Happy anniversary to the Halperts! Ten years after the
union of TV’s cutest couple, the team behind the NBC
comedy reminisces about the secret ceremony, the epic
dance line, and a horse left on the cutting-room floor.
Yes, a horse, that’s what we said. BY DEREK LAWRENCEhorse and rides it into the falls.
DANIELS I was really committed
to the horse for the longest time.
[Laughs] Dwight came up with this
theory that you could survive the
falls if you were riding a horse. He
panics and jumps off the horse at
the last second, while the horse
goes over in the background of the
wedding. Then we got to the table
read and I was the last defender
of the horse; the entire staff and
actors were yelling at me, “Don’t
ruin Jim and Pam’s wedding with
a horse!” I finally backed down.THE DANCE
FEIG This was right when that viral
video came out with this wedding’ s Wedding
group walking down the aisle by
dancing to Chris Brown’s “Forever.”
It was so popular that we went,
“Let’s just re-create that.” It
was a real last-minute addition.
KALING We thought it would be
pretty funny and misguided for
Michael [Steve Carell] to equate
the co-workers of the office
as Jim and Pam’s beloved close
family and friends and do the
same thing. If they hadn’t done
the secret wedding, them coming
down and dancing would have
been horrible.
FISCHER I was actually crying
during the first rehearsal. It’s so
sweet and joyous.
FEIG We were in the church on
a really tight schedule and I had,
like, half an hour. So we threw
that together and it turned out
to be one of the most magical
things we shot on the show. It just
had this energy that was so raw,
because it was all happening for
the first time. That was a real
lightning-in- a-bottle moment that
will always be one of my absolute
favorite things I’ve ever directed.← “It will always be
my greatest honor
to have been
a part of a show
this special,” says
John Krasinski
(with Jenna Fischer
in 2009). “And I still
have that tie!”
(For more Krasin-
ski, see page 105.)
↓ Steve Carell,
Rainn Wilson,
and Phyllis Smith
dance it outTHE PLANNING
MINDY KALING (WRITER/KELLY KAPOOR)
I remember being assigned the
wedding and thinking, “There’s
nothing inherently funny about
two people in love getting married.”
A few days later, Greg Daniels
said he’d love to write it with me.
PAUL FEIG (DIRECTOR) I tended to
get some of the bigger episodes, so
when the wedding came up, I was
given the job—it meant a lot to me.
GREG DANIELS (WRITER/EXECUTIVE
PRODUCER) We wanted it to be like
the Office movie.
JENNA FISCHER (PAM BEESLY) I felt
way more pressure with their first
kiss and engagement. I felt like
the wedding was a celebration.
JOHN KRASINSKI (JIM HALPERT) For
me, it was all about how much fun
I had from the moment I met Jenna.
Our scenes together were always
my favorite part of an episode.
DANIELS Niagara Falls was a classic
wedding destination for 100 years
that got encrusted with a very
commercial feel. It seemed like
a metaphor for the episode in
a sense that on the surface it’s
commercial and crappy, but at
the core it’s romantic and beautiful.
FEIG The original ending was a
big controversy: When they ask if
anybody has reason why this couple
can’t get married, Roy [David
Denman] rides into the church
on a horse to sweep Pam off her
feet. She sends him away, but then
they had this crazy ending where
Dwight [Rainn Wilson] gets the