Despite some soggy weather, it was an amazing day for former The Amazing Race 6 fourth-place finishers Hayden Kristianson and Aaron Crumbaugh, who finally tied the knot on April 21 after being engaged for more than two years.
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"I know it sounds cliche, but our wedding was a dream come true," Kristianson told In Touch Weekly in the magazine's May 7 issue. "It finally felt good to seal the deal," Crumbaugh added.
Crumbaugh, a 28-year-old chef, and Kristianson, a 28-year-old account executive with a Belgian-based consulting firm, wed in a Spokane, WA ceremony that took place in front of 180 family and friends, including The Amazing Race 6 competitor Kristy Jensen -- who served as one of Kristianson's bridesmaids -- and the sixth season's first runner-ups, Kris Perkins and Jon Buehler, according to The Spokesman-Review.
Kristianson and Crumbaugh originally met at a Mexican restaurant in October 2003. "It was kind of love at first sight," Kristianson told The Spokesman-Review. "We hit it off immediately, and we've been inseparable ever since."
According to The Spokesman-Review, the couple was living in Los Angeles, CA and trying to make it in modeling and acting when former Survivor: Africa castaway Kelly Goldsmith -- then working as a Race casting director -- suggested that Crumbaugh and Kristianson, a friend of Goldsmith's, would make a good The Amazing Race team.
After the couple was eliminated in The Amazing Race's sixth season finale in Xi'an, China, Crumbaugh proposed marriage to Kristianson on-air at the Great Wall of China with host Phil Keoghan and millions of home-viewers watching.
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"I knew Hayden was the one for me going into the show," Crumbaugh told In Touch about his proposal.
Following their wedding ceremony, Crumbaugh and Kristianson traveled back to Chicago, where they now reside, according to The Spokesman-Review. The couple plans on honeymooning next January in Australia and New Zealand.
"I want to go bungee jumping and spelunking," Crumbaugh told In Touch. "I'm still as adventurous as ever."
Unsurprisingly, Crumbaugh says he'd be interested in appearing on television again, either with his own cooking show or as a castaway. "I would definitely do Survivor," he told The Spokesman-Review. However Kristianson wasn't so sure about a return to the small screen. At first, she wasn't even entirely sold on The Amazing Race.
"[I'm] not the biggest daredevil in the world, I'm not very good with heights and I don't like to fly," she told The Spokesman-Review. "I'm really glad we did it. We decided, let's be in control of our own destiny."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio