[IMG:L]Meredith and McDreamy … will they or won’t they? They’re “planning” to in this week’s 100th episode of Grey’s Anatomy, but even the best of planned I Do’s go bust and the worst of I Do’s were busted all along. The best of TV nuptials, however, remain magical even today …
Kelly Gaines & Woody Boyd
(Cheers)
The Wedding Date: May 14, 1992
Why It Was an Affair to Remember: It’s the best TV wedding we didn’t actually see. Most of the Kelly-Woody wedding episode took place in the kitchen of the Gaines mansion, as Sam and the Cheers regulars were hired to provide the libations for the day. Instead, the gang had to keep Kelly’s dad from finding out Woody (Woody Harrelson) and Kelly (Jackie Swanson) had consummated their marriage before actually getting married, try to repair Kelly’s dress, try to keep everyone from finding out the minister had died (by hiding his body in a dumbwaiter), and try to get Kelly’s drunken uncle — who hated weddings — to perform the ceremony. Kelly and Woody eventually get hitched, but not, obviously, without a lot of hitches along the way.
KEEP READING: Not so ‘friendly’ nuptials… [PAGEBREAK]
Emily Waltham & Ross Geller
(Friends)
The Wedding Date: May 7, 1998
Why We’d Say Adieu to These I Do’s: These little words: “I take thee Rachel …” Sure, Ross ‘n’ Rachel fans wanted the two to reunite — did anyone ever really warm up to the rather frosty Emily (Helen Baxendale)? — but having Ross (David Schwimmer), who’d already been divorced once and was sharing custody of his kid with his ex-wife and her lesbian lover, get himself into a situation where another divorce was all but guaranteed — it was a huge disservice to the character. And, while it’s true that the whole fiasco led to the creation of one of the all-time best sitcom couples — Monica and Chandler — even the uptight Emily deserved better than hearing her would-be hubby announce his intentions to marry another woman at her own wedding!
KEEP READING: A hospital-based wedding with heart… [PAGEBREAK]
Carla Espinosa & Christopher Turk
(Scrubs)
The Wedding Date: May 4, 2004
Why It Was an Affair to Remember: No good — or bad for that matter — comedy wedding goes off without at least a few trials and errors. In Carla (Judy Reyes) and Turk’s case, the wedding ceremony didn’t go off at all, thanks to Turk’s plan to work overtime to earn extra time for the honeymoon, and his late arrival at the church … the wrong church. Carla wigged, but, despite some funky shrimp that took out the wedding band, Dr. Kelso’s insistence on calling them “The Turkletons” and oh, yeah, the non-ceremony, Carla, Turk (Donald Faison) and all their hospital buddies got down and boogied at the reception, along to Beatles tunes played by Ted’s band, The Worthless Peons.
KEEP READING: Sex and the ceremony… [PAGEBREAK]
Charlotte York & Trey MacDougal
(Sex and the City)
The Wedding Date: August 27, 2000
Why We’d Say Adieu to These I Do’s: Charlotte (Kristin Davis) looked beautiful — and Trey (Kyle MacLachlan) was no slouch in his Scottish kilt, either — but the marriage was doomed from the beginning … actually, from the wedding. The prim and proper Charlotte thought she’d met her dream guy in rich, handsome doctor Trey, and even in the face of his sexual problems and obvious momma’s boy issues, Charlotte refused to let go of the idea of Trey as her ideal. Even a panic attack right before she was about to walk down the aisle — it took a lie from pal Carrie to calm her down — didn’t stop Charlotte from going through with the wedding march, which made the whole affair sad and a little creepy.
KEEP READING: Charlotte’s second shot… [PAGEBREAK]
Charlotte York MacDougal & Harry Goldenblatt
(Sex and the City)
The Wedding Date: August 10, 2003
Why It Was an Affair to Remember: Charlotte (Kristin Davis) thought she’s found her dream dude in handsome doctor Trey MacDougal, and that marriage had turned out to be a disaster. But it also brought her to her down-to-Earth true love, Harry (Evan Handler), who she met when he represented her in her divorce from Trey (and Trey’s meddling mama, Bunny). Harry did not have the gorgeous head of hair (he was bald) or impeccable manners (he liked to sit, sweating and naked, on Charlotte’s pricey furniture) of Trey, but he was a sweet, endearing and, yes, sexy guy who loved Charlotte with all his heart, and that was enough to make her convert to Judaism and walk down the aisle a second time, sporting a gorgeous Badgley Mischka gown and the hella-big rock Harry had placed on her finger.
KEEP READING: True love with a dark past… [PAGEBREAK]
Laura Webber Baldwin & Luke Spencer
(General Hospital)
The Wedding Date: November 16, 1981
Why We’d Say Adieu to These I Do’s: Yes, they’ve become one of TV’s all-time most popular supercouples — probably the daytime supercouple. Thirty million viewers tuned in to see their fantastic wedding, with most of the town of Port Charles in attendance. And even an appearance by Laura’s ex, Scotty Baldwin, who threw down with Luke (Anthony Geary) and claimed he was still married to Laura (Genie Francis), couldn’t derail the couple’s happy day. But, almost 28 years later, there’s one teeny little detail about the Laura ‘n’ Luke relationship that bothers us … he raped her! Yes, the show has addressed it time and again, with even the couple’s kids having to deal with learning the shocking truth that their mother had been raped by their father and then had fallen in love with him, but it doesn’t change the fact that the rape was the pair’s beginning, and everything that came afterwards can’t gloss over that.
