The One With Ross' Wedding, Part 2

"The One With Ross' Wedding" is the fourth season finale of Friends, which aired on NBC on May 7, 1998. The plot revolves around Ross and the rest of the group flying to London for his wedding to Emily.
The episode was directed by Kevin S. Bright, with the first part being written by Michael Borkow and the second part by Shana Goldberg-Meehan and Scott Silveri (from a story by Jill Condon and Amy Toomin). Scenes for the episode were shot on location in London and in front of a British studio audience. For many broadcasts (and the DVD release) it is presented as a double-length episode, though sometimes it is aired as two separate parts.
==Plot==
At the rehearsal dinner, Ross' and Emily's parents meet and prove quite antagonistic; Stephen and Andrea Waltham are quite happy that the Gellers have agreed to pay for half the wedding, against their tradition, but Jack feels the list of expenses at their house is highway robbery, so Ross tries to mediate. Joey is terribly homesick, despite playing best man jointly with Chandler, but gets over it when Emily's bridesmaid starts hitting on him. Rachel misses her flight having forgotten her passport, having to run back home and get it, and on next annoys the gentleman sitting besides her to death with talk about Ross, to the point he tells her not only does he consider her planning to stop the wedding to be a horrible thing to do, but that as far as he's concerned she and Ross were definitely "on a break."
Monica tries to be happy for her brother, but her mother is driving her crazy and, even worse, a drunken man mistakes her for Ross' mother. When she gets depressed and drunk, thinking her mother is right and she'll never get married, Chandler tries to comfort her by telling her "Who wouldn't want you?" Next we see of Chandler and Monica, the next morning they are interrupted by Ross running in to celebrate, before it's revealed Monica slept with him.
Phoebe phones Joey to tell him he must warn Ross that Rachel is coming, but she gets straight to him in Montgomery Hall. Rachel spots Ross and Emily sharing a kiss before the wedding, and Rachel decides to congratulate Ross instead of telling him how she feels about him. Rachel, tearfully and sadly congratulates Ross and cries a little as they hug. The wedding goes on, with Joey reporting over the phone to Phoebe. As Chandler escorts Monica down the aisle, they agree that what they'd done the previous night had been stupid, but also agree that he's coming back to her room after. As Rachel watches with teary eyes, Emily says her wedding vows to Ross, but when it's Ross' turn to say his, he inadvertently says 'Rachel' instead of Emily, shocking everyone and angering Emily. As Rachel looks on, the episode (and season) concludes with the minister asking Emily if they should continue.
==Cast and Crew==
===Main Cast===
Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene
Courteney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller
===Supporting Cast===
Helen Baxendale - Emily Waltham
Tom Conti - Stephen Waltham
Jennifer Saunders - Andrea Waltham
Christina Pickles - Judy Geller
Elliott Gould - Jack Geller
Olivia Williams - Felicity
June Whitfield - The Housekeeper
Hugh Laurie - The Gentleman on the Plane
Jane Carr - The Ticket Agent
Daniel Caltagirone - The Waiter
Heathcote Williams - The Older Guest
Peter Eyre - The Registrar
Greg Malins - Man on airplane
===Crew===
Directed By:
Kevin S. Bright
Written By:
Shana Goldberg-Meehan & Scott Silveri
==Trivia==
=== General ===
* Ross and Emily's marriage was originally planned to last longer, but Helen Baxendale did not wish to remain in America while pregnant. The writers could not script a convincing story for why Emily would not be seen, despite being married to Ross, so Baxendale was written out in the next season, making only three cameo appearances after the season premiere.
* The restaurant where the pre-wedding meal is held is not named but is shown as being called Interlude on a transition shot. This restaurant was sold to an Indian restaurant chain in 2000.
* When Joey gives his speech, he quotes from the theme tune to Cheers which he watched in Part One.
* During the scene when everyone enters the wedding hall, just before Judy's line "Oh my God, it's like a fairy land", Jack and Stephen can be seen arguing over the check in the foreground.
* The man that Rachel explains her situation to on the plane (across the aisle, not the man played by Hugh Laurie) has a book in his lap. It is copy of "Like a Hole in the Head" which is the same book Monica reads in "The One With All The Rugby" (S4E15)
* Matt LeBlanc did the "Previously on Friends" voiceover before "The One With Ross' Wedding, Part 1" was briefly summarized.
