Q. I live in Niagara Falls, so it was pretty awesome to see it featured on my favorite show. How much did you guys shoot during your time there and how did you enjoy your stay? | jimbo slice
Mindy: We loved Niagara! So many buffalo wings. We shot that sequence six times, and each time with wildly different weather.
We have a take where John and Jenna are soaked through and through, which is romantic in a different “The Notebook” kind of way. Very cinematic.
Q. I’m wondering if you chose Niagara as a location for the wedding simply because there was a romantic boat close by … It’s such a clever callback to Booze Cruise. | LizzyB
Mindy: Greg wrote Booze Cruise and chose Niagara. I thought it was so fitting and unpredictable, but who knows how thought-out it was. Greg’s a genius.
I wanted to find out for sure how early he had this in mind, and if it was a callback, but he’s not answering my texts. Evil genius.
Q. How did Jim and Pam manage to stay dry after visiting the falls! | DV
Mindy: They didn’t stay dry — and John was sick. What a guy!
from tanster: i asked hair department head, Kim, for more details on the Niagara scene, and here is what she had to say:
Kim (department head, hair): We had a big meeting, the director, producers, Mindy, myself, LaVerne (Dept. Head Makeup), and wardrobe. We all decided that we would go out on the boat … four times in a row.
There would be NO drying in between takes. We would hopefully get what we needed; if we did not, then we were breaking for lunch after the four runs, go back to our hotel, have lunch, redo John and Jenna from scratch, then go back down to the Maid of the Mist and do four more runs at it. Basically until sunset, that was our plan.
And the funny part is, during every dry run BEFORE the actors rode the boat, no one ever got that wet.
Then of course when the cast did the first run … whooosh! Soaked!
We simply did a quick dry off with towels … I tried to “redo” Jenna’s hair a little, and then we went out again … never leaving the boat.
We had no power so I could not use a dryer. We had fun though!
Q. Did you have to reserve the whole boat in order to film the secret wedding? | Chappa
Mindy: The Maid of the Mist was lovely enough to let us shoot, but didn’t want to turn tourists away from taking the trip, so there were tons of actual visitors on the boat who just happened to get an eyeful of the nuptials! They were awesome, not leaking footage or pics online.
Jenna also had the great idea to talk to the crowd and asked them politely and with her usual sweetness to not upload spoilery stuff online. They were totally charmed by her — then I told them how terrible and mean she is, and they loved me instead.
Q. Was the boat captain who married Jim and Pam was an actor or a genuine Maid of the Mist captain? | Missy
Mindy: Our boat captain was played by Randy Cordray, our beloved line producer. He did a great job. He’s available to officiate your Office-themed wedding if you want. Just drop me a line.
Randy (The Office line producer): Yup … ’twas me! It was an awesome experience. I was extremely flattered to be a part of it.
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Check out more Q&As in the Episode Q&A Archive. Essential reading for every Office super fan!
Thanks so much Mindy (& Tanster)!
Thank you! That was such a treat to read! (And an “Office-themed wedding” — oh, how I wish I wasn’t already married! That would be too cool!) :-)
The Q&As are always my favorites. Thanks, Mindy & tanster. I thought this episode was absolutely hilarious — classic Office! Cans bursting, Dwight, Andy, horrible Michael toasts…all perfect.
Thanks so much Tanster! And Mindy! I love writer Q&A. Hopefully maybe they can put the actual wedding vows and other Niagara scenes that were shot on the DVD extras! A girl can dream LOL
Thanks for the insight! Now I have to watch it again!
Heehee Dward! The sound of that makes Ed Helms seem even more adorable. John Krasinski breaking? Not surprising, but definitely always a treat; in fact, I hope it’s one of his man-squeal breaks cuz those are the best. :) Also, Greg Daniels giggling – ’nuff said.
Very cool Q&A! Thank you muchly, tanster & Mindy Kaling for your time & just for being downright awesome!
Thanks Mindy and Tanster!!! The episode was so great! It is fun to learn more about the “behind the scenes” aspects. Thanks again!
It’s so nice of Mindy to do this, especially in her free time on set. I hope the actual vows are on the DVD extra too. It almost seems like too much of a good thing though. Thanks so much Mindy & Office Tally!
This was so funny! Thanks for posting!
It was so awesome of Mindy to answer the questions for us. And thanks for getting those extra answers from other crew members too, tanster!
