Many people who were actually watching Friends back when it aired in the ‘90s and early aughts may have had an inkling that the show would go down as one of the best sitcoms of all time. I’m not sure, however, that anyone — even those making the show — could have predicted just how closely we’d continue to study every frame so many years later. Fans have picked up on details like the different spellings of Rachel’s last name, and now — after Jennifer Aniston’s “commando” dress sparked a debate — they’re questioning if there’s a continuity error with her wedding dress.
The very first time we met Rachel Green in Friends’ series premiere, she was wearing a wedding dress, having just left Barry at the altar. Then in the Season 4 episode "The One With All the Wedding Dresses," she wore white again, when she, Monica (Courteney Cox) and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) fancied up to make themselves feel better about their love lives. A fan on Reddit got to thinking about the two scenes, posting side-by-side images of the gowns and wondering:
I know it's a different dress in real life, but in the SHOW is this supposed to be the same dress?
This is actually a great question — and one that many Friends fans apparently hadn’t considered. Story-wise, it would make sense that Jennifer Aniston’s character would still have her gown from the Barry wedding, but continuity-wise, it’s clearly a different dress.
The fact that the dresses are a similar style led many to believe that we are supposed to think the Season 4 dress is the same as the very first episode. Comments included:
- I always just thought that rachel had kept her wedding dress and this was it! – tobiasfunketheactor
- Wow, I thought this the whole time as well! – ElmarSuperstar131
- That’s what I thought. Why would she get rid of it? – MulberryEastern5010
- I always thought it was supposed to be the same dress – ally_mcgee
- I think it's supposed to be the same dress. They probably got rid of the original and replaced it for this episode hoping no one would notice it was different. – motheroflostthings
While we know Monica was wearing Emily’s wedding dress in that Season 4 episode and Phoebe rented her maternity gown from a store called It’s Not Too Late, the episode never addressed where Rachel got hers from, and many assumed she went the Phoebe route and hit up a rental. Other Redditors said:
- That never occurred to me, I'd always assumed she simply rented it from the same place Phoebe got hers – SammyGuevara
- I thought they said that they were both rented. I just assumed Rachel had a style she preferred – Guardian_Izy
- It's a rented one isn't it? – freakstate
- It never occurred to me it would be the same dress! No one is going to feel better about their love life by sitting around in the dress they wore to abandon their cheating fiance at the alter, so I just assumed it's a different one. – Fedelm
- I never even considered that, I always assumed she rented it like Phoebe did. Great catch! – Hup110516
I admit, I fell into this latter category and just assumed she had rented the dress; however, now seeing the gowns side-by-side and using a little something I like to whip out every once in a while called logic, it absolutely makes sense that she’d still have that tucked away in the back of her closet. Unless …
One fan gave a pretty strong argument for why Rachel might not have had her wedding dress on hand anymore:
She probably returned it and got store credit.
That is DEFINITELY a move Rachel Karen Green would pull. If you want to relive any of the wedding dress fun or any of the other most ridiculous episodes of Friends, all 10 seasons are available to stream with a Max subscription.
