Caelynn Miller-Keyes bucked tradition and walked herself down the wedding aisle on her way to marry Dean Unglert.
“We had such an intimate, simple ceremony,” Miller-Keyes, 28, explained of her decision via her Instagram Story on Thursday, September 28. “Our officiant walked down, Dean walked down, Dean’s brother walked [our dog] Al down and then it was me. It just kind of made sense for us to walk alone.”
Miller-Keyes further noted that she did not “really think” about her choice on their wedding day. “It was just kind of an obvious thing,” she said. “It just made sense.”
Miller-Keyes and Unglert, 32, — who are both changing their last names to Bell in honor of his late mom — got married on Saturday, September 23, in Meredith, Colorado. The ceremony only had 75 guests, which included their families and friends from Bachelor Nation including Ben Higgins, Becca Tilley, Wells Adams and Ashley Iaconetti.
Unglert, for his part, also didn’t see the need to walk down the aisle with anyone. “Because we’re strong, independent people and we don’t need anyone to walk us down,” he said in his bride’s social media video.
Unglert even had a discussion with the pair’s wedding officiant about the choice as a way to try to “undo a lot of the gender normative things” that occur at many weddings.
“The concept of, like, handing away this girl to marry this man seemed kind of antiquated to me,” he quipped, which Miller-Keyes cosigned.
After they arrived at the altar of their camp-themed wedding, they got emotional seeing each other all dressed up.
“We wanted that moment of us seeing each other down the aisle for the first time to be real,” she captioned a second Instagram Story slide on Thursday, revealing they did not want to do “first look” photos before the ceremony. “I know people do it and love it, but this made sense for us. I started crying immediately.”
During the celebration, both Miller-Keyes and Unglert recited their meaningful, personalized vows.
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“I don’t remember any specific lines because I blacked out [from] nervousness,” Unglert joked on Thursday, driving the newlyweds home from their “mini” honeymoon. “I just remember feeling so at peace and then love.”
Miller-Keyes, for her part, loved that Unglert’s vows referenced how he incorporated his mom into their engagement and a specific line where he said that he feels “like he has a purpose in life with marrying me.” She gushed: “It was very sweet!”
Miller-Keyes and Unglert first connected on the Bachelor in Paradise beach during season 6. After three years together, the Bachelorette alum proposed.
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