Last week’s episode of The Office was the one we’ve all been waiting for the past five years. Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, arguably television’s most adorable couple, finally tied the knot! The much-anticipated wedding celebration was aired as a special hour-long episode, and it wasn’t too over-the-top or outrageous — just the right tone of simplicity that is characteristic of my favorite TV series. Though it was surprisingly low-key for a wedding, it definitely had enough well-scripted lines and mishaps that it could have easily been a season finale, but instead it was a particularly awesome extended episode.

I love Jim and Pam, and have rooted for them since day one, from the very first episode of The Office — remember when Pam was engaged to Roy and Jim secretly loved her from afar? (And by “afar”, it was really just a few feet away, but she was still very much out of his reach.) And just when Pam had broken off the engagement with Roy, Jim had moved to the Stamford branch and had started dating Karen. For years, fans had to deal with the “will-they-or-won’t-they” tension and at times it felt like our favorite couple would never work out. But then everything fell into place, and soon Jim and Pam were engaged and the rest is television history! Jim and Pam are unique in their relationship that, unlike the drama that surrounds a lot of primetime shows, there is the assurance that the two are soulmates and that although there may be the occasional quibble or obstacle (as there is in with any couple), their love is built to last. “There won’t be the spouse who thinks they’re making a mistake, or the ex who comes and tries to break it up,” executive producer Paul Lieberstein says, citing two common examples of TV-wedding drama. Instead, he thinks the show will play as if “you’re going to a friend’s wedding, and they’re a good couple.” The Jim-Pam romance is a healthy one that is a rarity for television these days, and it may be what has carried it through the past five series so successfully. They are simply meant to be together.

This sure fact shone through the wedding episode, despite unforeseen disasters such as Pam’s old-fashioned grandma learning of some unexpected news, and Andy’s ripped scrotum. Jim’s speech during the rehearsal dinner was so touching (before he started the rambling that got him into big trouble), and brought us back to the aforementioned first moments before he and Pam were even together, when he was sure she was the one but all he could do was wait for her. And it was typical sweet Jim behavior when he clipped his tie to cheer Pam up when she was distraught over her ripped veil, and whisked her away to an unknown destination, just minutes before the wedding, leaving the rest of the office and relatives back at the church for an hour or so to wonder what’s going on. The icing on the cake is when Michael gets everyone to re-enact the viral YouTube video of the JK Wedding Entrance Dance (which I mentioned back in July), and hilarity ensues:

It’s during this segment that we see where Jim and Pam had disappeared to during those couple of hours — they’d run off to Niagara Falls to get married on a boat — and it was those little interspersed clips on the boat that made me tear up and cry.

Leave it to The Office to make me double over in laughter and get me choked up with tears, all at the same time.