Will Sonny and Brenda Survive Their Wedding on 'General Hospital'?

"Marriage is death," as the saying goes, for soap opera couples, meaning that head writers often find it difficult to come up with story and conflict for happily wed duos. But the scribes at 'General Hospital' don't appear to have that problem with star-crossed lovers Sonny and Brenda, who are (finally!) tying the knot.

Several obstacles stand before the duo. First, there's Carly, Sonny's vengeful ex-wife, who is determined to tell Sonny that Brenda gave birth to his own grandchild in order to make sure that the wedding doesn't happen.

And then there's Maude Adrienne Barbeau, aka Brenda's "pal" Suzanne. In reality she and her husband, the Balkan (Daniel Benzali), are the parents of the man whom Brenda killed. They've vowed to get even!

Finally, there's Franco (played by James Franco), who is obsessed with destroying Jason. What better way to accomplish that than to ruin the life of Jason's best friend Sonny and Jason's pal and one-time wife, Brenda?

TV Squad spoke to Maurice Benard (Sonny) and Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo (Brenda) for a preview of today's highly anticipated episode.

TV Squad: Soaps are great for bringing back family members for weddings. Might we see Mike or Julia at the ceremony?
Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo: Who's Julia?
Maurice Benard: Julia's your sister.
Giovinazzo: Oh, Crystal Carson! I guess not. Good point.
Benard: Mike [Sonny's dad] is in rehab because he has a gambling problem.
Giovinazzo: I wonder where my sister is?

How long did it take to shoot this wedding?
Giovinazzo: Eight days.
Benard: It was the longest wedding I've ever shot.

Fans have wanted this wedding to happen for a long time.
Giovinazzo: We've [actually] only tried to get married once in our 18 years on the show, but I think it's nice, too, for the viewers to know that they end up married. I am, in fact, "Brenda Corinthos" as we speak. I love it. It's great. My character has never been married to anyone, not a real marriage. It's kind of exciting for me to have her evolve in that way.
Benard: I feel it's a long time coming. I'm happy that it's happening. It exceeded what I thought it would be. I knew [the wedding] would be good, but it was better than I expected.

In what sense?
Benard: In a lot of ways. The way it was written, the acting on Vanessa's part. She did some stuff that was unreal. The other actors were all really good. The way they shot it, the way it looks is really good. I knew it would be good, but it was better than that.

There's more danger swirling around this wedding than when Helena Cassadine put a curse on Luke and Laura at theirs. There's Carly, the whole Balkan threat ... are you guys as surprised as viewers are to see what happens next?
Giovinazzo: I still don't know [everything] that's going on. Maurice might know more than I do. I'm never exactly sure what's going to happen from script to script. I get excited when I get the new scripts.
Benard: Some stuff is unexpected. Some isn't, but the way it's played out is unexpected.