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Jim (Jason Biggs) and bride-to-be, Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), are congratulated by the father of

A wedding is a joyous occasion – the union of two souls, forever joined in holy matrimony. An “American Wedding,” as it turns out, is a bit more complicated.

In this third and final installment of the “American Pie” movies, Jim (Jason Biggs) has proposed to Michelle (Alyson Hannigan). But before they can get married, they have to survive a dance-off in a gay bar, dead flowers and Jim’s shiksa-phobic grandmother, not to mention a bachelor party thrown by everyone’s favorite horndog, Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott).

Of course, in the tradition of the franchise, there are enough sex jokes and bathroom humor to provoke several “Did they just really DO that?!” moments. But the cast is quick to point out that the film is really about relationships, not just scatology.

“It’s potty humor with heart,” says Thomas Ian Nicholas, who reprises his role as Kevin in the film.

Hannigan agrees. “You have to have the sweet factor so you believe the gross factor. ... It’s the heart that makes it less gross.”

Adam Herz, who wrote the scripts for all three films, believes that one of the things that distinguishes the series from the traditional teen-sex comedies (e.g. “Porky’s”) is that the women are not seen just as objects, but as developed characters in charge of their sexuality.

“I always try to keep the women empowered,” Herz said.

However, many of the female characters from the first two films are absent in “Wedding,” including Mena Suvari, Tara Reid and Shannon Elizabeth. Chris Klein is also nowhere to be found. (Don’t worry Bruin fans: UCLA alum and former Spring Sing judge John Cho does make an appearance.) The filmmakers stress that the casting decisions were made for the good of the movie and that there were no hurt feelings among the actors.

“To tell a clean story you can really only have 2 or 3 main characters. ... Including everyone would have just made the movie bloated,” Herz explained.

“Wedding” concentrates more on Jim and Alyson’s relationship and on Stifler, who had only a small role in the first film. We see that Stifler may not be just a horny jerk, although he does manage to get himself into less-than-flattering situations. The film continues the tradition of Stifler eating things that, well, let’s just say he shouldn’t.

The film also introduces several new characters, including Alyson’s parents, played by Fred Willard and Deborah Rush, and her little sister, Cadence (newcomer January Jones.)

The cast says that while they are disappointed that the series is over, they are all grateful to have taken part in the films. Over the course of five years, they became like a family.

“I feel like he’s a son,” says Eugene Levy of on-screen son Biggs.

“I’m sad because I’ve had such a wonderful experience. ... I’ve had a great time playing the character,” Biggs said.

Well, one can always hope for American Baby.