The Bachelorette alum Charity Lawson has explained why she and fiance Dotun Olubeko have put their wedding planning on "pause."
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Charity previously shared that she and Dotun were planning to tie the knot in California in Fall 2025, followed by a second wedding ceremony in Nigeria for Dotun's family.
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But Charity told Us Weekly last week that she and Dotun are "taking a beat" and pushing back their wedding timeline for now, which made many fans concerned about the nature of The Bachelorette couple's relationship.
In a recent Instagram Q&A with her followers, one fan asked, "Can you address those [headlines] making it look like ur splitting," according to BachelorNation.com.
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Charity reportedly responded by saying that she didn't want to address the speculation but that she would.
Charity went on to reassure fans that she and Dotun are doing just fine and she chose the wrong wording when explaining her wedding planning process.
"If you read the article you would realize that there's literally nothing wrong with what I said," Charity stated, although she acknowledged her word choice left some room for interpretation.
"I just probably used not the best choice of words, which is the word 'pausing.'"
Charity explained, "The whole thing is that we were just kind of trying to give an update and talking about where we're at with wedding planning, and it is a lot, so we're just taking a moment to decompress."
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Charity said she and her fiance want to "make sure" that the process remains positive and enjoyable for them.
"[We want] to make sure that with wedding planning, it does not take away the joy that we have had in our engagement time and to continue to have so much to look forward to," Charity said.
Charity also reiterated that planning two back-to-back weddings is no simple task.
"We're just trying to do things the right way and take it day by day and really enjoy our time with each other in this time period, so we're all good. Nothing to worry about," The Bachelor alum confirmed.
It appears The Bachelorette couple has been very busy with work and traveling, which has made Charity feel a little bit stressed.
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"I personally am overwhelmed," she shared, "and it's okay to acknowledge that."
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Another fan then asked Charity if she plans to keep her last name once she gets married, and Charity replied, "I will be proudly taking Dots last name. If anything changes it would be hyphenated. Charity Olubeko, don't play with it."
Charity explained to Us last week that she was feeling a lot of pressure to get her wedding together as soon as possible.
"For me, I got in this space where I just felt this constant pressure of, like, 'I need to check off something every month or every week.' And it got to the point where I'm like, 'I don't want to do that right now,'" Charity told the magazine.
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Charity said she's "still just easing into life and normalcy again" after a whirlwind experience on The Bachelor's 27th season, The Bachelorette's 20th season, and Dancing with the Stars' 32nd season.
"So I think we're just taking a pause for now. Obviously, we're still getting married," Charity shared at the time.
Charity and Dotun have also discussed quite a bit about their dream wedding with each other already.
Charity gushed about how Dotun "is so vocal about it," which she is a quality she loves about him.
"He literally just wants a good reception -- [good music] and the cake. I don't think I can share it with you guys, but [he's focused on] the flavor and the aesthetic. But I'm definitely going to have more say over the aesthetic," Charity said.
She added, "I'm just glad he's involved and wants to have a say."
Charity said Dotun's interest in their big day "makes it fun" for her and for the both of them.
"It's also less pressure for me, I should say," she noted.
In terms of Charity's wedding dress, she will be donning two looks on her big day.
"Everything changes the moment you put it on," Charity shared with the magazine.
"My entire [mindset] of where I thought it was going to be is totally different [now]. So it's exciting in a way, but I think also it allows me more freedom now to get creative. One of my dresses is going to be custom, which is super fun! [I love] having the creativity to plan that out."
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Charity and Dotun celebrated the one-year anniversary of their engagement on April 30.
When Charity had shared her plans for a Fall 2025 wedding earlier this year, she refused to give away the exact date.
"People want me to disclose our wedding day so bad -- that is between me, my family and fiance," Charity told The New York Times.
Charity has apparently been feeling the stress of planning a wedding for a while now.
The Bachelorette alum explained to her followers in a February Q&A session via Instagram Stories that she and Dotun were taking their time with the planning process because wanting to have two ceremonies in different countries is a challenge.
"I personally do not want to plan a wedding in a rush of 5 months. I choose peace and not stress (which I will experience regardless cause it's wedding planning)," Charity explained at the time.
Charity admitted that she wanted to slow down after appearing on three reality TV shows in a row.
"I went from one TV show to another and Dotun and I are just now settling into normalcy and getting our bearings, which we are loving every second of it," Charity shared.
"This is a normal time frame. I want to enjoy and live out our engagement and it'll be here before you know it, as we have already started planning."
Charity and Dotun, in the meantime, are doing everything they can to stay a strong couple. For example, Charity revealed in November that they were in therapy together.
"[Dotun] is well onboard [with our sessions]. I don't want to toot my own horn, but they, like, our therapist is personally, like, really proud of us because we don't really have, like, problems," Charity explained to Life & Style late last year.
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"It's just, like, we're doing things to be proactive, to, like, stay ahead of, like, I guess something going wrong in the in the future."
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