Mother knows best! Hoda Kotb hasn’t revealed the date she’s marrying fiancé, Joel Schiffman, but she has shared that her mom, Sameha Kotb, is helping her pick out her wedding gown.
On Monday, January 6, Kotb was a guest on E!’s new morning news show, Pop of the Morning. After host Lilliana Vazquez asked the Today host if she’s tried on any wedding dresses, she replied: “Can I tell you who’s picking out my wedding dress?”
“I know the answer.” Vasquez said. “Your mom.”
The author then revealed that her mom basically doubles as her fashion stylist and chooses her outfit for the Today show, on occasion. “If I’m wearing a good outfit, she picked it,” said Kotb.
But Sameha admitted she was nervous about flexing her stylist muscles for her daughter’s wedding. “She said, ‘Hunny, I don’t know. Do you want me to pick your wedding dress?’ I said, well you picked the first one, so yes! Please pick the second one.”
Kotb married ex-husband Burzis Kanga in 2005 and the two divorced in 2008. She met her now-fiancé in 2013 when Today With Hoda & Jenna executive producer Joanne LaMarca Mathisen set up their first date.
The happy couple of six years announced their engagement in November. She shared the news on-air and said, ““I have to tell you something. A friend of mine, a friend of ours, asked me to let you guys in on a secret. I’ll give you her initials. Her initials are Hoda Kotb, and she’s engaged.”
Schiffman popped the question over dinner while the two were on a tropical vacation. “He was like, ‘I have something else I would like to say,’ and he said some beautiful things and then he got down on one knee,” she told her cohosts. “Then he said, ‘Would you be my wife?’ … I was totally shocked. He had a good poker face.”
After the proposal, the journalist revealed at a media event that she shared the news with her two daughters in an adorable way.
“I just said to Haley, ‘Mommy and daddy are having a party because we love each other.’ That’s what I said. I figured that will pretty much cover it.”
