Bachelor Nation's many couples understand better than most that every rose has its thorn.
Just this past year, we've had to pour a champagne glass out for the likes of Danielle Maltby and Michael Allio and Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick, whose romances reached a dramatic conclusion.
And though Tartick spoke about "tidal waves of depression" following his and Bristowe's August split announcement, he had a far rosier outlook after running into the onetime Bachelorette at former host Chris Harrison's Nov. 4 wedding to Lauren Zima.
"Before we went into that weekend, I had not seen her once and the last time I saw her was when I moved out," Tartick explained on his Trading Secrets podcast. "And I would describe it that there was a lot of energy that we were both holding and it wasn't maybe the best energy. And then when we saw each other, didn't know what to expect, but it was great. It was friendly, it was cordial, it was respectful."
It may have even left him wanting to kick his heels up and shout.
"I didn't dance with her, but there were times I would dance and she was at the table. Like, 'Shout' came on," he recalled. "I started dancing and at that point, I felt like such a friendly, healthy place from our conversation that I looked at her and pointed at her like…'This is my song, but you know it.' I was like, 'You gotta get out here.'"
And while the Harrison-Zima union may have drawn the biggest Bachelor Nation crowd, with everyone from Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham to Sean and Catherine Lowe to JoJo Fletcher, Trista Sutter and Wells Adams throwing their hands up at the Austin bash, it was hardly the only wedding to feature the stars of the franchise.
Can we steal you for a sec to celebrate these other recent Bachelor bashes?
Ben Flajnik
The star of season 16 of The Bachelor announced Nov. 25 that he got married in October in Sonoma, Calif.
"Last month, in an intimate ceremony surrounded by family I married my best friend," he wrote on Instagram, alongside a wedding photo of himself and his bride, who he did not tag or name, "and it was the most incredible day of my life."
He continued, "Tears and laughs were had and I've never felt so present with another person in my life. I'm so grateful to do life with you and thank you for your unwavering love and support."
Kenny Braasch & Mari Pepin
More than two years after their Mexican engagement, the season 7 Bachelor in Paradise success story returned to the beach for their vows, marrying in front of 65 guests in Pepin's native Puerto Rico. The day before the Nov. 11 ceremony (a date chosen for its lucky 11-11 significance), the pair enjoyed pre-wedding festivities—which included Pepin making bouquets with her bridesmaids—at Hyatt Vacation Club at Hacienda del Mar.
And the main event that featured the boy band manager's sister as officiant and their dogs Dice and Monster in tuxedos just might have a sequel. As the beauty queen noted to People, "We've always had the idea to do a couple of other celebrations so we can include more people as well."
Teddi Wright & Nicholas Meyers
Following a brief stint in Paradise, the registered nurse knew she could, in fact, ask for more. "I want to get married and I want to have kids and I want to love someone," said Wright, who competed for Clayton Echard's heart before enjoying a short dalliance with Andrew Spencer in Mexico. "I want to be affectionate with them. But I just don't think it's going to happen here now."
Score one for intuition. A few months after leaving Paradise last summer, she debuted her new romance with Meyers, accepting his proposal in April.
As for their 97-guest classic, black-and-white Napa Valley vows, "It was really important to us that our wedding feel intimate, that everyone that was there was someone who was significant to us in our journey either separately or as a couple," Wright explained to People. "It turned into a weekend party to celebrate our love with friends and family!"
Tia Booth & Taylor Mock
Ultimately, the onetime Bachelor contestant didn't struggle too much with her final decision.
"It was either elope or have a huge party with all of our family and friends—no in between," Booth, who romanced Arie Luyendyk Jr. and fellow Paradise star Colton Underwood before accepting Mock's April 2022 proposal, told People. "I’ve waited a long time for this day, so we might as well have everyone there to witness it!"
And so 225 loved ones were on hand to watch the parents to 11-month-old Tatum exchange self-penned vows in Nashville Nov. 4. "So emotional and so special," the Arkansas native wrote on Instagram. "The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The venue was stunning. Our florals, vendors, our GUESTS-all perfection!!! Taylor and I cried the entire ceremony."
