The 16 most HBO weddings in HBO history

Here's a toast to the many times the network has turned the happiest day in one's life into depressing, traumatic, bloody, unromantic, and always compelling TV

By Saloni Gajjar, Drew Gillis, William Hughes, Tim Lowery, Matt Schimkowitz | June 16, 2023 | 3:00pm

TV Features Wedding

Photos: Succession (David Russsell/HBO),Girls (Screenshot/HBO) Search Party (Jon Pack/ HBO Max) Game of Thrones (Helen Sloan/ HBO), Sex and the City (Screenshot/ HBO) Graphic: The A.V. Club

HBO is known for a lot of things: great programming, relative creative freedom, nudity that arguably veers toward gratuitous. But a lesser-discussed facet of the network’s TV output is that its creators seem to love having weddings that are anywhere from totally depressing to completely disastrous. There are obvious narrative reasons to include a wedding (or two or three) in a TV show. The event is generally a pivotal moment in someone’s life, on par with a birth or a death. (We could do whole lists on HBO’s treatment of those events, too.) It’s also inherently dramatic, which is catnip for writers. So, since it’s officially wedding season, The A.V. Club has put together our favorite, let’s say, unideal nuptials from the network.

The Red Wedding on Game Of Thrones (season 3, episode 9)

“The Red Wedding” #ForTheThrone Clip | Game of Thrones | Season 3

Could this list start with anything else? The phrase Red Wedding is imprinted into my brain forever. For my money, “The Reins Of Castamere” will remain HBO’s most notorious wedding episode. , nothing prepares you for the tragedy about to befall the Stark clan during Edmund’s nuptials. the event hits hard because of the performances, buildup, and that haunting score. Once the bride and groom are carried away to consummate, the games begin, with the Lannisters infamously sending their regards. In a long line of HBO’s chaotic weddings, this one remains the most heartbreaking. (Sorry, Logan Roy!) [Saloni Gajjar]

Johnny Sack getting cuffed on The Sopranos (season 6, part 1; episode 5)

The Sopranos - Johnny Sack is arrested at his daughter Wedding

is no stranger to fucking up nuptials—[Paulie Walnuts voice] remember that wedding where the luxury cars were lifted? When they broke that kid’s skull?—but this one might be the most heart-wrenching. In “Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request,” an incarcerated Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) is given a few hours outside prison to attend his daughter’s big day. And it’s glorious. Until it isn’t. As attendees crowd around to wave goodbye to the happy couple, the police arrive, noting that Johnny’s time is up and putting him in cuffs, humiliating him in front of his little girl. Johnny starts crying and is dragged away and then, in classic chaotic Sopranos fashion, his wife Ginny (Denise Borino-Quinn) passes out on the asphalt. Making matters worse, the takeaway from the whole ordeal was, for the mobster guests, that Johnny isn’t a real man and lost their respect, another in a long line of reminders that the men at the heart of this show are garbage. [Tim Lowery]

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Elliot and Marc’s wedding on Search Party (season 3, episode 8)

Elliot and Marc’s wedding - Search Party

No one would describe as particularly grounded television, but our fabulous foursome really shoots to the moon in season three’s wedding between Elliot (John Early) and his on-again, off-again partner Marc (Jeffery Self). Long story short: Portia (Meredith Hanger) ends up bound, covered in honey and threatened by rats while Dory (Alia Shawkat) is nearly kidnapped by a demon twink (Cole Escola, later named Chip Wreck in season four). Despite the ordeal, Elliot and Marc do end up tying the knot, even if Elliot eventually leaves him to die in a zombie apocalypse he was kinda, sorta responsible for starting. Told you this show was ungrounded. [Drew Gillis]

Caroline’s wedding on Succession (season 3, episode 9)

Weddings are human pressure cookers, and nobody in HBO World cracks under pressure quite like the Roys. The Italian wedding of Lady Caroline Collingwood and Peter “The Seat Sniffer” Munion serves as the backdrop for ’s explosive , taking the tensions of the last eight episodes—Kendall Roy’s open war on his father, Shiv and Tom’s increasingly fractured marriage, the looming sale of the family business to an eternally smirking Alexander Skarsgård—and tossing them into a booze- and recrimination-soaked blender. The big marquee moments are obvious, as Kendall kind of, sort of attempts suicide, and family patriarch Logan pulls back the football on his eternally out-foxed kids for what’ll turn out to be the final time. But, as is so frequently the case with Succession, the real heartbreaking stuff exists in the smaller moments: Caroline telling her daughter that Logan “never saw anything he loved that he didn’t want to kick it, just to see if it would still come back”; Shiv almost casually shattering the last of Tom’s heart; Kendall sobbing to his brother and sister about the one awful thing he can never take back. Broken people in fancy clothes: That’s Succession for ya. [William Hughes]

