The One with Ross's Wedding

Background

Phoebe, heavily pregnant, stays in New York, and Rachel at first declines the invitation because seeing her ex-boyfriend marry would be too hard. In London Joey films everything, buys a Union Flag hat from a street vendor played by Richard Branson and meets Sarah, Duchess of York, while an embarrassed Chandler sulks in their hotel room. The venue Emily chose for the ceremony is being demolished ahead of schedule; after a row in which Emily nearly calls the wedding off, Ross tidies up the half-demolished hall and she agrees to go ahead.

Back home Rachel realises she still loves Ross and flies to London to tell him. At the rehearsal dinner Jack and Judy Geller clash with the Walthams over the costs they have agreed to share, a drunken guest mistakes Monica for Ross's mother, and Monica and Chandler console each other and wake up in bed together. On the plane a passenger played by Hugh Laurie tells Rachel she is about to ruin the happiest day of Ross's life, and that she and Ross were definitely "on a break".

Seeing Ross and Emily kiss, Rachel congratulates him instead, but when Ross says his vows he says "I, Ross, take thee, Rachel", and the registrar asks Emily whether he should continue. The story resumes in the season-5 premiere, "The One After Ross Says Rachel".

The episode was directed by Kevin S. Bright; the teleplays are by Michael Borkow (part 1) and Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Scott Silveri (part 2). It came from a proposal by Channel 4, the show's British broadcaster, to film an episode in the United Kingdom, and was shot in London in March 1998, partly in front of a British studio audience. Lisa Kudrow was too pregnant to fly, so Phoebe's scenes were filmed in Burbank, and she gave birth on the day the episode first aired. She won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in it. Guest stars include Helen Baxendale as Emily, Tom Conti and Jennifer Saunders as Stephen and Andrea Waltham, Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles as the Gellers, Olivia Williams as the bridesmaid Felicity and June Whitfield as the housekeeper.