Summary
- Fuller House chose Jesse to walk Stephanie down the aisle instead of her father, Danny. This decision was surprising and unexpected.
- Jesse and Stephanie didn't have a particularly close relationship in Full House, but the parallels between their characters in Fuller House made their connection work.
- Like Jesse, Stephanie went through personal growth and wanted a long-term relationship and a family. Their similar character arcs justify the decision to have Jesse walk Stephanie down the aisle.
Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) walked Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) down the aisle during her wedding in the Fuller House series finale — not her father Danny (Bob Saget). Netflix's sequel spin-off to Full House opted to end its run with DJ (Candace Cameron-Bure), Kimmy (Andrea Barber), and Stephanie all tying the knot for a feel-good finale. However, instead of the Tanner patriarch sending off both of his older daughters, he only walked with DJ, leaving Stephanie with her uncle instead.
In Full House, Danny treated all three kids equally. That said, given the girls' ages, he had more emotional interactions with Stephanie throughout the original show's eight-year-run. As the oldest, DJ grew to be independent quickly and didn't latch onto her dad in the same way, while Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) was too young in the early seasons to really have a connection with him. Stephanie, on the other hand, was at the perfect age to be more attached to Danny, making Jesse walking Stephanie down the aisle a surprising choice.
What Happens At The Fuller House Wedding
Many fans expected Danny Tanner to walk both DJ and Stephanie down the aisle during their wedding day, but that wasn't the case. Instead, Joey (Dave Coulier) was partnered up with Kimmy, Danny with DJ, and Stephanie with Jesse. In hindsight, it's understandable from a storytelling perspective why Fuller House would want all three older cast members from the original series to play a pivotal part in the finale, considering the men raised the girls — even Kimmy.
This is the reason why the writers went out of their way to establish a connection between Kimmy and Joey during the midseason premiere as a set-up for the former escorting the latter during her wedding. The thing is, Jesse and Stephanie didn't have that kind of lead-in.
Jesse Walking Stephanie Down The Aisle Was Odd
Although Stephanie and Jesse spent eight years together in Full House, the show never demonstrated that Jesse had a special relationship with Stephanie; in fact, he was particularly close to Michelle instead. Throughout the original series, Stephanie and Jesse do have a handful of moments together, like him inspiring her to start a band, or her cutting his hair, but overall, more of his time is spent with Michelle instead.
Jesse is often the go-to person when Michelle has problems with classmates or when she makes a particularly big mistake that she has to learn from. Jesse's relationship with the very young Michelle is part of what prepares him to be a dad to twin boys. He doesn't have that kind of rapport with Stephanie. So, why did he end up giving Stephanie away on her wedding day in Fuller House?
The Stephanie Jesse Fuller House Parallel Made It Work
The reason Jesse walking Stephanie down the aisle in the series works is because of the Stephanie-Jesse Fuller House connection. Fuller House retreads a lot of the relationship connections between the adults in the series, paralleling those of the original show. Stephanie is essentially the Jesse of the revival series.
DJ takes on the Danny role in the new series. She is the responsible parent who has to raise her kids alone after the death of her spouse. Like Danny, however, she doesn’t really have to do it alone because she has a support system that agrees to temporarily move in while DJ reconnects with her old love Steve, and makes a new connection with the local veterinarian.
Kimmy Gibbler is DJ’s oldest friend, and she was a big part of the original series. Kimmy was there to learn and grow alongside DJ, but she’s the more eccentric of the pair. She returns to Fuller House, filling the same role as Joey in the original series. The kids might not always understand her, but her fun-loving nature wins them over.
In the original series, Jesse was the sister of Danny’s departed wife, and he lived with Danny after the death of his sister to help with the kids while pursuing his music career. Stephanie returns to help her sister after the death of her husband as well. She also happens to have a career in the music industry. Like Jesse, Stephanie is the one more likely to be going on dates and living a slightly less responsible life because she’s not used to having the same responsibilities that DJ and Kimmy do. The offshoot spent a considerable amount of time diving into Stephanie's personal arc
Like Jesse, Stephanie also realizes over the course of the series that she wants a long-term relationship and a family, just as Jesse did when he fell for Becky. At the end of Fuller House, Stephanie has become a mom herself. Aside from her firstborn, Danielle, who was born through Kimmy functioning as a surrogate, it was also revealed that she's expecting another baby, and this time — she's carrying the baby herself.
This effectively parallels Jesse's arc in Full House, the same way Danny's narrative mirrors DJ's. Aside from Jesse not experiencing any pregnancy issues with Becky (Lori Loughlin) and their twins Nicky and Alex, his character development pretty much followed the same trajectory: Both Jesse and Stephanie were musicians-at-heart, not to mention cool uncle/aunt to their respective nieces and nephews until they became parents themselves. This ultimately justifies the decision to partner them up during the wedding.
The connections between Stephanie and Jesse as adults really make the relationship between the two work. Danny might be Stephanie’s father, but it's Jesse who likely understands Stephanie best later in life, and is the perfect stand-in to walk her down the aisle in Fuller House.
Of course, things would be different had Michelle appeared in Fuller House. It's likely that the youngest sister would have taken Kimmy's spot in the triple Tanner wedding, with Jesse walking her down the aisle, leaving Stephanie with Joey. That pairing has problems, though, as it would imply that just like the comedian, the middle Tanner sister is technically an outsider to the Tanner family. If anything, not having this dilemma is one of the few upsides to Michelle not appearing in Fuller House.