4. F.r.i.e.n.d.s. The One With Ross's Wedding
May 7th, 1998. Ross Geller & Emily Waltham The episode features Ross, Monica, Joey, Chandler and later Rachel travelling to the United Kingdom, to attend the wedding of Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) to his British fiancée, Emily Waltham (Helen Baxendale) in the country's capital city, London. If Seinfeld blazed onto the prime time scene as the unkempt bad boy and rebel without a cause, then Friends is the former's lovelorn, teen friendly, little emo brother. Over it's ten year run from September 1994 to May 2004 the show succumbed to the base urge of pulling off a wedding stunt about every three years or so. Even though many contend that Chandler and Monica's season 7 wedding is the most "Friends" wedding of the bunch, since it's the only one to truly unite two of the six leads in honest and sober matrimony, their is no doubt that the genesis of the shows success is found in the strained relationship between Ross and Rachel. It is because of this, that Ross' wedding to Emily is probably the most shocking and loved wedding episode of the entire series. Romantic tension between Ross and Rachel began from the series onset. Ross was introduced as having a crush on Rachel since high school despite the fact that he's about one year older than she is and by season 4 tensions had reached a fever pitch. The potential for romance built up in season 1. By the beginning of season 2 Rachel realized her love for Ross but he was in a committed relationship with a girl called Julie. By episode 7 of season 2, the sexual tension was palatable on the lips of tween girls and their 20 something older sisters across the 52 states and territories (that's right, Puerto Rican's dug the Ross and Rachel thing, and don't get me started on Columbians...) Anyways by the end of episode 7 they kiss to a rousing riff reminiscent of U2's with or without you... They break up in season 3, and pull an on again off again thing for the next seven years, ending in a suggested re-kindling of the relationship in the end of season 10. In the middle of it all, in season 4, after dating in the beginning of the season, and breaking up again "for good this time" (not by a long shot) Ross meets Emily. She's the daughter of Rachel's boss at Bloomingdale's. A romance blooms and the two get engaged. By the end of the season it's off to London for five of the six friends who assist Ross's Wedding. Rachel takes the last minute decision to join the celebration, her actual desire is to throw the kibosh on the whole thing. Dr. House before the steady pay, but some time after 101 Dalmations, makes a special appearance, and by special we mean, one of three working gigs, all of which concluded in under 15 minutes of screen time. At the end of the episode, Ross and Emily's wedding vows are ruined when Ross accidentally says "I, Ross, take thee Rachel"; everybody in attendance is shocked, especially Emily. As the registrar asks Emily if he should continue, the episode fades out, ending on a cliffhanger. It's a classic Friends mix up, and that's why we love these guys... Also, an honorable mention must go to the series' quirkiest couple, Phoebe and Mike for their winter wonderland wedding, in a snow storm on the streets of New York outside Central Perk...
