No doubt, that’s what the returning Bachelor stars are hoping for now that season 8 of Bachelor in Paradise has premiered on ABC. “I’m a Midwest boy from Missouri who just wants to find my person,” the 28-year-old previously said in a trailer for TheBachelor Season 26. “I can’t wait to get married and have kids and I believe more than anything that my future wife is here.” Before we find out if Echard will wind up walking down the aisle, let’s take a stroll down memory lane by looking back at which Bachelor couples got married and which others are still going strong. Keep reading to find out!
Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter
Almost two decades after meeting on the very first season of The Bachelorette in January 2003, Trista and Ryan Sutter are still happier than ever. The couple, who will celebrate their 19th anniversary in December, share two children, 15-year-old Maxwell, born July 26, 2007, and 13-year-old Blakesley, April 3, 2009. “I am thankful every day for the life we have created, together,” the former reality star wrote on Instagram recently.
Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici
The season 17 Bachelor is the first and only male lead to end up marrying the final girl he chose on his season. Sean and Catherine Lowe tied the knot in January 2014 in a televised wedding special on ABC. Today, they share two sons, Samuel and Isaiah, and welcomed their daughter, Mia, in 2019. As for what makes their relationship so strong? “I give a lot of credit to Catherine because Catherine had to leave her hometown of Seattle, leave her job, leave her friends and basically start a new life with me,” Sean revealed to E!. “But she committed to love me and to work on our relationship and she continued to work after we were married in our marriage to be the best wife she possibly could be, which isn’t always easy after making all those sacrifices.”
Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney
Though Jason and Molly Mesnick are happily married today, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for the couple. In the season 13 finale of The Bachelor, Jason actually sent Molly home in favor of his final choice, Melissa Rycroft, whom he was briefly engaged to. By the time the After the Final Rose special rolled around, Jason confessed that he wanted to give his relationship with Molly another shot and ended his engagement to Melissa. After dating IRL, the couple got engaged and ended up tying the knot in a televised wedding special on ABC in March 2010. Three years later, they welcomed their daughter Riley Anne on March 14, 2013. She joins Jason’s son Ty from another marriage.
Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried
Desiree Harstock chose Chris Siegfried during the season 9 finale of The Bachelorette and the two are still going strong today. After tying the knot in January 2015, the couple welcomed their first son, Asher Wrigley, in 2016. In early 2019, the couple welcomed their second child, a son named Zander Cruz. “It’s just like yesterday you were writing me poems and I was handing you my final rose yet as I watch you as a father and as we continue to grow in life together, I admire you more and more each day. Love you more than you could possibly imagine,” the mother-of-two shared on Instagram on the couple’s four-year wedding anniversary.
Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert
The very first Bachelor in Paradise success story happened with Jade Roper Tolbert and Tanner Tolbert in Season 2. After getting engaged despite only knowing one another three weeks, the couple still made it down the aisle. In a televised wedding special on ABC, Jade and Tanner tied the knot in January 2016 and have since welcomed three children, Emmy, Brooks and Reed.
Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham
Just like Mesnick, Arie Luyendyk Jr. didn’t initially choose the woman he ended up marrying. Instead, he popped the question to Becca Kufrin. They had a short-lived engagement until he realized he made a mistake. During the After the Final Rose special, Arie proposed to Lauren Burnham Luyendyk and the couple confessed they didn’t want to wait long to tie the knot. By January 2019, the couple was married and expecting their first child. In May 2019, the couple welcomed their daughter Alessi Ren Luyendyk to the world, followed by twins Senna and Lux in 2021.
Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon
Despite their on-again, off-again relationship throughout Bachelor in Paradise Seasons 2 and 3, Ashley Iaconetti Haibon and Jared Haibon somehow ended up working things out and announcing their relationship in 2018. In Season 5, they returned to Paradise where Jared asked Ashley to marry him with a Neil Lane sparkler. The couple tied the knot in August 2019. “I’m still dazzled by how perfect everything was that day. It was cinematic, romantic, and elegant beyond our dreams,” Ashley said of her special day.
Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo
The Season 13 Bachelorette finale aired in August 2017, and two years after getting engaged on national television, Rachel Lindsayand BryanAbasolo tied the knot. As for why their nuptials didn’t make it to TV? They simply chose to keep it private. “We don’t need TV. We don’t need to get paid. We’re doing this because this is what we want to do. And I think it has more meaning," the attorney previously told PEOPLE.
Holly Durst and Blake Julian
Though they’ve kept out of the spotlight since their time on the show, Holly Durst Julian and Blake Julian are still a Bachelor success story! The couple, who met on Season 2 of Bachelor Pad (which was canceled after Season 3), got engaged in 2011. By 2012, they were married. For years, they’ve lived their lives privately in Greenville, South Carolina and after struggling to conceive naturally, the couple opted to adopt a baby girl named Poppy in September 2019. “She is all of our answered prayers! Baby girl, I would wait another 7 years for you!” the new mom wrote on Instagram.
Kevin Wendt and Astrid Loch
Astrid Loch and Kevin Wendt met during 2018’s Season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise, but didn’t leavetogether. “As bad as the breakup was, it might have actually made our relationship even better,” Wendt told PEOPLE that year. The pair went on to get engaged in 2019. While they had planned to wed in 2020, they postponed their wedding because of the pandemic and again in 2021 after announcing their pregnancy. The Bachelor Nation alums, who “struggled with fertility and conceiving naturally,” are expecting their first child due November 2021. “Since the wedding would keep getting pushed off, we thought ‘Okay, well, I don’t want to wait five years to have a baby. Let’s just try to have one before the wedding,’” Wendt said in an interview with PEOPLE.
Dean Unglert and Caelynn Miller-Keyes
Dean Unglert and Caelynn Miller-Keyes aren’t engaged, but they’re still going strong after meeting in 2019 on Season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise. “In my opinion, I don’t need the title of husband to show the world that I’m committed to one person,” Unglert told Chris Harrison on an episode of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons – Ever! in 2020 (via Cosmopolitan). Unglert noted that he wears a ring to show that he is “committed to Caelynn and only Caelynn.” “He started wearing a hair tie around his ring finger to fight women off. I liked the idea, and we just talked about getting rings. It’s just nice to know we are in a strong committed relationship without necessarily having to get the government involved, as Dean would like to say,” Miller-Keyes added. Although Unglert has said in the past that marriage is “not going to happen,” he revealed (via PEOPLE) on his Help! I Suck at Dating podcast in 2021 that he and Miller-Keyes have hypothetically “talked about” the idea of getting married in Lake Como.
Raven Gates and Adam Gottschalk
The duo didn’t walk away from Season 4 of Bachelor in Paradise engaged, but Adam Gottschalk popped the question in May 2019. Raven Gates and the BiP star got married in April 2021. A few months later in July, the newlywed announced that she was pregnant with her first child. “OVER THE MOON EXCITED TO SHARE THE NEWS! Our Honeymoon baby will be here in January!,” Gates wrote on Instagram.
Hannah Godwin and Dylan Barbour
Hannah Godwin and Dylan Barbour got engaged during 2019’s Season 6 finale of Bachelor in Paradise. “I feel like we knew that we were very compatible in Paradise, but the real world has made us even closer, like best friends,” she told PEOPLE. The engaged pair announced in October 2020 that they purchased a house together. After moving in, Godwin shared a picture of herself with her future husband writing, “forever roomie.” Additional reporting by Alexandra Hurtado Next, Is Chris Harrison really an ordained minister? We dug into the details.
