The One With Ross's Wedding - Plot

Plot

Part 1 begins as the group heads off to Ross's wedding in London, leaving behind a heavily-pregnant Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), who has declined the invitation. In London, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) go see the sights in a musical montage featuring The Clash's song "London Calling", with Joey filming everything on his camcorder. Chandler becomes embarrassed by his friend's enthusiasm, and after Joey buys a large Union Flag hat from a vendor (played by guest star Richard Branson), they part company. They reunite in their hotel room and Chandler apologizes. Joey impresses him with a video recording of Sarah, Duchess of York (who played herself). Emily takes Monica (Courteney Cox) and Ross to the hall where the wedding will be, but they discover it is being demolished earlier than originally scheduled. Monica later suggests Emily postpone the wedding until everything is perfect. She passes the thought on to Ross, angering him; he tells her people have flown from America to be there and that it is "now or never"; she chooses "never". Monica berates Ross for his insensitivity and Ross apologizes to Emily, showing her the ceremony can still take place in the half-demolished hall that he has tidied up. She agrees. In New York, Rachel realizes she still loves Ross, and flies to London to tell him.

In Part 2, Phoebe tries to contact someone by phone to warn them about Rachel, eventually getting through to Joey at the hotel and stirring up homesickness in him. At the rehearsal dinner, Ross introduces his parents, Jack and Judy (Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles) to Emily's, Steven and Andrea (Tom Conti and Jennifer Saunders). Jack and Judy have volunteered to pay for half of the wedding expenses but when they discover extravagant costs Ross spends much of the evening trying to bargain down his future in-laws. Chandler makes a toast that is not well received by the guests and Monica is taken aback when a drunken guest mistakes her for Ross's mother. She and Chandler console each other over alcohol and wake up in bed together the next morning. Rachel eventually boards a plane, after forgetting her passport, and annoys other passengers (including guest star Hugh Laurie) by telling them about her relationship with Ross. At the hall, she sees how happy Ross is with Emily and just wishes him luck. Phoebe phones Joey to hear the wedding, to the annoyance of Ross. As Ross says his vows, he accidentally says Rachel's name rather than Emily's, leaving a shocked registrar to ask Emily if he should continue, while the camera shoots from character to character, settling on a shocked Rachel.