Nikki Bella’s Favorite Sex Position, Her Pre-Wedding Maintenance Plan and More Revelations From ‘Nikki Bella Says I Do’

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Nikki Bella's Favorite Sex Position, Her Pre-Wedding Maintenance Plan and More Revelations From 'Nikki Bella Says I Do'

An event years in the making! Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev tied the knot in August 2022, but their journey to the altar wasn't easy — and their nuptials happened much later than they originally planned. The WWE star, 39, and the Dancing With the Stars pro, 40, took fans inside their wedding planning process in their new E! docuseries, Nikki Bella Says I Do, which premiered on Thursday, January 26. "We really wanna be husband and wife," the "Bellas Podcast" cohost explained in the first episode. "But there's been a lot of things that have delayed our wedding. First, I got pregnant. That was kind of a big shocker." The California native and the ballroom expert welcomed son Matteo, now 2, in July 2020. The little one's birth took precedence over any event planning, especially because he arrived in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. [jwplayer u5roQkFe-zhNYySv2] "We were just trying to figure out how to be parents," Bella explained. "Then Artem does Dancing With the Stars. That's actually a lot within two years, if you think about it." Her husband agreed, adding: "It's obviously a long time coming, I mean from proposal to where we are right now." The duo, who got engaged in November 2019, decided to walk down the aisle last year, but they had a very specific time frame in mind because of their work schedules and Matteo's upcoming first year of school. After they settled on a late August 2022 date, they had only four weeks to plan the event. “In my head, it just seemed so perfect, and in my head, I thought it’d be so easy to plan a wedding in four weeks," the WWE Hall of Famer exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the show's premiere. "And I was so wrong. I don’t suggest that anyone plan a wedding that quick, but it was also fun and spontaneous.” Despite the quick turnaround, the twosome managed to succeed, thanks in part to help from Nikki's twin sister, Brie Bella, who planned the bridal shower and the bachelorette party. The Incomparable coauthor also helped her sister look at wedding venues in California, and later France after Nikki decided to move the ceremony to Europe. Planning a wedding in less than a month was obviously stressful, but Nikki and the Russia native weathered the storm. "I'm now fully in a family life," she told cameras in a confessional interview. "I'm in my most perfect place ever, like where my soul called me to be." Keep scrolling for the biggest revelations from Nikki Bella Says I Do:

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The Wedding Was Almost in California

Nikki and Chigvintsev got married in France, but they originally began their venue search near their home in Napa Valley, California. The time crunch was a problem, as was the fact that Chigvintsev's parents wouldn't have been able to travel to the United States amid Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine. 

"With the current situation in Russia, there's absolutely no way possible my parents could make it," the dancer explained. "But when you actually say it out loud, it makes it even more real. It's been challenging because you feel like you're completely getting cut off from that world, which has been really frustrating. And sometimes I feel helpless." 

Nikki, for her part, thought moving the wedding to France would make it more likely that Chigvintsev's parents and brother could attend — and finally meet Matteo. "I'm such a fixer," she told the cameras. "My personality is always about fixing and pleasing, but it's really hard that I can't fix this situation for him because I know it's the one thing that there's nothing more in the world he'd want than to be with his parents, and I can't even doing anything about it."

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Nikki's Pre-Wedding Maintenance

During a conversation with Brie, Nikki revealed that there was at least one item on her pre-wedding to-do list: a waxing session. "I have a massive bush that I need to get rid of," she quipped. "Brie, I've turned into you, and it's so bad. I'm too tired. That's what I always tell Artem when he, like, just stares at it when I get out of the shower. I'm like, 'What are you looking at?' He goes, 'Nothing.' I go, 'You were totally staring at my bush.'" 

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Gleb Savchenko Was Artem's Best Man

Chigvintsev's DWTS colleague served as the best man at the wedding — and even helped his BFF choreograph his first dance with Nikki. "Nicole, don't be jealous, don't be jealous!" Savchenko, 39, quipped before turning serious. "I'm gonna cry. My best friend is getting married!" 

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Artem Approved Nikki's Dress Choice

Brie was skeptical of her sister's decision to wear a wedding dress that she originally purchased for her canceled wedding to ex-fiancé John Cena, but she came around after seeing it on Nikki. "I kept thinking to myself, 'It's a little weird that this was your first wedding dress,'" Brie told her twin. "But now when I see it on you, I'm like, 'This was just made for you and who you are.'" 

Nikki was nervous to tell Chigvintsev about the dress, but the Burn the Floor star was unbothered. "That's the least thing on my mind," he told Nikki. "If you're happy with it, you're happy with it." 

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Nikki's Favorite Position

During the bridal shower, Nikki confessed her favorite sex position is missionary. In a prerecorded video, Chigvintsev correctly predicted her answer. "He knows you," Brie quipped. 

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A Coed Bachelor and Bachelorette Party

The couple decided to have a combined bachelor and bachelorette party ahead of their wedding. "It's not like I want dudes' butts in my face, and he doesn't want chicks' boobs in his face," Nikki explained in episode 2. "So, like, let's just do it together. I'd rather have Artem's ass in my face and put my tits in his."

The Total Divas alum asked her sister to take over planning, however, after Chigvintsev and Savchenko presented her with a more low-key schedule of events. "Artem and Gleb thought a perfect bachelor/bachelorette party weekend would be to go fishing and then cook together, do a cooking class and then do a CrossFit class," Nikki recalled in a confessional interview. "I was like, 'OK, no one's gonna show up to be bored to death, so I knew Brie had to step in.'"