Thanks for answering my question, Mindy. Now I’ll have to go back and watch the scene with Jim and Michael and see how close John is to breaking in that scene.
Love Mindy….so freaking hilarious!
Man, I love these Q&As! I simply cannot get enough behind-the-scenes details about this show. Who knew Greg was such a romantic? ;) And how cool that the boat passengers were actual vacationers!
Thank you so much, Mindy, for taking the time out of your busy shooting day to answer questions for us! And to tanster, as always, for arranging it!
@13, i love her more! :) so clever. i’m a big fan of her shopping blog, “things that i bought that i love”, and have used it to buy some great presents for people. how fun to tell them where i got the idea! wish she’d write more often, though (come on mindy, the holidays are comin’ up!)
i can’t get enough of these q&a’s, it’s SO neat to hear the stories behind the episodes. thanks to both of these awesome ladies! keep ’em comin’!
This once again proves my theory that Mindy is one of the most awesome women in showbiz. Thank you so much for this, Mindy and Tanster! You both rock!
This was amazing! Everyone associated with this show is AWESOME!
Big thanks to Mindy, I really loved this behind the scenes info.
Well, I guess I’ll have to watch the episode one more time. It’s hard being such a fan. :)
Thanks so much for all the info!!
Mindy, I just adore the episodes that you write! A tip of the hat to your vomit jokes!
I love Q&As! Now I have to go tell it all to my husband…! Thank you Mindy, you’re the best!
Thanks tanster and Mindy! It was a great episode…thanks for answering some questions (:
I watched the episode again just to catch all the little things Mindy was talking about. I tried to see if I could catch John Krasinski breaking when he was talking to Michael, but I didn’t have much luck. Did anyone else see it? On another note, I still love the episode as much as I did the first time. It’s truly wonderful :)
Thank you Mindy and Tanster for being so delightfully good to us fans!
AWESOME. Thank you so much tanster and Mindy! That was so much fun to read. How incredibly generous of Mindy to take out time to answer so many questions! I can’t wait to watch the episode again with all of that behind-the-scenes fun in mind. :)
Thanks Mindy for this Q&A and also for this WONDERFUL episode. My favorite ever! A classic, hilarious and sweet episode. Dwight kicking the bridemaid and the boat wedding were my favorite parts.
Very niiiiiice. Borat.
Ahhh! I want more! I think this is probably one of the best Q & A’s EVER! Thanks Mindy!!!
Thanks for the Q and A Mindy, and also for answering my question, haha!
This is great! There hasn’t been a Q and A in a while and I’m glad it was for this episode. I never got to ask my question, though; I wonder if they asked the couple who did the original “forever” dance down the aisle if they could copy that?
I can’t be the only one who grins like an idiot whenever Mindy talks about her friendship with B.J….
Q&As are always special treat–thanks Mindy and tanster! How cool is it that Mindy casually texts Greg about things like his thoughts on a Jam wedding location?
I love these Q&A’s especially Mindy’s.
Awesome – Mindy answered my question . . . last! Thanks Mindy and Randy!! Great episode, looking forward to more . . .
@ 27:
No, I love Ryan and Kelly together too and loved the deleted scene with them flirting in the church. And when I saw them dancing in Andy’s room during his party I was like, “Yes! Another office hookup!” :)
If (hypothetically) they were dating in real life, I would be so excited for them since they are a great team!
I was so glad she talked about “the sprinkler” – it was my favourite of all the dances, so you can tell BJ he did a great job!
I love Mindy Kaling, she is so amazing. I think she (and her character Kelly) are hilarious and I relate to so much that she says and her pop culture references.
I loved the info as well, and her humor about Jenna being mean so they loved her instead, and Paul never reading this. Ha ha! Thanks Mindy!
FYI – there are actually four Ephron sisters (Nora, Delia, Amy & Hallie) – all of whom write! I heard Hallie speak about mysteries and she’s great:
Link
Mindy and BJ are so absolutely adorable. I wonder if it affects their friendship that they have to make out all the time… Because, they DO write the show, so they must plan it. Maybe they are secretly going out? I would love that. It would be the cutest relationship on the office right after JAM.
I can’t believe the captain isn’t an actor. He was one of those small part/steals the scene people for me. I actually tried to look him up on the internet to see what else he’d been in, I was so amazed by him.