Curb Your Enthusiasm’s vow renewals (season 11, episode 8)

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Renewed Vows

There have been a number of weddings on , including Sammy’s——but few traditions are as worthy of Larry David’s ire as the “vow renewals” in season 11’s “What Have I Done.” Sitting beside his partner in crime Jeff (Jeff Garlin), Larry ruthlessly mocks the ceremony, his discomfort more palpable than ever. (“I’d rather masturbate in public than say that stuff.”) Of course, being that it’s Curb, the party’s videographer captures Larry’s vow renewal roasting on camera. Things only get worse, as they so frequently do, when Larry convinces his chosen brethren to erase the tape for a fellow Jew, convincing him to get a second take of a reaction shot. Though, once the episode gets into the speech, it’s somehow even more embarrassing than whatever nonsense Larry was up to. [Matt Schimkowitz]

Jessa and Thomas-John’s wedding on Girls (season 1, episode 10)

Jessa’s Wedding Scene

ending its first season with a surprise wedding that quickly goes awry perfectly cements the brilliant chaos of ’s comedy. In “,” Jessa (Jemima Kirke) invites everyone to a party that turns out to be her impromptu wedding with Thomas-John (Chris O’Dowd). Why is this so memorable in a canon of bloody, murderous, tragic HBO weddings, you ask? Oh, something did die here, alright; it’s Jessa’s spirit and Kirke’s flawless realization of it. As soon as the newlyweds kiss on the altar, she realizes the jig is up. The wedding is done, so now the marriage has to begin. What’s more depressing for her than that? [Saloni Gajjar]

Poison Ivy’s wedding on Harley Quinn (season 2, episode 13)

Harley Quinn 2x13 “Ivy doesn’t want Harley to be on her wedding” Subtitle/HD

If has a wedding, you know it’s going to be entertaining and messy. At least with “Something Borrowed, Something Green,” the animated series produced an outing so good, it should go down in history as one of the cabler’s best. Why? Because it led to Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy’s (Lake Bell) topsy-turvy romantic declaration. She may not have infiltrated Ivy’s wedding day with the intention of ruining it, but Harley’s personality invites disaster. So, despite ignoring their growing feelings for each other, they don’t acknowledge them. Not until the wedding turns into an all-out war between Hey, all’s well that ends well, if it ends with Harley and Ivy kissing, right? [Saloni Gajjar]

Alma and Ellsworth’s wedding on Deadwood (season 2, episode 12)

Deadwood Wedding Dance

The wedding dance that concludes second-season finale, “,” marries all the life and death that the show has to offer. With the exuberant fiddle inspiring the townspeople to dance around the Gem in honor of Alma and Ellsworth’s nuptials, it’s as joyous as television gets. But for as rapturous as it is to see the camp share one nice evening in their difficult, wretched lives (Doc and Jewel always elicit a smile and a tear), creator David Milch punctuates the scene with searing and unforgettable violence, including a stabbing, a throat slashing, and a hanging, all of which happens matter-of-factly on the fringes of the celebration, reminding us that even in these moments of revelry, the unashamed coldness of life and the shadow of death is ever present. That’s Deadwood for you. [Matt Schimkowitz]

The Purple Wedding on Game Of Thrones (season 4, episode 2)

King Joffrey’s Death - Game Of Thrones Best Scenes

The Red Wedding is far and away the most famous Westeros nuptial, so much so that when this writer finally, belatedly watched Game Of Thrones, he was legitimately shocked to see another wedding go so badly, so quickly. Dubbed “The Purple Wedding,” Joffrey’s marriage to Margaery and his near-immediate demise proved to be a huge catalyst for the plot of season four—GOT’s finest outing—but ended up being one of the last times in the series it felt like no one was truly safe. Also: It was really freaking satisfying to see Joffrey bite it. [Drew Gillis]

Drew and Dory’s wedding on Search Party (season 5, episode 10)

Search Party spends its five seasons following a group of developmentally arrested millennials, so it makes a certain narrative sense that the series would end with a wedding, a common symbol of the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood. But it also makes tonal, satirical sense as Drew (John Paul Reynolds) and Dory (Alia Shawkat) marry in an abandoned theater during a zombie apocalypse that they caused. The characters of Search Party are allergic to responsibility, and instead spend years chasing the markers of adulthood without ever shouldering the burdens that come with them. Drew and Dory’s wedding is an empty affair, a last resort for two people out of options. [Drew Gillis]

Hank gets married on The Larry Sanders Show (season 2, episode 15)

The Larry Sanders Show - 2x15 “Hank’s Wedding”

