While most brides find themselves overwhelmed with options while planning their wedding, Ashley Iaconetti has (most of) it all figured it out!
The Bachelor alum, 30, is in the midst of planning her upcoming nuptials to Jared Haibon, who proposed to her last month while the pair were filming the upcoming fifth season of Bachelor in Paradise. Iaconetti spoke with Us Weekly at the Maxim Hot 100 Experience event on Saturday, July 21, where she joked that her fiancé, 29, was finally enjoying a wedding show-free night at home — while she happily dished out the details on their big day!
And as it turns out, Iaconetti already has the style of her wedding dress in mind — and she’s being strategic with her choice! “It’s got to be strapless, sweetheart. I think princess ball gown,” she told Us at the event, noting that she will visit New York City’s bridal boutique Kleinfeld next week. “I can wear like a mermaid or a form-fitting dress at any event I go to, so I kind of want to do the ball gown, which I can’t do at any other time.”
While some things are still up in the air, the Bachelor Winter Games alum does know one thing for sure: where the wedding will be held! “We are thinking Rhode Island, Newport, Rhode Island, just like right now, because he’s from Rhode Island,” she noted. “I’ve always just wanted to get married in a beach setting, and there’s the beach, so we both are happy.” In fact, Iaconetti says the location seems to be Haibon’s only concern: “I think that he’s just really happy that I want it in Rhode Island — and I think that’s really the only thing that matters to him.“
As for the vibe and style of the wedding — which will hopefully be next summer — Iaconetti is still mulling her options. “I’ve always thought, when it comes to themes, a little bit of a Titanic, movie Titanic, maybe a little Aladdin in there. A little magical carpet, that color scheme, and we’re like Jasmine and Aladdin,” she said. “Or at least we like to think we are.”
The couple have also started thinking about their respective bridal parties. “Jade and Tanner [Tolbert] are our best couple friends from the show — I’m sure they’ll both be in our wedding,” Iaconetti revealed. “We’ve been friends for three years.”
For Iaconetti and Haibon, their relationship has been a long time coming. They became fast friends when they met on Bachelor in Paradise season two in 2015 (and she fell for him hard!), but only recently became serious.
“We just kind of feel like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re engaged now.’ It feels like we should have been engaged for a long time,” the reality TV personality continued before adding, “We’ve always just been so close that it feels very natural.”
With reporting by Taylor Ferber