After viewers watched the first Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner, propose to contestant Theresa Nist in the show’s season finale back in November, the two tied the knot in a live wedding special on Thursday night. Hosted by Bachelor veteran Jesse Palmer, fans of the franchise were given a behind-the-scenes look at the wedding, which took place at the La Quinta Resort and Club in California.
Sipping on specialty cocktails called “Turn Her Into a Mrs.” and “The Final Rose,” former Bachelorette star Charity Lawson and Golden Bachelor contestant Kathy Swartz teamed up on the gold carpet to interview other celebrities and Bachelor Nation attendees, including Golden Bachelor contestants like runner-up Leslie Fhima, the future Bachelor star Joey Graziadei, and two other married Bachelor couples who also had televised weddings.
When Kathy asked Leslie how she felt to be at Gerry and Theresa’s wedding given the fact that she had her “heart broken on national television,” Leslie took the high road and celebrated the happy couple.
“You know Kathy, at our age we have to celebrate love, and I was very good friends with Theresa. We supported each other throughout the whole time in the house and all the way through this journey,” Leslie said. “And I’m so, so happy for her and Gerry, and I’m here at the end of the day to support love in any way.”
Not only did viewers get to see everything going on before the wedding ceremony began, but ABC also aired footage of the couple spending the holidays with their combined families, with Theresa picking out her wedding dress and a bachelorette party with other Golden Bachelor contestants complete with a lingerie photo shoot and lap dances from male strippers, Gerry meeting with Neil Lane to pick out his and Theresa’s wedding bands, and also a scene of the couple meeting with event planner Mindy Weiss.
In the middle of the special, Brayden Bowers, who appeared on The Bachelorette Season 20 with Charity Lawson as well as the most recent season of Bachelor in Paradise, proposed to his girlfriend and Bachelor alum Christina Mandrell, much to her surprise. Brayden shocked everyone, including Christina, when he got down on one knee and said, “I have no doubts that I want to spend the rest of my time with you.”
Once the wedding ceremony actually got started, everyone was happy to see that Susan Noles, a contestant from the Golden Bachelor who still has a close relationship with both Gerry and Theresa, stood in as the officiant. Gerry cried as he watched Theresa walk down the aisle in her white lace dress and veil.
“I can’t even tell you how excited I am right now and so grateful to welcome you all here to celebrate this love that these two have found. For those of you who don’t know me, I just don’t know why. I’m Susan, the shy, quiet one on the show,” Susan joked as she began the live ceremony. “Theresa and I met when she walked through the Bachelor mansion door in her birthday suit. Gerry and I met when I stepped out of the limo screaming, ‘Gerry, I’m gonna marry you.’ Turns out I was right.”
Susan’s ceremony was filled with light-hearted moments and jokes, including when she said, “If five years ago someone told me that I was going to be officiating the very first-ever Golden Bachelor wedding and he wasn’t picking me, I would’ve said, ‘Yeah, that sounds about right.’”
But she also included emotional, meaningful sentiments. “Over 30,000 people and you were both chosen to be on The Golden Bachelor,” Susan said to Gerry and Theresa. “You have both given us all so much hope that it is never, ever too late to find love and that’s because of you two.”
You have both given us all so much hope that it is never, ever too late to find love and that’s because of you two.
She then welcomed Gerry and Theresa’s daughters to join them at the altar and speak about their parents in front of all of the wedding guests. They all shared messages of love and support for Gerry and Theresa.
“I’ve said many times since I first heard the incredible news that this feels surreal. Like, how is this real life?” Theresa’s daughter Jen said. “But somehow it was always meant to be. Fate. Mom, you found your person to go to Italy with, and Gerry, you got your person to share a sunset with.”
The happy couple shared their own vows with everyone, starting with Theresa. “Gerry, I went on The Golden Bachelor open to meeting the man of my dreams, but I never expected it to happen,” she said. “I promise to be your calm in the storm, to comfort you when you’re sad, to laugh with you when you’re happy, and to stick with you throughout it all, but most of all to have fun for the rest of the days that we have left on this Earth.”
After Theresa finished her heartfelt vows, Gerry shared his. “Theresa, when I think of all the decisions that we’ve made to be here in this position tonight, I know the hand of God and the winds of fate have ordained this moment,” he said. “From the first sip of chocolate shake to the last taste of Costa Rican coffee, I learned you’re the woman I can’t live without.
“I remember it wasn’t my ear that you whispered in when you said the ‘I love yous,’ but my very soul,” Gerry continued. “It wasn’t my lips you kissed to clear the frosting, but it was my soul. You were the love that came silently and without warning. You were authentic. Theresa, you have my heart and I have yours.”
After exchanging rings and sealing the deal with a kiss, Gerry and Theresa finalized their nuptials, cementing their place in Bachelor history as the first Golden Bachelor couple to make it down the aisle and enter into marriage. Viewers got a sneak peek into the happy couple’s wedding reception, complete with Theresa throwing her bouquet and the newlyweds dancing to their favorite song that a flash mob performed for them on their first date: “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
