Inside Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young's Lavish Santa Barbara Wedding
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HGTV star Tarek El Moussa and Selling Sunset’s Heather Rae Young are married! As a refresher, the couple started dating in July 2019. Fast forward to July 2020 and El Moussa proposed to Young on the beach three days after their one-year anniversary — and yes, you can watch it. The lovebirds have been planning their big day for a while and they brought us along for the journey. Below, go back through their planning process.
Christina Haack will not be invited
Young revealed during an episode of PeopleTV's Reality Check that El Moussa's ex-wife and Flip or Flop star, Christina Haack (formerly Christina Anstead), was not invited. The couple made a rule that exes will not be allowed. Instead, Haack spent a romantic weekend at home with fiance and real estate agent Joshua Hall.
Heather Rae Young's wedding dress will be designed by Galia Lahav
Young wore a Galia Lahav dress on her big day. Galia Lahav, based in Los Angeles, is also the designer behind the two black wedding dresses Young's Selling Sunset costar Christine Quinn wore on her big day.
Kristi Lee of Details Details is planning the wedding
Kristi Lee of Details Details, a premier weddings and events company, will plan Young and El Moussa's big day.
They abandoned their original wedding plans
Heather Rae Young revealed in an Instagram post that this is actually the second wedding she and El Moussa have planned. "Tarek and I hired a wedding planner, sent out our save the dates, and then after rethinking some things we decided to completely change everything," she writes. "Tarek saw how stressed I was getting so we decided to go in a different direction with the wedding planner, hired a new one, changed the wedding location, and sent out new save the dates that said 'just kidding,'" she adds.
According to El Moussa, the couple was originally due to wed in Cabo, Mexico. "We love Mexico. We loved the hotel, we loved everything about it, but this was months back, and it was during the pandemic. Well, not during, we're still in the pandemic," he tells People. "But it was a lot stricter, and we had friends and family who were concerned about traveling, and we're concerned about our parents who have some health issues. So, because of all those factors, we decided to have a California one."
El Moussa hints his wedding will be in September
El Moussa suggests during an episode of HGTV House Party that his wedding with Young will be held in September. Hosts Loren Ruch and Brian Balthazar play a game with the Flipping 101 star where they ask him questions and he must try to match his answers to Young's answers which were privately given beforehand. When asked what he thinks Young believes is the best month for the pair to wed, El Moussa says September. One of the hosts reads Young's answer to the question, which says, "Depends on location, whenever the heat isn't too bad." El Moussa says with a smile: "That's why I said September. But, despite El Moussa's sly response, the wedding was actually held in October.
El Moussa and Young considered getting married in California or Italy
The couple kept the location of their wedding private. However, Young did hint at some potential locations during the planning process. She asked fans on Instagram to help them decide between the following locations: a vineyard in Napa, California, somewhere on the ocean in California, and Capri, Italy.
More recently, the bride-to-be posted a sneak peek at the venue itself. "Standing in the exact place we’ll have our first dance as husband and wife," Rae writes. "And the only thing I’ll say to you all is…it’s happening soon," she adds.
Ultimately, the pair settled on Santa Barbara, California at an upscale hotel.
El Moussa's daughter will be one of Young's bridesmaids
In a video uploaded to her Instagram stories, Young officially asked El Moussa's daughter, Taylor Reese, to be a bridesmaid with an adorable gift box filled with scratch-off card and little gifts, including jewelry. In the video, Young also asks her sister, Jenna Young Piper, to be her maid of honor.
Chrishell Stause and Mary Fitzgerald are helping Young prep for the big day
Selling Sunset costars Chrishell Stause and Mary Fitzgerald have been helping Young get ready for her wedding. The ladies visited the Galia Lahav store in Los Angeles to try on dresses. "Such a fun girls day today and we mayyy or may not have tried on wedding dresses and sipped on champagne all day long," Young wrote on Instagram.
Both Stause and Fitzgerald posted videos and photos of the wedding to their Instagram stories.
El Moussa and Young's wedding probably won't be on Selling Sunset or Flipping 101...
Young revealed that she's leaning toward not having the wedding filmed. During an interview with KTLA 5, Young says that it's something she and El Moussa have discussed. "It's a really personal and intimate day, and I don't know if I want my family mic'd up," she said. "I don't know if I want them pulled away while I'm having to film a scene. So, you know, it's something we're still in discussion about, but I'm leaning more towards no."
...But it will be televised
Despite Young initially having reservations about filming her wedding, she recently revealed to Entertainment Tonight that her nuptials to El Moussa will be filmed for a special on Discovery+. "When we decided to do a wedding special, it wasn't an easy decision because a wedding is so beautiful and intimate and private so we actually went back and forth for months deciding," she tells the outlet. She reveals that the decision was partly motivated by El Moussa's children. "For a long time it was a no, and as things started going on—like, the tux fitting with Brayden and Taylor's dress shopping—we were [thinking] how cute would that be to film?"
The Selling Sunset star hopes that the pair made the right decision. "We want people to see the journey of our love and our wedding and bring people into our lives. But it was a big decision because our lives are out there so much," she says. "We were just saying, 'Do we want this moment to be private or do we want the world to see it?' So, I hope the world is happy that we're filming it."
Young will be taking El Moussa's last name
"I’m going to be Heather Rae El Moussa. I’m going to drop my last name," Young told host Amanda Hirsch on an episode of the podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat.
Young and El Moussa are planning a big honeymoon
At the premiere of the upcoming kid's film, L.O.L. Surprise, Young—who attended the event with her future step-daughter, Taylor Reese—revealed that she and El Moussa would be making two stops on their honeymoon. "We're going to miss the kids, but we're doing the Maldives and then Dubai for a few nights," she says.
This article was originally published on 8/7/2020. It has been updated to reflect new information.
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