The two-time WWE Divas Champion still planned a risqué surprise for her then-fiancé: a burlesque performance in a bird cage followed by a pole dance. "Very jaw-dropping," Chigvintsev said of Nikki's dance. "Because I did not expect that. I mean, that lingerie, her body, her hair — and she was looking with those hungry eyes. It was a very nice view, not gonna lie."

Nikki, for her part, remarked that it was odd she performed the sexy number in front of her friends and family. "What a terrible idea to have your brother at your bachelorette party," she quipped. "Nakedness and sexy stuff, like, how weird are we? We're so weird."

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Visa Problems

The twosome hoped that moving the wedding to France would make it easier for Chigvintsev's parents to attend their wedding, but his brother, Anton, informed him that visas would still take months to obtain. "Even though there was a little hope that they would be able to make it, they actually can't," the dancer said in episode 2. "I had this vision in my mind of what the wedding should be and how it's gonna go, and it's extremely disappointing because it's just not gonna happen."

After realizing that his family can travel to Turkey without visas, Chigvintsev contemplated visiting that country with Matteo so the little one could finally meet his grandparents, but Nikki wasn't immediately sold on the idea. "To think of my son in another country potentially without me scares the s–t out of me," she told the cameras. "Immediately in my head I'm like, 'Hell no. Absolutely not.' At the same time, it breaks my heart that Matteo's never met his grandparents. I know what my grandparents mean and meant to me and so I don't want to ever look back and have regret that I didn't let Matteo meet his grandparents — that Artem didn't get that moment to have for the rest of his life."

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A Major Disagreement

In episode 3, Nikki revealed that she and Chigvintsev had a "pretty bad" argument the night before the dance pro left for Turkey to see his parents with Matteo. "When I would ask about it or say things about it, Artem was taking it as I don't want him to go [or] I don't want him to see his parents," she explained in a confessional interview. "And it's not any of that. It definitely caused a lot of tension — tension that's still even there."

Chigvintsev, for his part, said it wasn't "the best feeling" that he'd fought with his then-fiancée so soon before the ceremony. "I do feel like she doubts my ability of being with Matteo and being his dad," he told the cameras. "I can handle the situation."

Later, while discussing the incident with Brie, Nikki admitted that she and her husband-to-be needed to have a big conversation before the wedding. "Artem said things that have made me distant toward him because they were just over the line. And there were things in his tone," Nikki told her sister. "I guess where my frustration comes in [is] I'm not gonna sit here and not voice my opinion. This is how I live life. This is what I believe in, this is what I want. It just really pisses me off, I'm not gonna lie."

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A Difficult Conversation

After the tension surrounding Chigvintsev's trip to Turkey with Matteo, the couple hashed out their differences over caviar, days before their wedding. "Gleb and I grew up in such a different culture where guys are always the strong one," Chigvintsev explained in a confessional interview. "There's these certain expectations of never show feelings, always be positive. It's frustrating because we both didn't grow up to express ourselves like that."

Nikki confessed to her then-fiancé that she needed more support from him. "I am far from perfect, and I feel like I've admitted that so much," she said. "And I feel like sometimes you never give me credit for things that are good that I do. I think that's probably the hardest part for me. I'm not here keeping a tally. I think that's just one thing I've noticed that I've lacked a lot in our relationship, and one thing that I really yearn for is just feeling appreciated."

Chigvintsev, for his part, explained that he was still adjusting to the idea of having healthy conflict in his relationships. "If this happened in a past relationship, that relationship would not exist," the ballroom expert told Nikki, adding that he sometimes felt like she wasn't valuing or respecting his opinions.

The pair ultimately worked it out, however, with Nikki telling her partner: "I don't want to wake up any mornings without you. And I don't want to go bed without you, and I don't want to raise Matteo without you. I want to do it as a family, as the Chigvintsevs. I want you to be my husband. You just have me. You literally have me. You have my heart."

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Pre-Wedding Jitters

After the argument, Brie admitted she was "kinda worried" about the tension between Nikki and Chigvintsev. "It's weird because you guys are literally getting married in a week, but it's like you guys have to find that spark," she told her twin.

Nikki noted that she felt like her partner hadn't been making as much of an effort with her in the weeks leading up to the wedding. "He doesn't initiate or do anything first or bring it to me," she told Brie. "Artem, when we were dating, did the most spontaneous, special, cute little things. ... I just need that affirmation. Even just grab me and kiss me and be like, 'You're doing so amazing, thank you.'"

In a phone conversation with Brie, Chigvintsev explained that his own worry was how arguments with Nikki could go from "zero to 100" so quickly. "If that's how it's gonna be forever, that's kind of really a big deal," he said. "I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I'm nervous. ... But obviously I'm excited and I wanna do this."

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The Ring Crisis

The hours leading up to the wedding were chaotic, with Nikki and Brie realizing that none of the dresses were taken out of their garment bags in time to be steamed properly ahead of the ceremony. The real crisis, however, came when Chigvintsev and Nikki realized they couldn't find their wedding rings. Nikki proposed the idea of using rings borrowed from other people, but Chigvintsev initially wasn't on board.

"I don't know what we're doing," he told Brie when she encouraged him to begin the ceremony. "I'm not in a good place right now to give a vow, because my mind's clearly not where it should be. This is the most ridiculous situation right now. It's beyond everything. I don't understand how a ring can [disappear]."

After a few minutes to himself, Chigvintsev calmed down and kickstarted the nuptials. "I have a beautiful woman who wants to marry me and who I want to marry," he said during a confessional interview, recalling how his thought process changed. "And I have a room full of people who care for both of us. When I started thinking from that perspective, the storm in my mind kind of died down. Because in reality it's not about the rings — it's about expressing yourself, how you feel, and be there and be present in the moment and seeing your future wife's face. And when I started thinking of that, things just went back into place."