Prequels [sequels?] are not required reading but it helps. Actually, they're literally summed up in the first chapter. Honestly, the recap at the start of 2 and 3 are much better.

After Shining Armour and Cadence's wedding went about as well as you'd expect it to, the two, Twilight, their parents and there in-laws are sitting together at Joe's Donuts and the subject of 'how Velvet and Nightlight's wedding went almost/just as bad/worse than this one' comes up and they start telling the story.

The last 3 stories where definitely 'romantic' comedies but this is more of a romantic drama and was inspired in it's entirety by a single throwaway line from a random episode of Scrubs.

No humanised alicorn parents where harmed in the making of this story. Their children however probably got pretty scarred...
The Best Laid Out Plans NEXT: An April Fools Continuation, coming next april first.
Maybe... there was a 3 year gap between 2 and 3 afterall...