- With only half an hour to go, both Barney and Robin have panic attacks about their upcoming nuptials. Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily rewrite their old wedding vows.
- Just before the wedding, Robin is wondering whether she is making a mistake in marrying Barney. She feels that her husband should have come through for her in finding her locket. Ted, who does have her locket, has to decide what to do with it and what to tell her about it. Meanwhile, Barney is having problems writing his wedding vows. Marshall and Lily believe they are the wedding vow experts. However, Barney points out how they have not kept any of their wedding vows. Barney's point makes Marshall and Lily critically examine what they said to each other seven years ago. In turn, their review of their vows help Barney come up with his.—Huggo
- Barney and Robin each suffer panic attacks at 5:28 p.m. on Sunday, just 32 minutes before the wedding. Robin considers escaping through the window, as Ted and Victoria had from Victoria's wedding a year earlier. After she brings up how she wishes that Barney had found her locket as a sign of his reliability, Ted secretly gives the locket, which he retrieved from the river, to Barney and instructs him to take credit for finding it. Barney does what Ted asks him to and Robin is super happy. Ted meets Robin later in her room. She knows that it is not a coincidence that Barney came up with the locket right after she asked Ted about it. Barney said that he found it in Marshall and Lily's basement. When Robin realizes the truth (She makes Ted the whole sequence of events by which he was able to track down the locket including jumping into the river after Jeanette threw it in), she remembers Barney's dishonesty and begins to consider that Ted is the right person for her after all. Robin says that Ted always goes big for her. Robin says that she should be with the guy who found her the locket.
Ted swallows his feelings, and refuses to run away with her, telling Robin that they aren't the same people who loved each other once and that she and Barney are meant to be together. Unconvinced, Robin decides to run away on her own and crashes into the band's bass player, the event that Future Ted describes as "how Robin met your mother."
Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily manage to calm Barney down, but find that he is struggling to write his wedding vows. When Lily points out how selfish and easy his vows are to accomplish, Barney counters by remarking about how Lily and Marshall have broken all their marriage vows over the years. Marshalled vowed to be with Lily in sickness and in health yet pretended to be asleep when she vomited on the plane on their way to the honeymoon. Lily has vowed to honor and respect Marshall, yet she took part with Ted and Barney in the bearded Wonder Woman incident of 2007 that humiliated Marshall. Marshall doesn't feed Lily breakfast in bed every Sunday. Lily never kept the romantic spark alive.
They are disappointed to realize that Barney is right. However, they spend a moment at the altar to update their vows and promise to keep updating them as they need to instead of making perfect vows. Marshall vows to stop shouting at Lily while she is taking a dump. He vows to stop pointing out every dog erection he sees while they are walking. Lily vows to always tell Marshall when he has green stuff in his teeth. Marshall vows to sit next to Lily even if she is covered in vomit. They agree that their real life is messy and that their vows need to reflect that. Barney witnesses the moment and goes to find Robin.
Robin apologizes for knocking over the Mother, who sees that Robin is trying to run away. Because they do not know each other well, the Mother does not persuade Robin to stay, but encourages her to take three deep breaths instead. The Mother slips away as Robin follows the Mother's suggestion and Barney appears. He promises to make only one vow to her: he will always be honest with her and begins with revealing that Ted had found her locket.
As the wedding begins, Barney has one last panic attack, which Marshall ends with the final slap of the slap bet. The ceremony goes through without any trouble, even with the arrival of a bear as the ring bear (though Barney cancels the flower gorilla at the last moment) and concludes with Robin and Barney married before their family and friends.
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