How I Married Your Mother

Another great US sitcom has drawn to a close, and with it came many surprises! But this is not a review of How I Met Your Mother’s final episode, it is a recap of the beautiful weddings and relationships that made it memorable.

Marshall Eriksen and Lily Aldrin

Lilypad and Marshmallow are one of my all time favourite couples. College sweethearts who are in no way perfect but are absolutely perfect for one another. During the show’s nine seasons we saw them overcome many a fork in the road, but they always chose each other.

At the start of episode 21 ‘Something Borrowed’ in Season 2, Ted says “The wedding you set out to have is almost never the wedding you end up with”, and as the episode goes on, the intimate wedding they wanted turns into a much larger event where many things go wrong, including an ex crashing the wedding, no photographer, late flowers, a trashed veil, a harpist in labour and a groom with a shaven head.

Despite it all, they end up having the intimate outdoor wedding they wanted as they meet at the gardens before the official ceremony, with Barney officiating their first marriage of the afternoon. In a stunning Monique Lhuillier gown, Lily marries Marshall with just their close friends present, the music of an acoustic guitar and words of love in place of written vows.

Barney Stinson and Robin Scherbatsky

The 9^th season of the series (excluding the finale) is a countdown to Barney and Robin’s nuptials, two people who through the series are portrayed as the most unlikely to marry, yet against all odds they do, with the wedding taking place in episode 22 ‘The End of the Aisle’.

Although it’s Barney and Robin’s big day, one of the most inspiring moments comes from Marshall and Lily, when they realise they have broken every vow they made to each other and decide to update them because as Marshall said “wedding vows need to be real commitments”.

“I vow to keep updating them as we go, because one set of vows, it can’t cover a lifetime of growing and changing with you, of raising children with you, falling more and more in love with you every day, which is what I vow to do for the rest of my life.”

Barney is inspired by his friends’ moment and makes only one vow to his wife-to-be: to always be honest with her, and during a ceremony at Long Island’s Farhampton Inn, which sees Robin walk down the aisle in the beautiful Monique Lhuillier ‘Addie’ dress, followed by a ring bear (yes an actual bear), they become man and wife, despite the many twists and turns in the run up to that legendary day.

Ted’s wise words at the end of the episode lingered with me: “None of us can vow to be perfect, in the end all we can do is promise to love each other with everything we’ve got, because love is the best thing we do”.

Ted Mosby and Tracy McConnell (The Mother)

Nine years is quite the build up for one wedding. Throughout the show, viewers patiently waited to meet ‘The Mother’, and with the final season offering many flash forwards to how they fell in love, the finale of the series finally sees Ted marry the woman he searched for all his adult life, the woman of his dreams, his perfect match.

Although Ted and Tracy originally plan a lavish wedding in a 17^th century castle in France, a baby bump changes their plans and the celebration is postponed, but fear not because the episode reveals that seven years and two children later, the couple finally tie the knot in a simple and heart-warming ceremony.

On a Thursday afternoon, the gang gets together at MacLaren’s Pub for pre wedding drinks, and Tracy makes and appearance to capture the moment, looking breathtakingly stunning in her elegant vintage strapless gown. The ceremony takes place during a voiceover from Ted, and I’m certain many hearts skipped beat when he finally kissed his bride.

“It was at times a long, difficult road, but I’m glad it was long and difficult because if I hadn’t gone through hell to get there, the lesson might not have been as clear. You see kids, right from the moment I met your mom, I knew, I have to love this woman as much as I can, for as long as I can and I can never stop loving her not even for a second”.