How I Met Your Mother Wiki
Register
Advertisement
How I Met Your Mother Wiki


The Wedding
HIMYM episode 1x12 (12)
The Wedding
First aired:
January 9, 2006
Director:
Pamela Fryman
Writer:
Kourtney Kang
Barney's Blog

Images (9)

Ted invites Robin to be his "plus one" at a wedding but his plans lead to unexpected trouble with the bride and groom.


Recap[]

Ted worries about finding a date for his friends Claudia and Stuart's black-tie wedding. Ted remembers getting the invitation months ago and checking on his RSVP that he would be bringing a guest. When Robin announces that she and her boyfriend, Derek, have broken up, Ted decides to invite her to the wedding and she accepts. But when Ted runs into Claudia two days before the wedding and mentions that he is bringing a date, Claudia tells him that he did not check that he was bringing a guest on his RSVP card and she forbids him from bringing a date. Ted tries to tell Robin that he will not be able to take her to the wedding, but he chickens out when he sees Robin in the dress that she bought specially for the wedding.

When he tells Lily his problem, Lily suggests that Ted ask Stuart if he can bring a date. Stuart says that, of course, Ted can bring a date. Ted is excited that he and Robin will have a romantic evening that might lead to their getting together until Claudia calls to say that the wedding has been canceled. Apparently Stuart telling Claudia that he said that Ted could bring a date led to a huge argument and the couple broke up. Concerned about their friends and not wanting to disappoint Robin, who is really looking forward to the wedding, Marshall and Ted go to talk to Stuart and Lily goes to comfort Claudia at MacLaren's.

Stuart tells Ted and Marshall that he realized that he missed being single. Ted tries to assure Stuart that everyone has doubts about commitment, but those doubts shouldn't keep him from getting married. But when Ted asks Marshall to back him up, Marshall tells Stuart that he shouldn't get married, that if making a commitment to Claudia wasn't easy then she isn't the one for Stuart. At MacLaren's Barney finds Claudia who is waiting for Lily and offers her fake sympathy and a lot of alcohol, trying to sleep with her. Lily pulls Barney away from Claudia just as Stuart arrives with Ted and Marshall. Because of Marshall's words, Stuart apologizes to Claudia and the couple gets back together. With a few more drinks, Claudia finally agrees to allow Ted to bring a date.

The night of the wedding Ted arrives at Robin's apartment to pick her up, but just before they leave Robin receives a phone call. Her producer is calling to offer her the opportunity to anchor the news that evening. Though disappointed, Ted tells her to go to work. Ted goes to the wedding alone and Claudia shows him his RSVP and it proves that, contrary to his memory, he did indeed check that he would be attending alone. Thinking that mistake revealed that he really had given up on finding someone, Ted tells Barney that he is ready to just be single when he meets eyes with a pretty woman across the room.

Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily begin planning their wedding, but they disagree about what kind of ceremony to have. Lily wants an outdoor wedding while Marshall wants an indoor wedding with a band. But at Claudia and Stuart's wedding, they finally agree on something: crab puffs.

Continuity[]

Future References (Contains Spoilers)[]