Chris Harrison & Lauren Zima
The former Bachelor host nearly accepted his producer bride's suggestion to pull double-duty at their own wedding. “The running joke was whether we could find a way for Chris to officiate his own wedding, since he has so much experience,” Zima joked to People of watching him helm ceremonies for Luyendyk and Lauren Burnham, Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert and Jason and Molly Mesnick.
Instead, close pal Mike Levitt stepped in, taking the lead at their Oct. 14 vows in Napa Valley and the abbrieviated version they held ahead of a bigger Nov. 4 bash near their Texas home. “As much as we wanted an intimate weekend for our wedding ceremony in Napa, we also wanted to celebrate getting married with all the great friends we have,” Zima explained. “Doing the second event in Austin gave us the ability to include all of our friends."
Making the cut: Franchise alums like Luyendyk and Burnham, Sean and Catherine Lowe, JoJo Fletcher, Trista Sutter, Underwood and Wells Adams. Though, Harrison quipped of their pre-nuptial Bachelor World reunion, "At the end of the night, I'm going to tell 10 of them that they will be going home broken-hearted and can’t come to the wedding.”
Becca Kufrin & Thomas Jacobs
Yep, they did the damn thing. Mere weeks after welcoming son Benson in September, the Bachelor in Paradise pair headed to the courthouse of love Oct. 13.
The low-key affair (complete with their waiter stepping in as witness) checked off every box they had for their dream nuptials. "We're hoping October," the former Bachelorette told E! News last December of marrying in the same month as her late father's birthday, "but we want to keep it very small, very intimate so it would just be immediate family. We might elope."
Though she didn't rule out throwing a second, larger bash. "We're thinking maybe in January of 2024, we have a big party like '20s-Gatsby-champagne-towers theme," she continued, "where it's more of just a celebration."
Dean Unglert & Caelynn Miller-Keyes
On the hunt for a non-traditional wedding, the former beauty queen pitched a unique idea to her nomadic fiancé.
"I loved summer camp more than anything growing up, so we incorporated some camp themes throughout the weekend, like field day, to really allow everyone to get to know each other," Miller-Keyes explained to People of inviting their loved ones to a weekend at what they dubbed Camp Bell near Unglert's Colorado hometown. (Post-nuptials, the duo who met on Paradise in 2019 changed their last names to Bell, in honor of his late mother.)
But while everyone gamely stayed in cabins and the couple kept the decor minimal to let the natural elements shine, the food at the Sept. 23 reception was elevated far beyond your standard mess hall fare with Alaskan salmon and rib eye, plus a three-tiered vanilla cake and ice cream sandwiches.
"I need another word to describe the weekend other than perfect," the bride gushed of the Carter Rose-photographed event, "but it really was."
Sarah Herron & Dylan Brown
Turns out the Grand Canyon is the perfect place to fall (more) in love. Because that's where Bachelor standout Herron decided to wed her partner of six-plus years in a decidedly fuss-free ceremony.
Having already made it through hell and high water, losing their son Oliver shortly after his January birth, they decided days before leaving for an August rafting trip "that it could be pretty epic to elope," the entrepreneur shared on Instagram. "What made it so cool to us was that it would be all low-tech with nothing more than a 'just married sign' and disposable cameras."
Getting wedding-ready on a riverbank in 110-degree heat wasn't without its challenges for the pair, who got engaged in 2021. And yet, it was a true fantasy.
As Herron put it, "We tied the knot on 8.27.23 at mile 75 of the Colorado River, standing on hot granite wearing a wrinkly wedding dress and it was… perfection."
Hannah Godwin & Dylan Barbour
After saying "si!" to the tech entrepreneur's 2019 proposal on the beaches of Mexico, Paradise alum Godwin took her time deciding on a venue, the pair ultimately agreeing that, oui, France's Château de Villette would be a delight.
"We chose our location at the beginning of this year, which only gave us about eight months to plan the entire thing," Godwin confessed to E! News in March. "But we like a challenge—we're excited."
The result—complete with a welcome party in Paris and a firework sendoff—was every bit as amazing as the San Diego-based pair's journey. "The wedding was absolutely magical," Setty app founder Godwin told E! of their Aug. 24 vows. "I married my best friend surrounded by our closest family and friends and it meant everything to us. It was a dream come true."