The Bachelor alum Kendall Long has revealed that she eloped with fiance Mitchell Sagely and is a married woman.
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"We eloped and moved to Europe!" Kendall, 32, wrote on August 1.
"So I've been keeping a little secret these past few years. Days before Mitch and I jumped on a plane to move to Germany we got married in Santa Barbara!"
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Kendall, who competed on Arie Luyendyk Jr.'s season of The Bachelor and multiple editions of Bachelor in Paradise, announced in October 2022 that she'd be moving to Germany with Mitchell for his job as an aerospace engineer.
Kendall revealed at the time she and Mitchell got engaged in late November 2022, and they quickly moved into an AirBnB in Germany in December of that year.
Kendall wrote on Instagram how her California wedding around that time was "such a special day" because she and Mitchell celebrated with those closest to them.
"[We] were surrounded by love with only our immediate family attending," Kendall shared.
"It's been incredibly hard for me to keep our secret and at times I've just wanted to shout to the world that I'm Mrs. Sagely!! So finally getting to tell you all is so freeing!"
The Bachelor in Paradise alum gushed about how she and her spouse have had an "unforgettable adventure together" since exchanging vows.
"We've traveled to some incredible places around the world and we have also [grown] closer from the struggles and small victories of adjusting to a life abroad," Kendall explained.
"It's truly bonkers to me that we've already been married for nearly two years!"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOWKendall added, "Starting our life together abroad has made me so grateful for my husband and every day I wake up incredibly proud of the life we are building together."
Kendall and Mitchell are apparently planning to have a larger ceremony with family and friends in the United States but they "couldn't wait to start" their lives together.
After Kendall and Mitchell moved into a place in Germany together in December 2022, Kendall revealed on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast how she and her man were "doing very good," even though like was "a little chaotic" at the moment.
Kendall said leaving Los Angeles, where she lived her entire life near family and friends, and starting over in a brand new country was "a crazy transition" for her. Mitchell was also from California.
"Germany does things a lot differently, so it's just adjusting to that. Learning the language, I know how to say, 'I don't know how to speak much German,' so that's helped me," Kendall shared with a laugh.
"It's definitely been an adjustment, but it's been really cool."
Kendall shared how she was "excited" to learn more about German culture, and she added, "I'm with Mitch. So it's been a very fun little intro into being engaged; this is the first time we've lived together."
However, Kendall and Mitchell were "already talking about different places we might live" after their time in Germany, according to The Bachelor alum.
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"Our families live so close together, and so that's the ultimate goal. [Germany] is moreso an adventure before we settle down and have kids."
Kendall met Mitchell through mutual friends in December 2021 at a volleyball game and they apparently "clicked" right away and felt "a lot of chemistry."
"Mitch is the kind of guy who makes the first move," Kendall boasted on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast. "So he was very much the more dominant one in that regard, and I loved [him taking charge]."
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When Kendall announced her engagement, she wrote on Instagram, "It's always been a HECK YES with you Mitch. I love your brain, I love your family, I pretty much just love every single thing about you! So incredibly over the moon that we get to start our epic adventure together in a new country."
She added, "I've heard love explained to me by my parents and was scared I would never experience something so wonderful. But with you, love is so much better than I could have ever imagined it to be. I feel so lucky and I can't wait to officially be a Sagely."
Kendall agreed to move to Germany even though she had repeatedly refused to give Chicago, IL, a chance with her ex-boyfriend Joe Amabile, which resulted in the Bachelor in Paradise couple splitting up.
Mitch asked Kendall to be his girlfriend on Valentine's Day in February 2022, and then Kendall went Instagram official with Mitchell in April of that year and bragged about how she was "in love" already.
Kendall had dated Joe for nearly two years before they broke up in January 2020.
Kendall and Joe fell in love on Bachelor in Paradise's fifth season in 2018, and then they moved in together in Los Angeles in April 2019.
Kendall and Joe attempted to remain friends after calling it quits in 2020, but Kendall previously explained their breakup was difficult for her because they never fell out of love; it was logistics that broke them apart.
Kendall said she wanted to continue living in Los Angeles, but Joe hoped to move back to his hometown of Chicago to be near his loved ones.
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"You were pushing to have me move to Chicago," Kendall argued with Joe.
"I was pushing to have you try -- yeah," Joe clarified, "to come move to the city where I grew up in, where my friends and family are. I think if you just would've tried, we could've figured something out."
Kendall said things probably would've ended the same way regardless because she had made it clear from the start of their relationship that moving away from her hometown was "a dealbreaker" for her.
"I wasn't going to change my mind and I think you were hoping I would," Kendall said on the show.
"Your thing was that you didn't want to move anywhere for a man... I should've been more than just 'a man' at that point, and we could've tried it," Joe pointed out.
Once Kendall and Joe worked through a "messy" reunion and found the closure they needed, Joe pursued a relationship with Serena Pitt on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season.
"If she really wanted me back," Joe said of Kendall on the ABC reality series, "she should have told me before I got here and before I started this. Because I really, really loved her."
Kendall ultimately decided to quit the show because she said it was too difficult to watch Joe with Serena and her feelings for Joe registered as painful realizations that she wasn't over him. She didn't want to sacrifice her mental and emotional well-being to stay on the show.
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Joe is currently married to Serena, whom he wed in October 2022, and the couple is living together in New York City.
Joe reacted to Kendall's engagement in December of that year on his "Click Bait with Bachelor Nation" podcast.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
