Who does Ted marry in How I Met Your Mother? Josh Radnor calls the ending of 'The Wedding' episode "a new age cliche" in rewatch podcast

In the latest episode of How We Made Your Mother podcast, aired on June 16, 2025, American actor and podcast host Josh Radnor reflected on one of the early episodes of How I Met Your Mother, titled ‘The Wedding’. Revisiting the episode during the rewatch podcast, Radnor offered a thoughtful and slightly critical take on its ending, calling it a "new age cliché".

"There’s that thing. It’s a little bit of a new age cliché, but it’s like something like the universe only gives you three answers to your prayers or requests. One is yes, and the other one is not yet. And the third one is I have something better in mind for you," Josh Radnor explained.

Originally aired on January 9, 2006, 'The Wedding' (season 1, episode 12) followed Ted Mosby, played by Josh Radnor, as he tried to take Robin (played by Cobie Smulders) to a friend’s wedding. Complications ensued when Claudia, the bride, claimed Ted hadn’t RSVP’d with a plus-one, leading to chaos that nearly derailed the entire wedding (as per IMDB)

However, Robin ultimately couldn’t attend due to work, and Ted went alone—only to meet Victoria, who would become a major love interest in the series. Reflecting on the storyline of this episode, Josh Radnor added that Ted, who later married Tracy McConnell (Cristin Milioti), the mother of his children, experienced multiple emotional arcs in this episode

"And Ted gets—at least in this, you know, two-parter—he gets a ‘not yet’ and ‘I have something better in mind’ all at the same time... It’s kind of like—it is a really fresh take on weddings," Josh Radnor added.

During the rewatch podcast of How I Met Your Mother, series co-creator Craig Thomas also chimed in with his thoughts on the layered storytelling used in this episode and how the "ending" had "two or three twists all at once". He further added that he loved how in a span of "30 seconds of this episode" multiple things happen simultaneously with Josh Radnor's character.

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How does Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosby meet Tracy McConnell, the woman he marries in How I Met Your Mother?

Josh Radnor: Image via Getty Images

The CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother depicted Josh Radnor’s character's winding and chaotic journey to meeting the woman he marries, who is also the mother to his children.

As per a Tudum by Netflix article published on June 3, 2024, the show answered the titular question in a two-part series finale, 'Last Forever', which aired on March 31, 2014.

In these two final episodes of How I Met Your Mother, set over the weekend of Barney and Robin’s wedding in 2013, the story jumped through time, ultimately landing in 2030, where an older Ted—voiced by Bob Saget—recounted the story of meeting 'the mother' to his two teenage children.

As per the article, technically, the identity of ‘The Mother’ was officially revealed in the season eight finale, when viewers saw a woman (Cristin Milioti), carrying the iconic yellow umbrella, buying a train ticket to Farhampton—the same weekend the gang was headed there for the wedding.

However, throughout season nine of How I Met Your Mother, the audience got glimpses of Tracy and Ted’s future together. In the present timeline of that season, 'the mother' met several other characters and was ultimately revealed to be the bass player in Barney and Robin’s wedding.

According to the Tudum article, Ted’s actual meeting with Tracy didn’t happen until the very end of season nine finale when Josh Radnor’s character spotted her from across the room—standing with her yellow umbrella. Barney, ever the matchmaker, even tried to introduce them at the time, but it was not to be.

Cristin Milioti, the woman who played Tracy McConnell (image via Getty Images)

Instead, Ted and Tracy met the next day, as Ted prepared to leave New York for Chicago. Waiting in the rain at the train station, he met Tracy under that same yellow umbrella. Their meeting was simple, but it became clear how connected their lives had been all along.

Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosby never moved to Chicago. Instead, he told his friends Lily and Marshall that he had finally met his girl—Tracy McConnell, the future wife and mother of his children, Penny and Luke Mosby.

As per the article, How I Met Your Mother’s finale didn’t just end with Ted and Tracy's meeting. It gave fans a flash-forward to 2015, revealing that their wedding had to be postponed due to Tracy’s pregnancy, and it wasn’t until 2020 that Ted and Tracy officially tied the knot.

How I Met Your Mother’s finale also revealed that the time Josh Radnor’s character had with ‘the mother’ of his children, Tracy, was joyful but tragically brief. In a heartbreaking twist, the finale also depicted Tracy dying in 2024 from an unspecified illness

In a People magazine interview published on January 15, 2025, co-creator Craig Thomas reflected on the show’s controversial ending. He emphasized that Ted Mosby’s journey was never just about finding his one true love but about embracing the unpredictability of life.

"I look back on it...as an exploration of the fact that no matter how much Ted Mosby wanted to plan everything in life, it was never going to go according to plan…And you can find love and be supported and lifted up at your lowest moments, even if things didn’t go according to your plan that you made when you were young," he explained.

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At present, Josh Radnor is busy with the rewatch podcast of the series How I Met Your Mother, titled How We Made Your Mother, which he co-hosts with show co-creator Craig Thomas.

Although the CBS sitcom ended in 2014, fans of the show can stream How I Met Your Mother on streaming platforms like Hulu and Netflix.