Ted's romantic hopes are dashed when he invites Robin to a fancy wedding only to discover that the bride-to-be won't allow him to bring a date.
This episode provides examples of:
- Bridezilla: Claudia threatens to kill Ted over the thought of adding a single guest to her wedding list and threatens to burn down a bakery if they don't get her the exact kind of cake she wanted. Though later episodes reveal this is not too far from her usual personality.
- Career Versus Man: At the last minute before she and Ted leave for the wedding, Robin is called by her station to anchor the news; she picks her break, at Ted's insistence. But she still comes to the reception, as revealed in the next episode.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Ted falling in Love at First Sight with a cute girl across the room.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Claudia hits the bar after her breakup with Stuart.
- Event Title: The title refers to Stuart and Claudia's wedding.
- Foreshadowing: Claudia telling Ted that he should be excited about the single ladies attending the wedding, indicating that Ted in fact marked "Alone" instead of "Plus One".
- I Am Not Shazam: In universe, Marshall - while calling Ted out for going around the bride - uses an example involving Gremlins being fed after midnight. Technically, before being fed by midnight, they're mogwai.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After all the hoops he has to jump through to get Claudia to let Robin come to the wedding, Ted ultimately tells her to forget about the wedding and anchor the news, which they hope will be her big break at work.
- Like an Old Married Couple: They were not even married yet, but Claudia and Stuart kept bickering like this.
- Love at First Sight: When Ted was resigned to be alone at the wedding, he sees a cute girl across the room and they smile at each other.
- Selective Obliviousness: Ted insisted Claudia missed his card, where he checked the Plus One, while she insisted Ted marked "Alone". Barney then tells Ted he subconsciously is accustomed to be alone, so he marked "Alone" by pure instinct, which Ted keeps denying. Turns out Claudia and Barney were right, as Ted did mark "Alone".
- Trade Mark Favorite Food: Trademark Favorite Drink. Claudia is touched when Barney remembered she likes vodka cranberries. Subverted, as Barney knows all women drink vodka cranberries.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Invoked by Barney, who questions how Stuart scored Claudia, who is hotter than him.
- Wedding Episode: Ted attending a wedding is the focus of the episode.
- Yoko Oh No: Invoked by Claudia at the wedding, asking Ted if they're going to meet the girl who almost broke them up.
