Bachelor Nation’s Brayden Bowers and Christina Mandrell aren’t walking down the aisle quite yet.
Upon first glance, the couple’s latest Instagram posts suggested they already tied the knot as they posed for photos in front of a chapel while wearing a wedding dress and a tux. However, the videos were actually a behind-the-scenes look at Bowers and Mandrell’s wedding photo shoot.
“Since the day I bought my car @thedollycarton I’ve been dreaming of this elopement styled shoot,” read a caption on Instagram footage shared by the event company Dolly Carton on Tuesday, March 19. “Thanks to an incredible team of talented and creative rockstars, it turned out even better than I could have ever imagined.”
In the clip, Bowers, 25, complemented his fiancée’s many white wedding looks in a gray tux and pink tie while posing in a pink convertible with a “Just Married” sign at the White Velvet Chapel in Nashville. Mandrell, 28, paired her dresses with both white and hot pink veils and a variety of fun heels, one pair of which looked like an ice cream cone topped with a cherry.
Photographer Caitlin Gore shared more footage from the photo shoot in another Tuesday Instagram video that showed Bowers and Mandrell sharing sweet kisses and cutting a wedding cake.
“Can we go back and relive this day? What a dream,” Gore commented underneath the post. “So honored to have been a part of it. Loved y’all! 🥰.”
Bachelor Nation fans were introduced to Mandrell and Bowers on Zach Shallcross and Charity Lawson’s seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, respectively. After Bowers tried to find love on season 9 of Bachelor in Paradise, Bowers connected with Mandrell via social media after she sent him a message.
They debuted their relationship in December 2023 during the BiP season 9 finale’s “where are they now?” segment.
“AHHH! We can ‘FINALEy’ shout it from the rooftops!! Beyond the cameras and reality show drama, Brayden (aka MY BOYFRIEND!) and I found something truly special,” Mandrell captioned Instagram clips of her and Bowers’ off-camera time together with her daughter, Blakely, in December 2023. (Mandrell shares Blakely, 7, with her ex-husband, Blake Dennis.)
She continued: “In each other, we have a space where being unapologetically ourselves is not just accepted but celebrated! Something I never knew I was missing until I did. We can finally share our goofy, love-filled world.”
Just days after Mandrell revealed via her Instagram Story that she was moving in with The Bachelorette alum, Bowers popped the question during The Golden Wedding special on January 4. The Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner revealed on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast later that month that he gave Bowers the OK to propose at his wedding to Theresa Nist.
“I’ve heard a couple comments, like, ‘Oh, jeez, that was inappropriate,’ and, ‘Why steal the thunder and the spotlight from the wedding?’” Turner, 72, shared. “Brayden called [me], and he was very sincere and earnest about his request.”