Unlike some of the nuptials on this list, there’s no bloodshed in “Hank’s Wedding.” And nobody, save Hank (Jeffrey Tambor), really makes a fool out of themselves. (And to be fair, Hank does just that in literally every episode of this show.) But there is a cheapness (it’s a wedding on a late-night talk show) and ickiness going on that earns its spot here. As I wrote in our roundup of , a standout from the series is when Larry (Garry Shandling) steps in to read an emotionally overwhelmed Hank’s childlike vows. (“I thought I knew sunshine, but I knew only shade.”) It’s almost sweet, as Artie (Rip Torn) drunkenly points out. But then the kicker of the episode arrives—the reveal that Hank’s new father-in-law looks pretty much just like him (same age, baldness, mustache), which Artie reacts to with a shocked “Jesus Christ”—throwing cold water on any sentimentality the episode had and leaving the event reeking of showbiz grossness. [Tim Lowery]

Charlotte York and Harry Goldenblatt’s wedding on Sex And The City (season 6, episode 8)

Sex and the cityS06E08 Charlotte’s wedding comedy

Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) always dreamed of having a perfect wedding, and she more or less got one when she married Trey McDougal (Kyle MacLachlin) in season three. That marriage proved to be short-lived, but Charlotte eventually found her forever match in Harry Goldenblatt (Evan Handler), the lawyer who helped her divorce Trey. If the perfect wedding led to an imperfect union, then it would take a wildly imperfect wedding to land the perfect marriage. The comedy of errors is certainly lighter than many of HBO’s other outings, but the sentimentality of seeing Charlotte finally get what she wants carries a lot of weight (no pun intended). [Drew Gillis]

Marnie and Desi’s wedding on Girls (season 5, episode 1)

Girls Season 5: Promo #2 (HBO)

Just about everyone except Marnie knew that her marriage to Desi would never last, and the comedy that became her wedding day drove that point home early and forcefully. The girls—and guys—of Girls can’t quit their habit of making little digs at each other, and Marnie ends up looking like a stepsister from Shrek thanks to her temperamental makeup artist (played by guest Bridget Everett). Desi gets more than cold feet, diving into a pond in a rainstorm, still clad in his suit pants. It takes over a season for us to get confirmation that he was in fact high out of his mind on painkillers at the ceremony; even if Marnie managed to pull off a charming event by the end of the day, the union was not long for this world. [Drew Gillis]

Catherine Meyer’s wedding on Veep (season 7, episode 6)

Veep: Selina uses Catherine’s Wedding to Escape

’s remarkable commitment to making Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) a horrible human extended to her relationship with her daughter, Catherine (Sarah Sutherland). So it’s no surprise that she makes Catherine’s wedding day to Marjorie (Clea DuVall) all about her. The first sign is when Selina is uncharacteristically nice to her kid, praising her gown and everything. When has that happened? When has she given Catherine attention? Never. Selina’s plan is to use her daughter’s nuptials as a distraction to escape using tunnels and seek refuge. That’s sabotage and subterfuge on a Game Of Thrones-level; the wedding itself isn’t memorable, but the entire episode is, especially because it was . [Saloni Gajjar]

Rhaenyra’s wedding on House Of The Dragon (season 1, episode 5)

Fight Scene at the Wedding - House of the Dragon Ep5

No wedding is safe if it takes place in the Game Of Thrones universe. Why would House Of The Dragon be any different? “We Light The Way” began with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) killing his wife, and there was no better way to hint at how the episode will end. It closes with Rhaenyra’s (Milly Alcock) engagement feast finishing in a bloody disaster when her husband-to-be’s gay lover is bludgeoned to death in front of everyone by her paramour. Just when you think it couldn’t get worse, she’s hastily wed to Laenor right after. “We Light The Way” builds up to a gory event, but it’s also a memorable outing because it marks Alcock’s last episode as Rhaenyra—and what a way to go out. On the plus side, the next wedding of hers we witness is a happier one because she’s marrying the love of her life/her uncle. [Saloni Gajjar]

Connor and Willa’s wedding on Succession (season 4, episode 3)

Nobody dies at Connor Roy’s wedding—but only because the eldest Roy kid rated so little in his father’s estimation that the old bastard couldn’t even be bothered to expire on his watch. The first 15 minutes of series-best episode are standard , as characters maneuver and snark around each other with typical wit. But then the phone rings, and the episode plunges into a very relatable sort of horror movie, of the kind that anyone who’s ever suddenly lost a loved one has likely lived through. Just like his kids, we don’t even hear that something’s wrong with Logan Roy until he’s already dead—Mark Mylod’s camera keeping the patriarch’s body at the edge of the frame as Tom Wambsgans relays the grim, inevitable details to his brothers-in-law and estranged wife. It’s the moment the entire series has been building to—and the totally unprepared, disbelieving way the kids receive it sets the tone for the entire rest of the show’s heartbreaking and beautifully bitter final season. [William Hughes]