Ross and Emily’s parents meet, and tensions arise between the two families. Stephen and Andrea Waltham are pleased that the Gellers are covering the wedding expenses, a break from tradition, but Jack Geller feels the costs outlined at their home are exorbitant. Ross steps in to mediate the growing disagreement. Meanwhile, Joey is feeling deeply homesick, despite sharing the role of best man with Chandler. Rachel misses her flight after forgetting her passport, and on the next flight, she irritates the man seated next to her, who is more than willing to express his disagreement throughout the journey. At the rehearsal dinner, Chandler and Monica endure an uncomfortable evening, with Monica doubting if she will ever find a partner.
Did you know ?!
• The set used for Ross and Emily’s wedding is the set that was used for Carol and Susan’s wedding.
• Although the bulk of the 2 part episode was actually shot in the Fountain Studios, in Wembley, London, it wasn’t as well received in the UK as in the USA. Many British viewers regarded the episode as an ill-informed and patronising caricature of the UK and its people, causing the episode to be unofficially labeled “The One Where They Insult the English”. As it so happened, the UK terrestrial TV channel “Channel Four”, which had first-run terrestrial broadcast rights, had proposed a UK based episode to Warner Bros. TV.
• The plane Rachel takes to fly to London is from Virgin Airlines. The guy selling the hats in London in the previous episode is Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group. Notice the Virgin Atlantic hats for sale on the cart.
• According to the creators, many fans have asked if the character played by Hugh Laurie on the plane was Gregory House, from the show House (2004). The creators said it was a nice idea since the character shares similarities with the often grumpy and cynical Greg House, but the Gentleman on the Plane had a British accent (Hugh Laurie’s actual accent), and Greg House is American. The creators have said that this rather significant difference gets missed because fans want to think that was really Greg House on the plane. It also ignores the fact that House did not debut for another six years afterwards.
• June Whitfield, who plays The Housekeeper in this episode and Jennifer Saunders who plays Andrea Waltham were both a part of the show Absolutely Fabulous (1992). On the show they played mother and daughter, although in this episode they do not appear in the same scene.
• When Phoebe calls Mrs. Waltham on the phone and tells her she couldn’t come to the wedding because she was pregnant with her brother’s babies, Mrs. Waltham asks if she is on the radio. This is a reference to the practice in the UK where radio stations would place prank phone calls to people and then play their confused responses from the victims over the air. This practice would come under intense scrutiny later on when someone who had been publicly humiliated in this fashion committed suicide.
• Emily’s uncle (who is also Rachel’s boss at the department store), played by Paxton Whitehead, is noticeably absent from the nuptials. Strange – seeing as how Emily and Ross met through him – and he was close enough to his niece that she stayed with him in NYC just a few months prior in The One with Joey’s Dirty Day (1998)”.
• The bored airline passenger who is listening to Rachel’s lengthy story about her relationship with Ross is holding a book called “Like a Hole in the Head.
• This episode includes a rehearsal dinner followed by an evening wedding the next day, but this is not the way British weddings happen. Weddings usually start around midday, with the ceremony being the first time everyone gets together. Photos at the church or venue usually take place immediately following the ceremony, before everyone moves to the venue the reception is held at and has welcome drinks and then a traditional sit down wedding breakfast (meal). Speeches are after everyone has finished eating, then the couple will then have their first dance, and a buffet is usually served late in the evening, along with wedding cake. Nothing in this episode resembles an English/British wedding at all, it’s obviously very American, even though the episode focuses on Emily’s dream wedding.
• May 7, 1998 was the day this season finale aired AND the day Lisa Kudrow’s son was born.
• This episode is included on the 2000 DVD release The Best of Friends Volume 2.
• The scene where Monica gets out from under the covers, the audience was so shocked that they screamed for a long time and Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox had to hold the same position for 27 seconds and then re-shoot the scene.
• According to the creators, the idea of Ross saying Rachel instead of Emily came when David Schwimmer (Ross) messed up a line where he had to tell Emily the cab was there and he said Rachel’s name instead. They also said that they had no idea what to do to end the wedding until that moment.
• Chandler and Monica sleeping together, was only supposed to be a one night thing. However, the response from the audience was so good that the producers decided to make them a permanent couple.
• This episode marks the beginning of Chandler and Monica’s romantic relationship. The pair would go on to get married in the Season 7 finale.
• As of this episode, Chandler has now seen all three girls’ breasts: He walked in on Rachel topless after a shower in The One with the Boobies (1995), Phoebe flashed Chandler to get hold of the football in The One with the Football (1996), though she was undoubtedly wearing a bra, and he slept with Monica in this episode, therefore seeing her breasts.
