The television wedding comes in many forms. Some, like the royal weddings of Princess Diana/Prince Charles, or Princess Kate/Prince William, are public spectacles. Others, like that of the first Bachelorette Trista to her chosen Ryan, are public spectacles.

But those are the “real life” weddings. Television also brings us the blessed unions of characters we have come to know and love. Sometimes these are welcome events, ones we, as loyal viewers, have been awaiting ever since the meet cute. Others are merely plot devices, a new way to frame an old dilemma, or a new setting.

The show Friends, which lasted ten seasons — ten seasons with a fully intact original cast — hosted a multitude of weddings or almost-weddings. When I sat down to research this piece, I had three in mind: Monica and Chandler (pictured above), Ross and Emily, and Phoebe and Mike. But there were many, many, more. These weddings each served very different purposes for the show. Come with me on a journey through the many Big Days Friends allowed its cast to witness, in chronological order. Because there are so many, we’ll do the first batch today, and the second batch tomorrow. Warning: SPOILERS after the jump. Read the rest of this entry →