The Bachelorette alum Clare Crawley has revealed she and husband Ryan Dawkins were never legally married until a few days ago.
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Clare took to Instagram on Sunday with a "story time" post about how she and Ryan just officially became husband and wife this past weekend, even though they had a wedding in February 2023.
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"It wasn't until a few months ago though Ryan and I realized within the craziness of the year, we never got our actual marriage license!" Clare captioned a photo with Ryan in which she's holding a document high into the air.
She added, "Your girl is OFICIALLY Mrs. Dawkins!"
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Clare explained how exactly she and the CEO of Mascot Sports forgot to make their union legal.
"When Ryan and I started planning our wedding in 2023, one of the most important parts was for my mom to be able to witness us get married. She has late stage dementia, so our time is limited and precious," Clare wrote in her post.
"But just as soon as we started planning it, she got really really sick to the point where she might not make it through."
"So without skipping a beat," she continued, "we threw all the plans to the wind and within the week my amazing event planning husband pulled together the most perfect intimate ceremony."
Clare called the moment "truly perfect in every way," and she recalled, "My beautiful mother was able to see us on our wedding day. I truly couldn't have asked for anything more special."
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Soon after that, Clare and Ryan announced in July 2023 that they were expecting a child via surrogate.
"We found out we were having our miracle Rowen," Clare explained of her daughter, who was born in January 2024, "and closing on our dream house all within the next few months."
Clare admitted "life got crazy" and so she and Ryan never tied up the loose ends of their marriage.
"I prayed every day that my strong mama would be able to somehow hang on to see ME become a mama, and Rowen could meet her namesake. It felt like a miracle when that happened. Cut to now -- my mama is still holding on strong," Clare shared.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
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Clare and Ryan therefore decided to turn the act of signing their marriage license into a big celebration, a second wedding of sorts.
"We decided since the first ceremony was so sentimental and perfect, that we would just have a blast getting our actual marriage license and make it the most fun love filled day ever! So we did Vegas!!" The Bachelorette alum revealed.
"We did Pink Cadillac, Little White Chapel, and obviously Elvis was our officiant!! We had the time of our lives."
Ryan commented on Clare's post, "Let's do it again!"
And Clare responded to her husband, "Every year baby," which made many of her followers swoon and compliment the couple's love.
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Clare accepted a marriage proposal from Dale Moss on The Bachelorette's sixteenth season, which aired in Summer 2020, but they split about one year later in September 2021.
Following her split from Dale, Clare began dating Ryan in late 2021.
The pair went Instagram official in September 2022, and then Ryan and Clare got engaged less than one month later in October 2022 in Las Vegas, NV.
Clare and Ryan got married in February 2023 and then moved into a new house together two months later. Clare happily became a stepmom to Ryan's kids from a previous relationship, but she always wanted a baby of her own.
Clare gushed on the "Ben and Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast" in August 2023 how she's so "grateful" for her husband.
"He's so good to me, and is there in the darkest, deepest moments," Clare said, getting a bit choked up.
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Clare explained how her relationship with Dale was "not healthy" and it "crushed" her spirit. Clare said their romance "brought out the worst" in her and made her mental health dip "low."
Multiple sources previously described Dale as a "fame-seeker" and partyboy in New York City while Clare had been very clear from the start about her intentions to get married, settle down and have children.
Reports swirled at the time of Clare and Dale's September 2021 breakup that the former NFL player had cheated on The Bachelorette alum, although Dale firmly denied the cheating allegations.
Clare has thrown major shade at Dale over the years. She ultimately thought he was fake and had put on a performance during their relationship so he could achieve fame and boost his acting and modeling career.
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Clare told Jana Kramer in an October 2021 episode of the "Whine Down" podcast her "biggest regret" from The Bachelorette is "trusting a man," People reported.
Not only was Clare dealing with a broken heart and her mother's health crisis in Fall 2021, but she was also still recovering from having her breast implants removed.
"There was a lot on my plate... It all came crashing down at once," Clare noted on "Whine Down."
Clare also said it was "painful" that she and Dale never talked things out or found closure at the end of their hot-and-cold romance.
"The one that gets me is, how do you say goodbye to somebody you never wanted to walk away from?" Clare reportedly said through tears at the time.
"Like I would have never walked... You're having to say goodbye to somebody you don't want to be saying goodbye to, you have to walk away from somebody you don't want to walk away from. It's hard, it's painful."
Clare also appeared on Season 1 and Season 2 of Bachelor in Paradise prior to her The Bachelorette stint.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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