Parks and Recreation Wedding Episode: The 9 Best TV Weddings Of All Time

Culture

I once wrote a blog post about two friends who I thought were going to get married. I even planned out the menu for their fictional wedding.

Appetizers consisted of mozzarella sticks, taquitos, and absolutely no salad because, well, salad sucks. The entrée was steak. Dessert was deep fried cake. Four Lokos would be on tap for drinks and each table would be stocked with a 12-pack of Mountain Dew and box of Twinkies. The coup de grâce of their wedding was going to come at midnight, when a Skyline Chili stand would come out serving as many chili cheese coney dogs as the guests wanted. It was after I wrote that last sentence that I realized I had planned out the ideal menu for my fictional wedding.

I got to thinking about my fictional wedding last week when Parks and Recreation ended with Ben Wyatt and Leslie Knope (two of my favorite TV characters) deciding to get married and a “To Be Continued” screen appearing. This coming Thursday, in an hour-long special of Parks and Recreation, Ben and Leslie are getting married. While my fictional wedding of the future seems awesome, there have been even better weddings in the world of TV. Without further adieu, here are my nine favorite wedding episodes in TV history.

9. Friends — Monica and Chandler 

The Chandler and Monica wedding was a pretty good one. The vows they read off and ad libbed to each other were touching, and Joey as officiator was the perfect touch. 

8. Seinfeld — George and Susan

It wouldn't be a list of great TV shows without a Seinfeld appearance, right? Even though the wedding never happened between George and Susan, Seinfeld somehow made George Costanza buying cheap wedding invitations and his wife dying because of it funny. For actual wedding material, see the "Yada Yada" episode, in which Jerry's date seriously offends him until end the episode

7. Saved by the Bell — Zack and Kelly

If you're a kid of the 90s, you have to have this episode as one of your favorite weddings. While it may not have been great in terms of content, it was a coronation and belief that Zack Morris had to end up with Kelly Kapowski. Plus, Screech caught the bouquet

6. Boy Meets World — Cory and Topanga

For a show that always managed to pack emotional punch into every half hour, they brought it with the wedding. Like Saved By The Bell, it also was an episode that gave us Topanga and Corey tying the knot like we knew they would all along. Thankfully they did, or else we wouldn't have Girl Meets World coming to TV screens soon. 

5. How I Met Your Mother — Lily and Marshall

The writers of How I Met Your Mother did themselves a disservice when they wrote the string of episodes that captured Marshall and Lily's wedding. They made the relationship that Marshall and Lily have way better than anything main character, Ted, could ever have. This was when the show was at its best, and hopefully when Ted finally meets the mother, they'll bring back some of the charm from Lily and Marshall's wedding.

4. Full House — Aunt Becky and Uncle Jesse

When Full House was at its finest, I was still in that stage where I hated girls. But I loved me some Aunt Becky. She may have been my first crush. I was still happy she got to be with Uncle Jesse, though. The wedding was full of hilarious Uncle Joey impersonations and Danny Tanner holding things down as well. Classic Full House.

3. The Office — Jim and Pam

I'm not one to get too emotional (unless we're watching  Up), but the Jim and Pam wedding episode of The Office tugged at my heartstrings. In my mind, the show had started to decline from its early season charm, but this hour-special was grade-A Office. And when Jim looked into the camera and said, "Plan A was marrying her a long time ago. Pretty much the day I met her," we knew that Jim and Pam were going to be just fine. 

2. Friends — Ross and Emily 

Talk about a botch job, Ross. Guy says the wrong name at the wedding. Most people don't realize that Ross and Rachel weren't the first "will they-won't they?" couple on TV (more like Sam and Diane, am I right, Cheers fans?), and that speaks to how well Friends pulled it off. This wedding was a jaw-dropper. Plus, it left the door open for the relationship everyone wanted: Ross and Rachel and their love child.

1. Parks and Recreation — Andy and April

I am a biased fan, but the reason that this wedding is receiving top billing is simple: It came out of nowhere. The viewer didn't even know the wedding was coming until a third of the way through the episode. The couple had only been dating for a month, yet it made perfect sense that they were getting married. April told us that she hates everything but Andy, and Andy let us know that he was the "luckiest man in the galaxy." It was a sweet episode where a surprise wedding made perfect sense. And it gave us this gif: 

Thursday night's episode of Parks and Recreation may not even end up being the best wedding episode in the series, but the chances are pretty good that Leslie and Ben's wedding will make my Best Of list. The one-hour special airs Thursday at 8:30 p.m. EST on NBC.