09E21 - Gary Blauman

In their first date three days after Robin and Barney's wedding, Ted and who would eventually become his wife are looking for a place to eat. In her thinking that they can just walk in anywhere and get a table, Ted relays a story from the wedding of Gary Blauman, whose reply card must have been lost in the mail as he showed up unexpectedly. His arrival put Robin in a quandary in trying to figure out where to put him for dinner. Marshall volunteered to do this task for Robin. When Marshall brings up the story as he is figuring on where to put Gary, one by one, people tell him of their feelings about Gary, and why they either really want or don't want him to be accommodated at the wedding. As Ted tells his kids this story in 2030, it becomes one with a moral about friendship and those who come and don't stay in your life.