KEEP READING: Here’s the story … [PAGEBREAK]
Carol Tyler Martin & Mike Brady
(The Brady Bunch)
The Wedding Date: September 26, 1969
Why It Was an Affair to Remember: Carol (Florence Henderson) and Mike (Robert Reed) might have guessed that merging their two bunches — three boys, three girls, a dog, a cat and an Alice — into one Bunch would be chaotic, but they probably didn’t think it would begin at the wedding. Said dog, Tiger, interrupted the ceremony when he began chasing said cat, Fluffy, across the laps of the weddings guests, over the buffet set-up and under the table holding the wedding cake, which slid down to the ground and ended up covering Mike in white frosting. The newly-wed Bradys would also end up taking the brood on their honeymoon with them, and that was the beginning of a family affair that would have generations of TV viewers wishing their family was like the Bradys.
KEEP READING: Saved by the church bells! [PAGEBREAK]
Kelly Kapowski & Zach Morris
(Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas)
The Wedding Date: October 7, 1994
Why We’d Say Adieu to These I Do’s: A comedy of errors – Zack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Slater and Screech arrested as car thieves, Kelly (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen) and Lisa trapped in the desert when their car breaks down, Screech working as a male escort — plagued the Bell gang as they headed off to Las Vegas for the Bayside High sweethearts’ wedding. That might have been appropriate in keeping with the ups and downs of their on-again, off-again relationship, but the antics went too far when the gang got mixed up with a Vegas mobster and had to hide in a wax museum. After all that, Zack’s parents (who were initially against his marriage) showed up in time to give their approval and pay for a ceremony in the park, complete with Mr. Belding and Jessie Spano in attendance, but it was only in the last few minutes that the made-for-TV movie paid homage to the Kapowski-Morris romance. You know, the whole reason the movie, which also served as the series’ finale, was made. Besides, who goes to Vegas and gets married in a park?!
KEEP READING: ‘Everybody Loves’ love! [PAGEBREAK]
Amy McDougall & Robert Barone
(Everybody Loves Raymond)
The Wedding Date: May 19, 2003
Why It Was an Affair to Remember: Amy (Monica Horan) had certainly been patient in waiting out her OCD boyfriend’s reluctance to commit — not to mention his fling with the gorgeous Stefania — and when the big day did arrive, it was not without plenty of interference from the delightfully dysfunctional Barone clan. Amy knew what she was getting into, though, especially after watching future sister-in-law Deb’s prickly relationship with Robert’s (Brad Garrett) mom Marie. So it was fitting that she decided humor was the best way to deal with the Barones, as evidenced by Amy and Robert’s wedding dance: They eschewed the traditional slow number to rock out to a groovy JXL remix of Elvis‘ “A Little Less Conversation.”
KEEP READING: Not so Happy Days… [PAGEBREAK]
Lori Beth Allen & Richie Cunningham
(Happy Days)
The Wedding Date: May 5, 1981
Why We’d Say Adieu to These I Do’s: He showed up as a guest star when his TV sister, Joanie, got married in the series finale, but Happy Days star Ron Howard was MIA for the wedding of his own character. Instead, Army man Richie had to marry his longtime girlfriend Lori Beth “by proxy,” meaning the Fonz stood in for him as he and Lori Beth (Lynda Goodfriend) got married via a long-distance phone call. The convoluted circumstances that led to the unsatisfying nuptials: Richie was stationed on a “secret base” in Greenland, meaning his family couldn’t come to him for a wedding; Richie was denied a leave to go to Milwaukee for a wedding; and Lori Beth couldn’t go to the base to get married because she wasn’t yet Richie’s wife. OK, sorta comical, but a big disappointment for fans who would have liked to see one of TV’s most endearing characters, and stars (Howard), tie the knot.
KEEP READING: A royal spectacle… [PAGEBREAK]
BONUS REALITY COUPLE!
Diana & Charles
(The Royal Wedding)
The Wedding Date: July 29, 1981
Why It Was an Affair to Remember: It was a real-life fairytale wedding. Twenty-year-old Diana Spencer wed Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, in front of 750 million people watching globally on TV, and every detail of the day was memorable, from her ride to the church in a glass coach, her dress covered with 10,000 pearls and Spencer family tiara to her refusal to say the word “obey” in her vows and her mix-up when repeating Charles’ name during the vows (seriously though, the dude has a lot of names). It didn’t take long before rumors were rampant that the marriage was in serious trouble, despite producing two heirs, and the royals divorced in 1996, followed by Diana’s shocking tragic death in 1997. But the couple’s grand ’80s nuptials held up as the wedding of the century.
KEEP READING: Marriage, reality TV-style… [PAGEBREAK]
BONUS REALITY COUPLE!
Trista Rehn & Ryan Sutter
(Trista & Ryan’s Wedding)
The Wedding Date: Televised on December 10, 2003 (the wedding actually took place on December 6, 2003)
Why We’d Say Adieu to These I Do’s: The Badgley Mischka gown, Kenneth Cole tuxes, Mindy Weiss wedding planning, Stuart Weitzman shoes, Lenox china, Louis Licari salon hair, Laura Mercier makeup, Tacori rings … everything about the Rehn-Sutter, ahem, production, was a top-notch, made-for-TV affair. Which was sorta the problem. We can respect the cash situation — weddings are expensive and getting all those goods gratis was not a bad deal at all. But for a couple whose relationship had begun, and largely played out, in a very public setting, it might have been more special, and personal, if 26 million people hadn’t been invited to tune in to watch them say “I do.”
