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Luke & Lorelai’s Wedding Song Is An Important Callback For This Reason

by Megan Walsh

(Warning: This post contains spoilers from Episode 4 of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.)

After seven seasons, an eight year gap, and four brand new episodes, the inevitable finally happened on Gilmore Girls: Lorelai and Luke tied the knot. Their often rocky relationship has been a cornerstone of the series for a while, but things always seemed to get in their way. First it was Luke's surprise daughter April, then it was Lorelai's quickie marriage to Christopher; the obstacles were big ones, and they took time to navigate around them. But now that all of those things are in the past, they were finally able to get married and their wedding was full of nods to the show's past. In particular, Luke and Lorelai's wedding song is an important callback because it references the first time they danced together at a wedding.

Their wedding in "Fall" began with a middle of the night drive through town, with Rory and Lorelai in the back of Luke's truck as they passed Star's Hollow landmarks like Miss Patty's dance studio. They stumbled upon a giant, mysterious door (set up in advance by Luke and Kirk, of course) and walked through it into a truly stunning wedding setup: there were flowers and lights everywhere, and the entire town square seemed to glow. The song "Reflecting Light" by Sam Philips played over the entire montage as Lorelai and Luke danced together and finally got married – just like it did when they danced together at Liz and T.J.'s wedding all those years ago.

That Season 4 dance was an important milestone in Lorelai and Luke's relationship because it really marked the turning point from friendship to romance for them. In "Last Week Fights, This Week Tights," Liz and T.J. had their Renaissance themed wedding, where Lorelai accompanied Luke as his date. Luke had been fresh off reading a self-help book that gave him some important realizations, and it was the first time it looked like their relationship was going to finally cross the line from friendship to more.

They ended up kissing for the first time in the next episode, but that dance – and the song that accompanied it – signified the start of it all. It also showed that the normally-stodgy Luke, certainly not the kind of guy who would usually break out his best moves at a wedding, was willing to get a little outside of his comfort zone for Lorelai.

Having the song from that moment play again at their wedding is a beautiful way of showing how things have come full circle on Gilmore Girls.