* As of this episode, Chandler has now seen all three girls' breasts:
** In "The One With The Boobies" (S1E13), Chandler walked in on Rachel topless after a shower.
** In "The One With The Football" (S3E09), Phoebe flashed Chandler to get hold of the football.
** And in this episode, Monica and Chandler slept together, hence he saw Monica naked. This was directly shown in "The One With The Truth About London" (S7E16).
*The DVD involves extra scenes:
**There is an added scene at the airport when Rachel returns with her passport, only to see that the plane was already taking off and the attendant closed the station on her.
**When Phoebe is on the phone with Joey telling him about Rachel, she tells him to do something and he writes it down. In a later scene he is seen looking at what he wrote before he asks Chandler if he knew where Monica was.
**At the rehearsal dinner Phoebe tells Emily's mother that the housekeeper was a bitch.
**When Phoebe is on the phone with the housekeeper, after the housekeeper says "first one identifies oneself and then asks for the person with whom one wishes to speak" and hangs up on her, she was confused about what the housekeeper meant.
**When Joey is walking down the aisle talking to Phoebe, he tells her about Felicity and that he just said hi to her.
**As opposed to the regular episode's credits with the shots of London, the end credits on the DVD involves clips from the episode.
**There is a gag reel at the end including a scene from the next episode.
*The 1997 film Titanic is mentioned when Chandler says that the drunk guy thought he was Leonardo DiCaprio. Chandler also mentions the movie a couple of episodes ago in "The One With The Worst Best Man Ever".
*Although they don't share any scenes in this episode, June Whitfield played the mother of Jennifer Saunders' character in Absolutely Fabulous.
*This two-parter finale is another huge development in Ross and Rachel's relationship. In a year's time they will get drunkenly married in Las Vegas.
*This episode features on the Friends - The One with All the Weddings DVD.
*This episode was used as "L is for London" in the Nick at Nite Friends A-Z Event (January 2023).
=== Goofs ===
* In his speech Joey says "I first met Ross in this coffee house back home." However, they first met at the bar that stood in the spot Central Perk now occupies. ("The One With The Flashback", S3E6)
* When Rachel returns for her passport, Phoebe puts the phone down twice.
* When Rachel leaves for London she doesn't wear a ring, but on the flight she's wearing one.
* When Ross and Emily's parents meet for the first time, Judy Geller makes the joke that this may be the only wedding they get to throw, referring to Monica never getting married. However, Ross was married once before to Carol. However, assuming Ross' wedding to Carol followed the more common tradition where the bride's family pays for the wedding, it's likely that Ross' parents didn't really play any part in throwing that wedding.
* Although the wedding dress Emily is wearing is similar to the one picked up by Monica in "The One With All The Wedding Dresses" (S4E20), it is clearly a different design. What's more, Emily is wearing a matching jacket that was not with the dress Monica picked up, and a tiara instead of the veil Monica wore. Presumably it's different due to Helen Baxendale becoming pregnant. 
*In more recent versions of the episode, the Virgin Atlantic plane flying Rachel to London is in a much more recent livery, which was introduced only in 2010. The livery back in 1998 was very different. This plane is also seen in the next episode as Chandler, Monica and Joey fly back to New York. 
*When the wedding begins, the first bridesmaid walks down the aisle with a man, dressed in the same attire as the groomsmen. He is not seen again, and the only men in the wedding party are Joey and Chandler.
*When Joey and Chandler are discussing Rachel coming to London, the amount the bathroom door is open changes between shots.
* Ross angrily tells the parents "no grandchildren". However he already has a son, Ben, so they already have a grandchild. Perhaps he meant no grandchildren during this upcoming marriage, as presumably the two elder Walthams don't have any grandchildren.
*After Ross separates the fighting parents in the wedding hall, the camera switches to focus on Jack and Judy Geller. During this shot, Ross' mouth is completely out of sync with the lines "From now on..."
*After Chandler finishes his speech and camera shifts to Joey, he is picking up his glass. But in the next shot, he is wiping his hands and putting down his napkin. 
==External links==
* Transcript of the episode including the deleted scenes
* "The One with Ross' Wedding: Part Two" at the Internet Movie Database
* "The One with Ross' Wedding" at Wikipedia
==Episode Navigation==
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