  • Based on Zip, Zip, Zip's opening narration and first scene, the wedding likely occurs on Friday night. Thursday night is possible, but less likely based on the events of Drumroll, Please, which require the gang to be off work.
  • In Drumroll, Please, Claudia mentions vodka and cranberry juice, revealed to be her favorite drink here, being expensive at the airport.
  • Ted claims that Claudia is crazy for forbidding him from bringing a guest to the wedding, Barney says, "But to be fair, she's also hot." Barney would later introduce the Hot/Crazy Scale in How I Met Everyone Else, which claims that a girl's craziness can be cancelled out by her level of hotness.
  • In the flashback to Robin's revelation that she was also at the wedding in Drumroll, Please, she is in the same dress that she buys for it here.
  • When Ted runs into Claudia on the street, she is on the phone with her cake maker, whose shop she threatens to burn to the ground if her wedding cake is not Tahitian Vanilla. Victoria was apparently on the receiving end of this threat, as she is revealed to have made the cake in Drumroll, Please.
  • The Perfect Bride magazine from which Lily reads the article on outdoor weddings can also be seen in Cupcake.
  • When Robin is offered the opportunity to anchor the news, she asks, "What happened to Sandy?" Anchor Sandy Rivers first appears in Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M. and is a recurring character throughout the series.
  • When Barney threatens to revoke Ted's "dude membership", Ted retorts by asking how his manicure was. Barney getting manicures comes up again in Atlantic City​, Single Stamina​, and The Fight​.
  • Robin is seen listing the people she slept with before Ted in Slap Bet​, and she mentions Derek being the last one before him. After breaking up with Derek here, there is, indeed, no mention of her sleeping with anyone else before getting together with Ted in Come On​.
  • Ted says that Claudia is crazy after arguing with her over whether or not he checked "plus one" on his RSVP, to which Barney replies, "But to be fair, she's also hot", which may refer to Barney's Hot-Crazy Scale from How I Met Everyone Else​.
  • While Marshall implies that he does not believe Ted and Robin will end up together, he apparently changes his mind by No Pressure, where it is revealed that he bet Lily that they will.

Gallery[]

For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:The Wedding images.

Memorable Quotes[]

Marshall: You know what, excuse me if I don’t wanna get married barefoot next to Lake No-One’s-Gonna-Drive-That-Far. Yes, I want a ballroom. And I want a band, and I want shoes. I’ve been dreaming about this day ever since I was, like —
Lily: A little girl?


Ted: Okay, guys, I gotta say something, I think my feelings for Robin may be resurfacing.
Lily: Oh, please, they were buried in a shallow grave.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode marks the first appearance of Stuart, Claudia and Victoria.

Goofs and Errors[]

  • In the wedding invitation shown at the very beginning of the episode, the wedding is announced for "Saturday, the tenth of February, two thousand and five", although the year 2006 commenced in the previous episode and in neither of these years was the tenth of February a Saturday.
    • Additionally, the invitation says the wedding will take place at three in the afternoon, but Ted tells Robin he will pick her up at five. What's more, when he does pick her up it is visibly dark outside.
  • When Lily is on the phone to Claudia, she says to meet her at Maclaren's, which is less than a five minute walk from the apartment. However Claudia manages to arrive, get bought a drink by Barney and nearly get seduced by him before Lily arrives.

Allusions and Outside References[]

  • After Ted goes around the bride to get permission to bring a date, Marshall suggests that he do other stupid things, like "feed a gremlin after midnight." This phrase references the care instructions for the creatures in Gremlins, which included keeping them out of sunlight, not getting them wet, and not feeding them after midnight.
    • Those rules are mentioned again when Barney associates them with girls in Definitions​.
  • When trying to convince Stuart to marry Claudia, Ted mentions Dr. Phil, a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw.
  • When Claudia and Stuart are fighting, the fight is fast forward and Stuart is seen throwing a blue remote, also seen in movie, Click.

Music[]

  • Soul Meets Body - Death Cab for Cutie. The song is heard during the original airing of the episode, but the song does not appear on the DVD.
  • Garth Michael McDermott - Records to Your Rivals. This song appears in the DVD version at the scene when Robin gets the call from the job and she has to go.
  • Laundry Shop - by Fuck. This song is heard in Netflix version at the scene when Robin gets the call from the job and she has to go.

Other Notes[]

  • The wedding plans that Lily desires -- simple and outdoors -- are very similar to the plans that Alyson Hannigan said that she wanted for her own wedding.[1]

Guests[]

Reception[]

  • The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8 out of 10 stars. "Weddings continue to be a great place to meet someone special. "Could Victoria be Ted's kids' mother?"

References[]

External links[]


Previous episode
The Limo
The Wedding
(all episodes)
Next episode →
Drumroll, Please
Advertisement