On the occasion of the series’s 25th anniversary, producer Michael Ross selects the five weddings from the first quarter-century of Footprints that truly took the cake.
5. Danielle and Ryan (2011)
When Ryan Moriani met Danielle Taylor, he was at his lowest: he’d just been exposed as having “killed” his father, the mobster Nick, costing him his relationship with Claire Fisher. Danielle found Ryan at the bottom of a bottle and, as a recovering alcoholic herself, encouraged him to pull his life together. Slowly, these two wounded birds built trust and a loving relationship, and their wedding day should have been cause for celebration. But a vengeful Natalie Bishop showed up with proof that Ryan’s secret, drunken marriage to her sister, Diane, had never been annulled — and the Bishops sisters wound up in a brawl so furious that they went crashing into the wedding cake, stopping the ceremony in its tracks! When the truth came out, a heartbroken Danielle left Ryan. It was a long road back to reconciliation for the pair, who only became husband and wife in 2015 as Ryan lay on his deathbed, having been attacked by the Footprint Killer. He died soon after they made it official.
4. Sarah and Matt (2005)
It was supposed to be the day of Sarah Fisher’s dreams: she was finally marrying her true love, Matt Gray, at Grayson’s Cove, a small beach by Pier 22 on the King’s Bay waterfront. But things got off to a chilly start when Jennie Burkle, a waitress who worked with Matt and had become fixated on him, locked Sarah in the walk-in freezer of Bill’s restaurant! Luckily, she was found in time, but before the bride and groom could say their vows, Sarah’s sister — the one in whose shadow Sarah felt she’d always lived — interrupted the proceedings by going into labor. The family rushed to the hospital, where Molly gave birth to twin boys. Finally, without all the fanfare they’d planned, Sarah and Matt did get married, in the hospital chapel. Although they would divorce a few years later, they eventually found their way back together, and in 2015, they remarried in front of family and friends (after a brief hiccup during which Sarah once again got locked in a freezer!).
3. Jason and Courtney (2009)
When first loves Jason Fisher and Courtney Chase, who had been childhood friends and pairs skating partners, finally made it to the altar, they’d been through a lot: relationships with others, starting a business together, and the birth of a daughter, Sophie. But their nuptials only increased the desperation of Shannon Parish, who was obsessed with Jason and had returned to town with cosmetic surgery, using the identity “Sabrina Gage.” A crazed Shannon had baby Sophie kidnapped on the morning of the wedding, hoping to stop the proceedings, but the child was rescued and the wedding continued. Jason and Courtney were finally married, but during the reception, Shannon used skating coach Sandy James as bait to lure Courtney to the roof of the hotel. When Jason found them, he was horrified to see Courtney brutally slashed up. He screamed at Shannon — who finally revealed her true identity — that he would never, ever be with her, and the devastated woman flung herself off the roof to her death. Courtney was rushed to the hospital but died soon afterward, leaving Jason a widower with a young daughter. It was a long way back to the land of the living for him.
2. Claire and Ryan (2007)
It took a lot for former teenage sweethearts Claire Fisher and Ryan Moriani to wind up engaged. Between overcoming Ryan’s ties to his adoptive mobster father, Nick, and the return of his even worse biological dad, Stan Lincoln, the once-adversarial pair was drawn back together. They even made it through the return of Claire’s presumed-dead husband, Tim. When Nick Moriani was murdered, suspects abounded, but Tim became the primary suspect and faced charges. On Claire and Ryan’s wedding day, however, armed goons hoarded the guests into the basement of The Fisherman Pier’s restaurant, and Nick — alive but badly wounded and wheelchair-bound — revealed himself. He exposed Ryan as the one who’d tried to kill him and framed Tim for the act. Nick planned to detonate several bombs to kill everyone inside the restaurant, but Sarah Fisher Gray bravely fought to defuse the explosives. Nevertheless, there was a blast, which claimed several casualties: Camille Lemieux, Nick (who was beheaded by falling debris), Sarah’s unborn child, and one of Brent Taylor’s legs. Ryan was ostracized by Claire and the Fisher family, and the fallout from Nick’s final act of terror affected everyone for years.
1. Jason and Natalie (2018)
After Courtney’s murder, it took Jason a long time to reclaim his life. Part of that was meeting Natalie Bishop, who despite being quite the scheming vixen also brought some joy back into his world. They moved in together with their respective daughters when Natalie found herself pregnant — but she was hiding the fact that she’d also had a fling with Jason’s nephew, Spencer Ragan. After a DNA test confirmed that baby Peter was actually Spencer’s son, Natalie’s juggling act went into overdrive to hold her life together, and it all came to a head on her and Jason’s wedding day. Loretta Ragan sent a henchman to interrupt the ceremony and then coerced nurse Sonja Kahele into reading Peter’s actual DNA test results in the middle of the ceremony. A devastated Jason stormed out, but Natalie chased after him and convinced him to return to the altar! As they stood there, however, Spencer’s memory of a fall down the stairs and Natalie’s ensuing manipulations returned, and Helen Chase backed him up. Jason was left devastated, while Natalie wound up flailing on the grass in her wedding dress — a dress she would re-use for another wedding mere weeks later…