‘BACHELOR’ DUO DISH ON THEIR PARADISE
Television lovebirds Jared Haibon and
Ashley Iaconetti have been settling back into their off-camera reality — well, as best as two “Bachelor” stars can following their highly publicized proposal. Despite the couple’s chaotic lives, the Providence native and his bride-to-be to managed to sit down with the Track to discuss what we’re all dying to know — from their seemingly speedy engagement, which will air during the upcoming season of “Bachelor in Paradise,” to any preliminary plans for their eventual “I do’s.”
TRACK: You were friends for a long time and then hit us all with a one-two punch of surprises, announcing your relationship and then, soon after, your engagement. What made you go all in so quickly?
Jared Haibon: When we became boyfriend-girlfriend I think that’s when we both decided we were all in. We kept our relationship private for a couple months because we wanted to just have a very normal-life relationship. There was a lot of history between the two of us so we didn’t really want to announce it and put that exterior pressure on us. We really wanted to work on ourselves and as soon as we crossed that line between friendship and relationship, we knew this was a lifelong type thing and so getting engaged just seemed like the natural progression.
Ashley Iaconetti: We’ve been saying these past couple of days that when we’re referring to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, it just didn’t seem as official as we felt it was.
TRACK: Your engagement coincided with a some other sudden, high-profile proposals, like between Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson and Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin. Are you guys starting a trend?
JH: Truth be told, all six of us — Justin, Hailey, myself, Ariana Grande, Ashley and Pete Davidson — we’re all on the same email chain. … So it was all planned. But seriously, we’ve been friends for so long that it was like we were in a relationship these past couple of years, going through great times and difficult times, working through those obstacles together and continuing our strong friendship. Once we added the physical level and it was so easy and so good, both of us realized this was going to be something that was going to last for the rest of our lives.
TRACK: Have there been any surprises that you’ve discovered about one another since stepping out of the friend zone?
AI: It’s just like the silly things. Like he dries his body off after a shower really roughly. He also brushes his teeth with the
same amount of vigor and I’m like, “Can you calm down? You’re destroying your gums.”
JH: For me, I just can’t keep my hands off Ashley.
AI: That’s actually also a surprise to me. Back in December, if you had told me that Jared would be all over me, I would never have believed you. It seemed like he was always shying away from the smallest touch when we were just friends.
JH: A couple of years ago, we were talking about our love languages and I told Ashley that a love language that was very important to me was physical touch. And at the time, I obviously wasn’t touching Ashley and she said, “You don’t know yourself because that is not one of your love languages.” And of course now, I am so touchyfeely with her and she’s realized, “Oh, OK. Maybe it is one of your love languages.”
TRACK: Let’s talk wedding. What’s planning been like so far?
AI: Well, that’s the crazy thing: You get engaged and everyone assumes that you’re already planning. We have a timeline. We’re saying within the next 14 months, but we haven’t started looking at venues. That’s probably something we’ll start doing in August or September. I’m going wedding dress shopping, though, later this month so that’s pretty exciting.
JH: Well, Pete and Ariana were planning around Jan. 20, so we’re planning on Jan. 15. You know, get five days in before them. Honestly, we haven’t started planning. The advice we’ve gotten from other people is that you’re only fiances once in your life and after that, you’re going to be husband and wife for the rest of your lives, so enjoy this very romanticized time because it won’t be the same.
TRACK: The big question: Will the wedding be televised?
AI: We really don’t know at this point. We’d be down to have a TV wedding, but we have a lot of talking to do.
JH: Yeah, we’re open to anything. The most important thing to me is making sure that Ashley has the best wedding that she ever dreamed of — whether that be on TV or off TV.