"The One with Ross's Wedding" features supporting roles from Tom Conti, Jennifer Saunders, Elliott Gould, Christina Pickles and Olivia Williams, and cameos by Richard Branson, Sarah, Duchess of York, Hugh Laurie and June Whitfield.
[citation needed] 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 because it would be too hard for her to see her ex-boyfriend get married.
Chandler becomes embarrassed by his friend's enthusiasm, and after Joey buys a large Union Flag hat from a vendor (Richard Branson), they part company.
Joey impresses him with a video recording with Sarah, Duchess of York (who plays herself), but quickly becomes homesick after a phone call from Phoebe.
Emily takes Monica (Courteney Cox) and Ross to the church where the wedding will be, but they discover it is being demolished earlier than originally scheduled.
[1] 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.
Eventually, one of the passengers (Hugh Laurie) has enough of this, and calls her out on her selfishness, pointing out that while Rachel claims to love Ross, she is going to ruin the happiest day of his life, and she should accept how things are.
[1] During the summer hiatus of 1997, the producers were contacted by Channel 4, the British first-run broadcaster of Friends, with a proposal to film an episode in London.
[2] Casting Director Leslie Litt said Musician Paul McCartney was approached to play Emily's dad, but he declined as he was busy at the time.
Further cameos were made by Sarah, Duchess of York as herself, Richard Branson as the vendor who sells Joey a hat, and Hugh Laurie as the man sitting next to Rachel on the plane.
Scripts for the two episodes were recovered from a bin by a Fountain Studios member of staff following taping, and it was reported in 2024 that they were sold for auction in Hertfordshire, England for £22,000 (approximately $28,100).
It was the third highest-rated show on NBC that week, following Seinfeld and ER – all of which aired on the network's Thursday night Must See TV lineup.
[16][17][18] Entertainment Weekly gives the episode an A rating, calling it a "near-perfect finale that finds everyone at the top of their game" with a "tantalizing cliff-hanger, and, in Chandler and Monica, a relationship that will have reverberations for seasons to come".
[24] At the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards, Lisa Kudrow won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work in the episode.