The friends anticipate Phoebe's wedding. Monica has completely taken over the preparations for it, which drives Phoebe crazy. Ross and Chandler compete for the position of Mike's groomsman.
Tropes:
- Big Storm Episode: A blizzard hits New York during Phoebe's wedding, just as Rachel warned.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Phoebe gets more frustrated with Monica for over-complicating the wedding plans and ruining it for everybody instead of giving her the simple wedding she always wanted, and fires her for it. But then it turns out Phoebe did need Monica's high maintenance attitude to ensure the wedding went well, though she could've been nicer about it.
- Bridezilla: Monica becomes a Maid-of-Honor-Zilla and completely takes over Phoebe's wedding. She even wears white to the rehearsal dinner.
- Call-Back:
- Monica is acting as Phoebe's Maid of Honor as the girls agreed back in "TOW The Nap Partners". She's also being every bit as controlling and obnoxious as Rachel predicted she would be in that episode.
- Mike wanted his dog, Chappy, to be a groomsman, but doing the wedding on the street in the snow means someone has to hold him. Chandler's fear of dogs prevents him from doing this.
- When the minister can't make it because of the storm Joey volunteers to take over, pointing out that he's still ordained from peforming Chandler and Monica's wedding.
- Continuity Nod: During her rehearsal dinner speech Phoebe mentions that she and Mike met when Joey set them up on a double date. She even handwaves why Mary-Ellen, the friend Phoebe set Joey up with, isn't at the wedding (she's in rehab).
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Monica let her wedding planning go straight to her head and Phoebe has to call her out for it. But when Phoebe hires her back, and she learns of the blizzard, she willingly drops her overcomplicated plans and gives Phoebe a simpler, much less refined wedding in the snow. Taken literally too, as she flips out at the ice sculpture melting on a steam grate. This after it was mis-delivered to her apartment building instead of the venue.
- Didn't Think This Through: Phoebe fires Monica for her high maintenance attitude, which leaves her without a wedding planner, and she learns just how much can go wrong.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Monica feels Phoebe didn't respect all the work she put into making it successful, so once she's fired, she gives Phoebe all the work, as Phoebe didn't assign the duties to anyone else. Needless to say, things go wrong incredibly fast.
- Exposed to the Elements: Phoebe wears a sleeveless wedding dress in the freezing cold. As soon as the ceremony is over she asks for someone to fetch her coat.
- Give Away the Bride: Phoebe asks Joey to give her away since her stepfather is in prison. When the minister gets stuck due to the blizzard Joey takes over officiating the ceremony and Chandler assumes the job of giving Phoebe away.
- Go to Your Room!: Invoked by Joey when he starts tearing up after Phoebe asks him to give her away in her stepfather's place.Joey: I don't want you to see your father cry, go to your room!
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Joey tries to give Mike one of these talks. Mike doesn't initially take him seriously due to Joey cribbing some lines from a cheesy Mafia movie he auditioned for.Joey: I want you to take this seriously! Phoebe is very very important to me, ok? And I wanna make sure that you are gonna take care of her.
Mike: (gets up) Joe, I love Phoebe. She's the single most important thing in my life. I'd die before I let anything happen to her. - Jerk with a Heart of Gold: No sooner than hearing the news of the blizzard does Monica immediately agree to Phoebe's request to do an outdoor wedding in the snow, giving Phoebe the simple wedding she deserves. Along with reinstating Phoebe's friend Marjorie to play the steel drums.
- Karma Houdini: Monica. Despite her poor wedding planning and worse attitude, she ends up getting exactly what she wants when Phoebe breaks down from stress.
- Loophole Abuse: Joey is able to officiate the wedding because he is still ordained, due to the belief that ministers can ride the subway for free. When Ross says that's not true, Joey retorts he read The Bible very carefully and found a loophole.
- Old, New, Borrowed and Blue: Phoebe decides to ditch her coat for the ceremony despite the thick layer of snow. She jokes that she'll be her own something blue.
- Skip to the End: As Joey officiates the wedding, he does the short version of the ceremony because "the cold has spread to my special place."
- Unconventional Wedding Dress: Phoebe's wedding dress is lavender rather than the traditional white.
- Worst Wedding Ever: Phoebe's wedding day quickly becomes a disaster thanks to the blizzard screwing everything up. The vendors get their locations confused while the officiant, band and photographer are all trapped by the snow. It looks like they're going to have to cancel the whole thing but then Rachel suggests they just have the ceremony out on the street instead.
