TV Moment of 2009: Jim and Pam's Wedding on 'The Office'

From the very beginning, when Michael Scott became too awkward to handle, or Dwight was further out there than usual, 'The Office' gave us Jim and Pam. Despite everything happening around them, the evolution of their relationship always felt authentic. And that's why it was so satisfying that, after more than 100 episodes of courtship and dating, Jim and Pam finally got married in the episode 'Niagara.'From the very beginning, when Michael Scott became too awkward to handle, or Dwight was further out there than usual, 'The Office' gave us Jim and Pam. Despite everything happening around them, the evolution of their relationship always felt authentic. And that's why it was so satisfying that, after more than 100 episodes of courtship and dating, Jim and Pam finally got married in the episode 'Niagara.'

When the show started, Pam was engaged to Roy from the warehouse, and Jim had little more than fleeting opportunities to connect with her through jokes and pranks. The sweetness of those early moments together is the reason the audience became so invested in that relationship. Clearly Jim was better for her than Roy -- we all knew it, so why didn't she? Five years later (and isn't that realistic, too?), their moment had finally come.

In typical fashion for 'The Office,' the episode managed to be both annoying (see: the cast dancing down the aisle in imitation of the Chris Brown "Forever" YouTube wedding dance video), and heartbreakingly beautiful. In keeping with real life, nothing about the rehearsal, wedding or reception went exactly according to plan, but it still worked out in the end.

In fact, Jim and Pam had their wedding in Niagara solely to discourage their co-workers from coming. Of course Michael, being Michael, offered a four-day weekend to anyone who would attend his "best friend's" wedding, so the gang was all there to witness the nuptials. But perhaps the most stunning moment of the night came early.

Jim's speech at the rehearsal dinner was a thing of beauty, a genuinely moving testament to the long-term love he'd harbored for Pam and the long courtship that we all got to witness throughout the course of the show. Going into the show, he had one mandate for the Dunder-Mifflin gang: Do not, under any circumstances, reveal that Pam is pregnant. Her grandmother didn't know, and was too traditional to accept it. So it was more than a little surprising that, in closing his speech, he subtly revealed her condition to everyone himself. In fact, it was Michael who stood up with a speech of his own to try and rectify the situation ... but that went about as well as could be expected.

The hook-ups -- Dwight and a bridesmaid, Michael and the bride's mother, Kevin getting six of seven digits -- were all classic 'The Office.' But what made this an amazing wedding episode was the quiet ceremony on a boat at Niagara Falls, a backup plan Jim had come up with the moment he saw the Chris Brown wedding video and knew what was coming.

Viewers didn't hear the actual vows, but we saw the love on their faces, and that beautiful parting shot of Pam in Jim's arms under the cascading flow of water. It was a wedding well worth the wait, and one of the most satisfying unions in television history.