The One with Ross's Wedding
"The One With Ross's Wedding, Part One" is the twenty-third episode of season four of the television sitcom Friends.
Plot
The Friends pack for London, where they will celebrate Ross's wedding to Emily Waltham. But Phoebe, pregnant with her brother's triplets, is staying home. Rachel has to work, so she can't go either.
In London, Chandler and Joey take to the streets as tourists. Joey, camcorder and pop-up map in hand, immediately embarrasses Chandler with his unfounded enthusiasm. When Joey buys a huge fuzzy top hat with the Union Jack on it (having been told by Richard Branson that all Londoners wear them), Chandler abandons him. He ends up bored and alone in his hotel room. When Joey returns, he apologizes for being impatient. Joey impresses him with a video recording of Sarah, Duchess of York, praising his hat.
Monica, Ross and Emily go in to check up on the hall in which the wedding will take place. It was where Emily's parents got married, and the wedding will be the last event to take place in it before it gets demolished. Unfortunately, they arrive to discover that it's being torn down "a few days early". This is on top of screw-ups on the part of the caterer, florist and musical accompaniment. Monica suggests to Emily that they postpone the wedding until Emily can get everything set up just right. When Emily brings this idea to Ross, he flips out: everyone he invited, after all, had to come over from America. For him, it's now or never. Emily chooses the "never" half. Ross blows up at Monica, but she sets him straight in a tearful monologue:
Ross, how long have you been planning this wedding?
Ross: "I dunno, about a month?"
Emily has probably been planning it since she was five. Ever since she first took a pillowcase and hung it off the back of her head. That's what we did. We dreamed about the perfect wedding...In the perfect place...With the perfect four-tiered wedding cake...With the little people on top...(She starts crying. Ross hands her a Kleenex.) But the most important part was that we had the perfect guy, who understood just how important all that other stuff was.
Together, Ross and Monica salvage the wedding by pointing out how it can still take place in the half-demolished hall: lights, candles, musicians and all. Emily agrees to the idea.
Finally, back home in New York City, Rachel mopes about the apartment, upset over how she left things with Ross. With Phoebe's help, she realizes she still loves him. "Why didn't you tell me??" "We thought you knew!" Phoebe exclaims. Phoebe does her best to make Rachel dislike him, but ultimately fails. Despite Phoebe's (accurate) assessment that Rachel has missed her chance, she leaves for London to tell Ross how she feels. And with that Phoebe closes the door, with her overalls on and starts rubbing her stomach as she leaves out the door.
Additional Cast
- Emily - Helen Baxendale
- Sarah, Duchess of York as herself
- The hat vendor - Richard Branson
Trivia
- On the day this episode aired, Lisa Kudrow gave birth to her son.
- For this episode and part 2 of the story, an exclusive Title sequence would be used, featuring only 1 shot from the usual fountain intro & all the other footage from these 2 episodes.
- The One With Ross's Wedding (Parts One and Two) and The One After Ross Says Rachel are all filmed in front of a British audience.
- Coincidently The piper playing on the show is Steafan Hannigan (the same surname as Phoebe would later have on the show) who, along with piper Michael McGoldrick worked on the music for the episode.
- Richard Branson's guest appearance on the show as a vendor of hats and other touristic items is ironic, as in real life Richard Branson is a billionaire tycoon, owner of the international Virgin Group.