Speed-dating celebrity couples
These celebrity pairs surprised their fans by whizzing past the dating stage and right into the engagement phase.
PEOPLE play the dating game to ascertain if their other half is The One, but for some couples, it seems that is not really necessary.
Recently, two big-name pop stars announced their respective wedding engagements after only weeks of dating – Ariana Grande, 25, to comedian Pete Davidson, 24, followed by Justin Bieber, 24, to model Hailey Baldwin, 21.
Cynics may brush aside these swift engagements as impetuous acts by young people, but some older celebrities have in the past also popped the question very quickly.
Notorious bachelor and divorcee George Clooney, 57, for example, who once swore that he would never marry again, proposed to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, 40, after just seven months of dating.
American actor Joe Manganiello, 41, also asked his 46-year-old actress girlfriend Sofia Vergara to marry him after just six months.
He said in an interview with Hola! magazine: “We realised very early on that we each had to put the other person’s happiness and well-being ahead of our own... Once you realise that kind of trust has manifested, you hang on for dear life. Or in my case, you go and buy a ring.”
Sometimes, when you know, you just know.
Here’s a look at some of the quickest celebrity engagements.
Justin Bieber & Hailey Baldwin
Time to engagement: A month
Just when Bieliebers, aka Justin Bieber fans, thought that the pop star’s rekindled on-off relationship with actress-singer Selena Gomez would finally lead to happily ever after, they split again in March.
Next thing you know, the 24-year-old Canadian singer was seen going on romantic, PDA-heavy dates with model Hailey Baldwin last month. Her father is actor Stephen Baldwin.
Reportedly, the couple had briefly dated two years ago and have remained friends since. Earlier this month, their rekindled romance led to him suddenly popping the question while they were on vacation in the Bahamas.
Calling her the “love of my life”, he wrote on Instagram: “Was gonna wait a while to say anything but word travels fast, listen plain and simple, Hailey, I am soooo in love with everything about you! So committed to spending my life getting to know every single part of you. Loving you patiently and kindly.”
Meanwhile, the young model tweeted: “Not sure what I did in life to deserve such happiness but I am so utterly grateful to God for giving me such an incredible person to share my life with! No words could ever express my gratitude.”
According to reports, the paparazzi have been trying in vain to get a comment from Gomez about the engagement.
Well, it seems like Jelena may finally be over for good.
Ariana Grande & Pete Davidson
Time to engagement: A month
As soon as they started dating in May, singer Ariana Grande, 25, and comedian Pete Davidson, 24, have both been very showy about their relationship on social media.
Fans were surprised because Grande had split from her rapper boyfriend of two years, Mac Miller, only a few weeks before that.
But Grande and Davidson’s romance progressed so quickly that there were soon Instagram pictures of her sporting what appeared to be a massive engagement ring.
The couple were also spotted having matching tattoos and she announced that a song on her new album will be titled Pete.
Of course, the engagement rumours started swirling.
Davidson, a regular on the late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live, finally confirmed their engagement on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last month, one month after they got together.
On the show, Fallon joked: “Now, you know you didn’t have to get engaged to Ariana Grande to come on our show, right?”
To which Davidson replied: “But I did, though ... I feel like I won a contest.”
Actress and pop star Selena Gomez – a friend of Grande’s – reportedly said that she thought the couple’s engagement was “amazing and beautiful”.
Emily Ratajkowski & Sebastian Bear-McClard
Time to engagement: A few weeks American model-actress Emily Ratajkowski, 27, who is known for being the sexy star in Robin Thicke’s 2013 Blurred Lines music video, shocked the Internet when she suddenly announced on Instagram in February that she was married.
After all, she was known to be dating her hubby, 31-year-old film producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, for only a few weeks before that.
Reportedly, the two had been friends for years, but things turned romantic only after she broke up with musician Jeff Magid earlier this year.
When she was a guest on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, she said that her wedding at New York’s City Hall, where she wore a Zara pantsuit, was totally unplanned. She nearly even rejected Bear-McClard’s impromptu proposal.
She said: “He proposed to me at (restaurant) Minetta Tavern and he didn’t have a ring, so I was, like, ‘Mmm, nah ...’ And then he took the paper clip that the bill was paid with and made me a ring which I actually thought was really romantic.”
They made their way to City Hall shortly after, but could not get married immediately because couples are required to wait 24 hours before they can get a marriage licence.
So they used that free time in between to make their wedding bands.
She said: “We walked to Chinatown and bought an ounce of gold and he was, like, ‘We’ll melt down the gold and make the rings.’
“We met a nice Israeli man who knew how to do that, so we came into his studio and we actually hammered them out and used a blowtorch. They were supposed to be temporary rings, but now I’m very attached to them and I really don’t want to get rid of them.”
Carey Mulligan & Marcus Mumford
Time to engagement: Five months When Oscar-nominated English actress Carey Mulligan, 33, was spotted with an engagement ring just five months into a relationship with singer Marcus Mumford in 2011, fans were surprised by how quickly their relationship had unfolded.
But it turns out that they had known each other for years – since they were children, in fact.
According to online reports, they were childhood penpals in England who sent letters to each other through their respective churches.
When they reconnected as adults, they went on many dates at indie music concerts. Mumford, 31, is the frontman of popular indie folk band, Mumford & Sons.
The pair tied the knot in a rustic countryside cottage wedding in Somerset, England, half a year after they got engaged.
They have two children – Evelyn, three, and a two-year-old son whose name they have not made public.
Mulligan’s actress friend Sienna Miller told Vogue magazine: “Marcus can headline Glastonbury and Carey can be nominated for however many Oscars and then they come back to their farm and they’re in big woolly jumpers and funny hats, raising piglets.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network