Newlywed bliss! Jenna Cooper and her fiancé, Karl Hudson, tied the knot in a low-key ceremony nearly one year after they got engaged.
The Bachelor in Paradise alum, 32, shared the news with fans on Monday, April 4, revealing that the duo decided to elope in New Orleans while they were in town for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
“We finally did it!” the former reality star wrote via Instagram alongside a carousel of photos from the big day. “Couldn’t wait any longer to marry the man of my dreams;) We decided last minute to come to New Orleans for the Final Four, and just elope! It was so fun and spontaneous and exciting.”
The Indiana native said that she planned the ceremony herself “within a few days,” adding that she and her husband plan to have a party for family and friends later this year. “I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out,” she wrote of the impromptu nuptials. “The ceremony was really special, and we had our amazing friend, Catherine there with us who is a big part of our lives (and also the person who introduced us). I was actually very relaxed and able to take in every moment. Feeling so blessed, and just can’t stop smiling.”
Cooper and the real estate broker went public with their romance in January 2020. Later that year, they welcomed daughter Presley, now 20 months. “We can’t even describe the overwhelming love and happiness we feel meeting our little sunshine!” the couple told Us Weekly in a statement at the time.
In June 2021, Hudson proposed to his love on her birthday while they were on vacation in Turks and Caicos. “I said YES!😍💍,” Cooper wrote via Instagram at the time alongside photos from the duo’s beach engagement. “Easiest decision ever, and Presley agrees. Love my little family so much, and excited to marry my best friend! Karl is everything I ever wanted in a man and more.”
Cooper’s first Bachelor Nation appearance came during Arie Luyendyk Jr.‘s season of The Bachelor, which aired in 2018. After going home in week six, the former social media manager competed on season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise, which premiered later that year.
The Bachelor alum got engaged to Jordan Kimball, but the Florida native, 30, called off the relationship amid allegations that Cooper had a “sugar daddy.” The influencer, for her part, denied the accusations, and blogger Reality Steve later called his coverage of the incident a “misstep” in his career.
“I thought that Jordan would defend me and we would get through it together, but it turned out very different,” she exclusively told Us after her name was cleared. “I mean it was a big downward spiral. Everybody went against me.”
Keep scrolling for more snap from Cooper and Hudson’s big day.
