TV Weddings – Gilmore Girls: Liz and TJ

On the whole, weddings did not go well in the Gilmore Girls universe. Or rather, they usually went wonderfully for the couple getting married, but were infallible sources of upheaval or distress for either Lorelai or Rory. Like many long-running shows, there were several weddings to choose from here – do you go with Sookie’s wedding (Lorelai finds out her ex-husband’s girlfriend is pregnant), or Richard and Emily’s vow renewal ceremony (Jess treats Rory miserably), or even Lane and Zach’s wedding (Lorelai gets drunk and gives an embarrassing toast). Given all of that, I had to go with the wedding that was most memorable for me, and where at least one of the Gilmore ladies ends the night happily.

The couple: Liz Danes and TJ

The premise: Luke’s crazy sister Liz marries her fourth husband TJ in a RenFaire-themed event that serves as a backdrop for romantic developments in both Lorelai and Rory’s lives.

The inevitable sequence of mishaps: Liz rips her dress before the wedding, but this episode is really all about the wedding ceremony itself, which is not so much a sequence of mishaps as it is a sequence of incredibly awesome Renaissance Faire hilarity. A fool in motley does flips down the aisle, the music is provided by a viol de gamba and recorder-playing band of troubadours, and the minister is a guy with a guitar who sings amazingly anachronistic lyrics about childhood games. I have to print the lyrics, because it’s just that great:

“As kids we shared our toys

With all the girls and boys

Barrel of Monkeys, your Battleship sunk me,

Please recall the joys

Willow, Clue, Mousetrap

Bash, and Spyrograph

Kaleidoscope spinning, Yahtzee I’m winning

Think of how we laughed

But today we share our love

(Today we share our love)

For love is the greatest toy around

Around, around”

The clichés: Randy bridesmaids, bizarre themed event, dramatics at the reception

The bridesmaid dresses: I cannot believe more people don’t consider this as a solid bridesmaid fashion option.

Wench bridesmaids! Plus, troubadours!

The first dance song: “Reflecting Light” by Sam Phillips

And in the end…: Liz and TJ really make a perfect couple. TJ supports Liz’s wacky hippy tendencies, and Liz loves TJ’s doopy innocence. TJ spends the majority of the episode extolling the virtues of wearing tights, and the whole thing comes off with remarkably few hitches.

The verdict: Like Ross and Emily’s wedding on Friends, weddings on Gilmore Girls are always more of a showcase for the main characters than for the bride and groom, and from that perspective, this one does quite well. After some seriously poor decisions about drinking with strangers, Rory finally reaches a showdown between Jess and Dean that’s been brewing for years, and Lorelai’s relationship with Luke finally (finally!) gets a little bit of a kick start when they dance together at the wedding. But even though this wedding was more of a B-plot than the main event, the wackadoo RenFaire theme and genuine sweetness between the bride and the groom carry the episode. As Liz says before she walks down the aisle, “I don’t want to screw up this marriage even more than I want some pot, that’s how serious I am.” Aww.