'Nashville' Recap: The Big Wedding You've Been Waiting For

What happened on the epic episode!

ByABC News
March 17, 2016, 10:09 AM

— -- ABC's "Nashville" returned from its winter break Wednesday night, just in time for the long-awaited wedding of Rayna Jaymes and Deacon Claybourne.

Tabloid interest in the pair's nuptials boiled over, leading to Deacon attacking a member of the paparazzi -- an encounter his and Rayna's daughter Maddie witnessed, leading her to wonder if there was a side of her father she should fear. Meanwhile, Rayna's other daughter Daphne grew insecure about her place in the new family unit.

Combine that with Rayna's sister Tandy's reservations about Deacon, it took some serious determination from the fictional country superstar to keep her wedding day on track. By the end of the episode, Rayna and Deacon were on their honeymoon.

Juliette Barnes remained unseen for the eleventh episode of season four, enjoying her visit with baby Cadence, even though she's still away for treatment of postpartum depression. Juliette's career demanded that estranged husband Avery Barkley tell an elaborate series of lies to keep up a front at Rayna and Deacon's wedding -- a process he found so debilitating it finally led him to have a panic attack.

Meanwhile, now-out gay country singer Will Lexington fled the festivities, after losing his songwriting deal because he refused to reveal why he wouldn't work with closeted country legend Wade Cole. Star-crossed former couple Gunnar Scott and Scarlett O'Conner braved the affair as singles, with Gunnar's new girlfriend away and Scarlett having broken up with her doctor boyfriend. Gunnar's attempts to fix Scarlett up with a single man at the wedding led to a series of semi-comic misadventures.

But the real drama began as Layla Grant returned, and the gathering gave Colt Wheeler his first chance to confess what he witnessed the night Layla's boyfriend Jeff Fordham fell to his death. Colt told Layla that Jeff actually lost his balance while preventing Juliette from jumping to her death -- a revelation that sent the young singer reeling. By episode's end, Layla has set the wheels in motion to get even with Juliette, as she plans to enlist Avery to produce her new album.

The drama continues next Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.