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a-bitey-mad-lady:

clare009:

And before you jump down my throat, let me caveat that with a ‘yet’. I’m going to tell you why I think this is the case.

When the Doctor first meets River in the Library, she tells him his name.

The Doctor is shocked, because as he says later in the episode:

“There’s only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There’s only one time I could…”

Now, there’s been speculation that what he is referring to is during a wedding ceremony.  The Doctor has been through several wedding ceremonies that he doesn’t consider legitimate i.e. Queen Elizabeth I and Marilyn Monroe, and then he performed the short form of a Gallifreyan Wedding and married River Song. 

Now the question has been with a lot of fans, was the wedding legitimate? Did the Doctor think this wedding was legitimate? Some have argued that because the Doctor was inside the Tesselecta, this made the wedding bogus, but this is a flimsy excuse. I had previously thought the wedding was a true one, because, you know, a bit of a River/Doctor shipper, me, but looking at some of the hints, I have to say that no, this was not the real wedding. That one is still to come for the Doctor. 

The thing that makes me doubt its legitimacy is this:

Because the doctor whispers something in River’s ear and then says:

“I just told you my name. Now, there you go, River Song. Melody Pond. You’re the woman who married me.”

It seems the condition for being married in a Gallifreyan ceremony is the sharing of the Time Lord’s name. Why else would he say this? And why else would Moffat hint at this all the way back in the Library with the tenth doctor? And then, here’s the crux, the Doctor DID NOT TELL HER HIS NAME. He used the opportunity to share the secret of the Tesselecta with her—definitely an awesome moment, because we see in that moment that the Doctor finally trusts River. But does he marry her?

I believe that answer is no. 

But, River does know his name. She told him his name, so how did she learn it?

Well, in a Gallifreyan wedding ceremony. One we haven’t seen yet. 

And here’s the clue in a snippet of script that was cut from The Angels Take Manhattan:

DOCTOR [about River]: She’s really, really good.

AMY: [proudly]: Mydaughter.

DOCTOR: Mypoint. [to River] But we’re not married- that wedding never counted.

RIVER: Which wedding?

DOCTOR: The one in the aborted time-line, when I was disguised as a robot replica of myself.

RIVER: Could you be more specific?

-The Doctor Who Companion: Editing The Angels Take Manhattan

Moffat writes River as if she’s married, but he writes the Doctor as if he doesn’t believe she is. Who is right? Well, it’s timey whimey isn’t it? To River, there were (at least) two weddings. The one on the Pyramid, which wasn’t legitimate, and the one where the Doctor finally tells her his name, which is. The Doctor has only experienced the first of those weddings at this point, and at some point, we’ll see the real wedding. And… if my spec is correct, we’ll see it when Eleven regenerates. 

*shrugs*

But, of course, I could be wrong. 

Funnily enough I rewatched TWORS the other day and thought almost exactly what you said about that wedding not being completely legitimate.  I definitely agree that the sharing of names is strongly implied to be an essential part of the ceremony and that, for the Doctor at least, him telling her his name is what makes them married.   

But, having said that, I do think that the Doctor considers himself married, just as much as River does, in series 7 (“That’s nice, but I’m married.”)  And I think that what happened on top of that pyramid was real.  He genuinely chose to marry her up there.   (I’m glad that that dialogue was cut from TATM, to be honest, because if the Doctor doesn’t consider himself married at this point, then that ceremony was completely meaningless, which I don’t think it was.)  

So all I can assume is that immediately after the events of TWORS, possibly when he picks her up from Stormcage for the first time to take her to Calderon Beta, he completes the ceremony by telling her his name.  We just don’t get to see it.

of course he went through with it. but I really wanted to see their real wedding, him in timelordy robes her in a earth wedding dress (shut up, you know Amy would insist on it and the Doctor wouldn’t want to upset his mother in law), and get to see the full version of a timelord wedding.

dauntless-slytherin-pirate:

Okay, for real though. River Song is my absolute favorite character ever. i want to be her. for real. she is hot, she is a badass, she can fly the TARDIS, she’s fantastic, she’s the only one who can think as fast as the Doctor (so far anyway, i don’t know if that changes yet), she’s amazing, and she’s badass (did i say that yet?). for reals. best companion in the entire show. (so far. though it is unlikely that anyone will beat her, because she is so goddamn fantastic.)

a-peculiar-mademoiselle:

I think the reason why I shipped River and the Doctor originally was a misheard line…

She says “Life with a time traveler, never knew it could be such hard work.”

But I thought she said “Life with a time traveler, loving you can be such hard work.” 

So I knew she loved him and that it was hard for her but she loved him despite.  Even though that’s not what she actually said, it is true of their relationship.

genuinely-enthusiastic:

Theoretically River could continue to guest star forever since they can push back her and the Doctor’s last encounter for as long as they like (although at some point it would become ridiculous if Alex Kingston was so much older than when River died). However this could be avoided if they make the Doctor find a way to get out of the Library-computer. Wasn’t it implied in “Forest of the dead” that he would try to do so in the future?

yep. I think we will have River coming back as long as Alex is still fit enough to do all her stunts (and the makeup department can deage her, well from how much she has visually aged that might never be a problem), she wants to play River (which from what she has said in interviews will be never, she seems to love playing her, love the fans, and wants her own spin off), and as long as Moffat is around to write for her (and willing to, well not really that, she is his favorite so he will probably write for her forever). 

thetimelordsarereturning:

He promises to marry her if she lives…

UNEXPECTED FEELS.