuman as The Bar Mitzvah boy, screenwriter Steven Brill as Glenn's buddy, the film's own writer Timothy P. Herlihy as Rudy, a bartender, model Shanna Moakler as a flight attendant, and Al Burke played the large Billy Idol fan. Also appearing uncredited were Steve Buscemi as David Veltri, Jon Lovitz as Jimmie Moore, and Brian Posehn as Man at Dining Table #9. and Chauntal Lewis as Stuck-Up Girl at Bar Mitzvah.

The Wedding Singer is a 1980s nostalgia film. Adam Sandler had an idea for a comedy about a wedding singer who gets left at the altar, and suggested it to Tim Herlihy. Inspired by the radio show "Lost in the '80s" Herlihy decided to set the film in that decade. Herlihy had not set out to do anything different and thought the script was similar to his previous collaborations with Sandler. The changes came naturally, and he attributed the differences to his recently having gotten married, as well as the chemistry between Sandler and Barrymore. Herlihy was aware that Sandler's previous films had lacked a female perspective, and emphasized the importance of Barrymore. He explained that she was so great in her scenes that test audiences did not complain about Sandler not being in every scene as they had done for his previous films, and as a result more of her scenes survived and were included in the final film. Carrie Fisher, a frequent script doctor, was brought on to make the female part more balanced. Judd Apatow and Sandler also performed uncredited rewrites of the script.

Director Frank Coraci was friends with Sandler since they went to college at NYU and could hardly believe that he and his friends had the opportunity to make films together. Coraci had also gotten over his own experiences of romantic heartbreak a few years earlier and was able to look back on it differently and instead allow it to be funny. Coraci was a fan of director John Hughes and mentioned his films as an important influence.

Barrymore approached Sandler about working together on a film, saying they were "cinematic soulmates" before they had even worked together. Barrymore had a great relationship with Coraci, and praised him for balancing the broad comedy with the important moments of emotion and intimacy. Sandler would often make Barrymore laugh out of context, so that even after a long day, her laughs on camera would be real. In addition, she would not read or hear the songs until the first shoot so that her reactions would be more spontaneous.

Principal photography took place in California from February 3 to March 25, 1997.

The film had a budget of $18 million and made $123.3 million worldwide in ticket sales. It opened in second in the US with $18.8 million, behind holdover Titanic.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "It's decidedly uneven -- and surprisingly sappy for an early Adam Sandler comedy -- but The Wedding Singer is also sweet, funny, and beguiling." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Leonard Klady of Variety wrote: "Director Frank Coraci and scripter Tim Herlihy work in concert to maintain a quality of farce rooted in human comedy." Roger Ebert gave the film a negative review and wrote: "The screenplay reads like a collaboration between Jekyll and Hyde."

Boy George responded to the film, saying that when he saw Alexis Arquette doing an impersonation of him and singing "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", he thought it was hilarious.

The film has frequently been ranked as one of Sandler's best comedies.