Wedding bells are ringing in Mexico — again! Six years after meeting at Evan Bass and Carly Waddell’s wedding, Juelia Kinney and his brother Aaron Bass are gearing up to wed in Cancún.
“Aaron’s the best. I had never met him before meeting him through Evan, obviously, and we actually met at Evan and Carly’s wedding,” the 38-year-old Bachelor season 19 contestant gushed on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast, recalling her mother suggesting that she might meet someone at the 2017 nuptials. “[I said], ‘I’m just gonna go support my friend and that’s it.’ And, you know, there was Aaron — tall, dark and handsome — standing there and I’m like, ‘Who are you?’ He’s like, ‘I’m Evan’s brother.’ And I’m like, ‘You are? I didn’t even know Evan had a brother!’ So yeah, Aaron’s the best. He’s hilarious. He’s the best dad. He’s just the sweetest. He’s my best friend.”
While Aaron lived in Nashville at the time, it wasn’t long before he made the move to San Diego to be with the reality TV personality and her daughter, Ireland, now 10.
“I was like, ‘If you’re serious — if you actually wanna talk to me and date me — then you need to come to San Diego and take me on a date, otherwise I’m not taking you seriously at all.’ And so two weeks later, he came here and we went to Catalina Island together and literally the rest is history,” she recalled. “We’ve been together ever since.”
The twosome have since added son Van, 2, to their brood — which also includes Aaron’s two sons from a previous relationship.
“It’s so much fun and the kids love each other. It is honestly so sweet to see and they FaceTime [Aaron’s sons] more than [we do]. We’re like, ‘Hey, can we talk to the boys?’ Ireland’s talking to them all the time and it’s just so cute,” she said. “And they’re all obsessed with Van and Van’s obsessed with them. It honestly couldn’t be better.”
After initial plans to wed in Santa Barbara in June 2020 were postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic, Juelia and Aaron opted to plan a 40-person ceremony in Cancún for next month. She told Us that the couple want their big day to be “special” for their kids, but she wasn’t interested in replanning the wedding.
“People keep saying like, ‘Aren’t you guys married already?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, you would think so cause we’ve been engaged forever.’ … I’m like, ‘I am not planning another wedding. I can’t do it. I put so much effort into it,’” the Bachelor in Paradise alum explained. “We’re just gonna go off to Cancun and do all-inclusive and they can hand me my flowers that don’t even care [about] and we’re doing it!”
While Carly, 37, was recently in attendance at Juelia’s Bachelorette party, the “Your Friends Like Me More” songstress — who split from Evan, 40, in 2020 – told Us that she’s skipping the wedding.
“I’m not [going] but it’s just because with the kids and the flying to Mexico. First off, they don’t have passports yet, which I could probably rush, but it’s a lot of people I haven’t seen in a very long time,” Carly, who shares Bella, 5, and Charlie, 3, with Evan told Us. “And I talked to her about it, she totally understands. I was like, ‘I don’t wanna distract from your big day.’ Because if I’m there, lots of people could be uncomfortable and we don’t need that to be the focus. So instead I’m going to FaceTime her the whole day [as] she’s getting ready. Obviously drinking champagne. … It’s [Evan’s] brother, it’s his family and friends and I think that takes priority.”
Juelia, for her part, told Us that she’s able to keep her relationships with Evan and Carly separate.
“I’m still there for my friend Carly but then also, like, Evan is gonna be my brother-in-law and I care about him a lot,” she told Us. “It’s interesting sometimes but I just keep it as separate as possible and support them both as best I can.”
