The Bachelorette alum Jillian Harris has revealed she and fiance Justin Pasutto finally plan to get married in Europe next year after dating for 12 years.
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Jillian shared with People that the couple is planning a Fall 2025 European wedding after an eight-year engagement.
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"It's going to happen," Jillian, 44, insisted to the magazine. "We have gone eight years, obviously, without getting married."
Jillian and Justin, who met in 2012 and got engaged in December 2016, had initially planned a Summer 2020 wedding; however, the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the couple pushing back their date.
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The fifth-season The Bachelorette star publicly made the announcement in May 2020 on her blog that they had postponed their nuptials.
"We were supposed to get married right before COVID, but I just didn't feel... Something didn't feel right to begin with," Jillian explained to the magazine.
Jillian gestured to her fiance and added, "You felt right, but the wedding planning wasn't going the way I wanted."
Jillian laughed and continued, "I was probably the only bride when COVID hit that was excited that our wedding got canceled, because I just felt like something wasn't right."
Jillian said she subsequently spent "a long" time "hemming and hawing" over the wedding details.
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At one point, the bride-to-be considered tying the knot at the couple's home in British Columbia.
"I think the biggest thing for me is location, because we live on a property that would be perfect for a wedding, but just the pressure of having it at your home has been hard," Jillian shared.
"And then I couldn't find any other location that's prettier than where we live without having to spend an arm and a leg."
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Jillian then came up with an idea while she planned a family trip to Europe for her mother's 70th birthday.
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"It turns out Justin's family was going to be there at the same time. So I said, 'Well, why don't we just get married while we're there this fall?' And I thought it could just be his mom and dad and my mom and dad, and that would be it," The Bachelorette alum explained.
But Justin wanted to make sure his brother Matt could also attend the ceremony.
"And I was like, 'Well, if Matt's going to be there, my cousins have to be there,'" Jillian recalled of her conversation with the 36-year-old former professional snowboarder.
"And he says, 'If your cousins are going to be there, my friends [need to be there.]' And all of a sudden, it grew from this idea from eight people to 40."
The pair then set their sights on an October 2024 wedding, but those plans also fell through once Jillian and Justin became stressed and overwhelmed.
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"We were going to pull it off this fall, and everything was looking great, and we told everybody that was in our wedding party and the people that were coming that it was happening," Justin told People.
"It felt a little awkward backtracking out of it, but it also dawned on us like, 'Wait, why are we rushing this?' Just because our parents happen to be in Europe at the same time? We've also been waiting eight years to get married since we've been engaged... We're going to make it happen."
And now, the ball is finally rolling on the wedding plans!
"So we have wedding planners, and after talking to them and talking to our family, we officially postponed it to next fall in Europe," Jillian said, adding how she's very "excited" to have selected a location for her big day.
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Not only is Justin Italian, but Jillian gushed about how she loves Europe.
"We just couldn't think of anywhere that felt right, and when we're there, we just love the bread and the cheese and the music and the laid-back culture, and it just feels like you could do something a little bit more laid-back there. And we love traveling, so that is the plan," Jillian said.
The Bachelor alum and Justin share two children: Leo, 8, and Annie, 6.
Annie was born in September 2018, after the couple had welcomed Leo in August 2016.
Jillian found fame when she competed for Jason Mesnick's heart on The Bachelor's thirteenth season, which aired in early 2009 on ABC. She ended up finishing in third place.
She then went on to star as the Bachelorette. At the end of Season 5, Jillian selected Ed Swiderski and the pair got engaged; however, they split in 2010.
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After her The Bachelorette experience, Jillian appeared in Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as well as Love It or List It Vancouver.
More recently, Jillian and Justin launched a line of hand-knit dolls inspired by their children and dogs.
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