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“The story of a wedding day that went terribly wrong…” This quote struck a bit of fear in the hearts of fans that really want to see Barney happily married. Does this imply doom and gloom for the marriage between Barney and his bride? I say no – it actually suggests a happily ever after for this couple! (Spoiler Alert – the name & pic of Barney’s bride can be found below) Let’s look at weddings past to see how bad weddings = good marriages in the world of How I Met Your Mother:
Claudia & Stuart: The Wedding
This is the first HIMYM wedding we see, and many of the complications were actually just due to Ted. He swears he checked “plus one” on his RSVP, while bridezilla Claudia insists he planned to come alone. Ted’s efforts to swing an invite for Robin almost lead to the couple breaking up before the big day. Claudia was also struggling with the wedding cake:
“Yes, I want Tahitian vanilla. You wrote it down wrong? No no no no no, listen to me. If I go to my wedding and the cake is not Tahitian vanilla, I will come down there and burn your little shop to the ground. Do you wanna find out if I’m kidding?! Goodbye.”
Per Stuart, Claudia also called their seven year old flower girl a whore earlier that day. So, clearly, things were not going well. Ted gets Stuart’s okay to bring Robin, but that decision incites a huge fight between the engaged couple. At one point they break up and call off the wedding, but luckily Marshall saves the day with an eloquent reflection on the nature of love and marriage.
Claudia & Stuart: The Marriage
These two probably have the rockiest marriage of any couple on HIMYM, with repeated references to their fights and issues throughout the seasons. Things seems to get better after everyone participates in an intervention for Stuart’s drinking problem, though. They even have a baby now, but it’s worth noting that they bickered through that episode as well. The last time we saw them, however, they were happy married and loving being parents.
Punchy & Kelly: The Wedding
Typical HIMYM wedding hijinks at this Cleveland ceremony! Ted broke down and cried during his best man speech (typical Schmosby!), but Punchy was actually really hoping for that to happen. The bride’s father hated the groom, though, and his feelings intensified upon Marshall accidentally revealing a big secret. Drunk Marshall tries to explain that Ted is crying because Lily is pregnant, but his vague wording led to the discovery that Kelly and Punchy were expecting! I think a fist fight may have ensued afterwards.
Punchy & Kelly: The Marriage
No word yet on how these two are doing, but all signs point to them being happy together.
Lily & Marshall: The Wedding
This wedding was a complete disaster – just about everything went terribly wrong. The flowers arrived late, the photographer had to cancel, Lily’s high school boyfriend (Scooter) showed up to try to get her back, the harp player went into labor during the ceremony, a bridesmaid criticized the wedding dress, Robin misplaced Lily’s special “property of Marshall” wedding panties, her veil was destroyed, the bouncer lost his shirt, and, oh yeah, Marshall got horrible frosted tips that led to him shaving off a clean row of hair right down the middle of his head. Not to mention that the big, flashy, indoor wedding wasn’t even what they wanted in the first place. Luckily, though, they have an intimate wedding outside before the ill-fated ceremony inside.
It’s also worth noting that Lily and Marshall were technically married for like 90 seconds, when a captain performed a brief ceremony aboard a boat in the episode “Atlantic City”. This, along with the outdoor ceremony that Barney officiated, and the disaster wedding noted above, makes for a total of 3 LilyPad and Marshmallow weddings.
Lily & Marshall: The Marriage
One quote: “That’s love, bitch!” This high fiving couple is one of the cutest TV pairs ever. They’ve had their struggles, but their marriage is strong enough to survive anything. The worst wedding in HIMYM history resulted in the best marriage!
Virginia & Clint: The Wedding
This wasn’t the worst wedding in HIMYM history, but it certainly had its low points. Some of the highlights (lowlights?) include Clint’s beautiful painting homage to his wife (the guitar wasn’t there in the real pic, per Ted’s recollection of the day), an epic love song (“and the dragoooooooooooonnnnnnnn…”), and of course when Robin Barney cried. Also there’s that whole part where Virginia’s only son ditched the wedding and disappeared for three days. That’s totally how you want your wedding to play out, amiright?
Virginia & Clint: The Marriage
Again, so far so good. We’ve seen them briefly since the wedding, and they seem to be a match made in HIMYM heaven. This might just be because they’re usually baked, though. Future Ted does note that Virginia marrying “Grandpa Clint” was the best thing she ever did, so it’s safe to say they’re a happy pair.
James & Tom: The Wedding
There don’t seem to be too many mishaps during the actual ceremony, but there were some struggles beforehand. Those mainly originated from Barney’s concern at James becoming…gasp…monogamous!
James & Tom: The Marriage
They have two adorable children and are still together as of season 7, so it looks like things are going well. There is a pesky little issue of Tom being portrayed by two different people, but we can let that slide. :)
Excluded Weddings: I didn’t include Ted and Stella’s wedding, or Claus and Victoria’s wedding, because neither of those have thus far resulted in an actual marriage.
Robin & Barney: The Wedding
It looks like this wedding will be full of mishaps and confusion, but the writers have assured us that the couple will end up in wedded bliss together. Based on my research on prior HIMYM weddings, I’m hoping for a craptastic wedding where everything goes wrong – so that everything will go right in their marriage. :)
TV Guide: So it had to be Robin, right?
Craig Thomas: Right? It had to be Robin. That’s how we felt.TV Guide: Not only because of her history with Barney, but Ted — otherwise why start this story by telling his kids how he met Robin?
Thomas: Yeah, it comes back around. It’s like at that wedding, he fully lets [Robin] go and can then meet the love of his life. … There’s also some stuff to play with Ted dealing with [them getting married]. Robin’s a very incendiary presence in this group’s life.We don’t want to give away too much. Remember: Barney and Robin’s wedding won’t be smooth, but they will get married.
–How I Met Your Mother Boss on Barney’s Bride: “It Had to Be Her”