Janu-Arie is coming. With three months left until their wedding day, Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. and his fiancee, Lauren Burnham, are certainly making their way through that checklist.
The couple attended The Knot Gala at the historic New York Public Library on Monday, October 8, where they revealed their biggest takeaways from the planning process so far. “Ask a lot of questions—right off the bat,” the season 22 Bachelor tells The Knot. “It’s difficult to start a marriage stressed out about your wedding, so you want it to be fun. I think a lot of that comes down to budget. Know your budget.”
Burnham adds, “Make sure you’re clear with your planner about your budget. I would just say have fun with it.”
The couple will marry in January 2019 in an intimate destination wedding in Maui, Hawaii, with their ceremony and reception taking place at an old converted sugar mill known as Haiku Mill. “I moved from Virginia to Arizona and we were Googling places all over the world, and this picture of this venue kept popping up and popping up,” Burnham recalls. “We kept coming back to that one and it was like, ‘OK. I think this is the venue. Let’s go for it.’”
“It felt a little bit like a sign because every time we would see a picture, we were like, ‘Oh my God, it’s beautiful,’” he adds. “And it was the same venue. It’s a very classic elegant venue.”
(Credit: Roey Yohai Photography /The Knot)
The future bride, who will be wearing a design by Hayley Paige on her wedding day, teases the nuptials as an “enchanting, magical, sunset evening wedding.” While much of the to-do list has been accounted for by now, one big design element the Bachelor couple has yet to tackle is florals. “We need to nail [that] down,” says Luyendyk. “It’s a big one.”
Overall, the process has been beneficial to their relationship especially from a communication standpoint. “I think we’ve learned how we solve problems. We lean on each other,” he says. “She senses when I’m stressed out about something and she’s really good about working with me through that. And that also goes with wedding planning too.”
Burnham echoes his sentiments by saying: “I think we’re really good at understanding how our minds work. When I’m stressed out, I like to talk through things. When he’s stressed, he likes to block things out. So it’s easy for us now because he knows to give me time to blabber.”
And, finally, when it comes to the act of wedding planning, Luyendyk reminds couples that there are two ways to approach it: be stressed or choose to enjoy the process. “Have fun with it. It’s a huge day, but also probably the best day of your life,” he muses. “You might as well soak it up and enjoy the little things. Planning is supposed to be fun.”
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