USA TODAY International Edition
Bindi Irwin on wedding plans, ‘ Crikey!’
Surprise proposal required planning
“If you want to know the real truth, she has been planning this since she was about 7.”
Terri Irwin
NEW YORK – Bindi Irwin is a hugger. She hugs everyone.
But when the daughter of late wildlife expert Steve Irwin first met professional wake boarder Chandler Powell at Australia Zoo, she gave him a handshake.
She was so overwhelmed, she couldn’t bring herself to hug him. “I was so nervous; he was so gorgeous,” she tells USA TODAY.
More than half a decade later, she and Chandler are engaged to be married. The engagement was filmed for the second season of Animal Planet’s “Crikey! It’s the Irwins,” premiering Saturday ( 8 EDT/ PDT), which continues Steve Irwin’s mission to bring people and animals closer together.
To propose, Chandler enlisted the help of Bindi’s mother, Terri, and her brother, Robert.
Now that Chandler and Bindi work at the zoo together, pulling off a surprise proposal required coordination.
He told Bindi he was planning a birthday photo shoot for her 21st. It served as a good reason to shed their typical khaki garb.
“Terri took Bindi to get her nails done and have a day away from the zoo, so Robert and I could scout out the perfect location,” Chandler says.
“Very sneaky,” says Robert, who photographed the engagement from the bushes.
They found the perfect spot for Robert to hide, and he laid out sticks in the grass where Chandler would propose.
The next day, he suggested a walk through the zoo and popped the question.
She said yes immediately and began crying before Robert jumped out of the bushes and terrified her, she recalls, laughing.
Bindi, whose family compares her to Amy Poehler’s super- organized Leslie Knope of “Parks and Recreation,” has nearly all of the wedding details hammered out.
“If you want to know the real truth, she has been planning this since she was about 7,” Terri says.
The wedding is planned for next year at Australia Zoo in Beerwah, where the couple will be surrounded by friends and family, Bindi says. Robert will walk Bindi down the aisle.
“Everything comes so easily,” she says. “It’s my backyard; it’s my home.”
The wedding will certainly be a wild ( animal) one. Bindi and Chandler are thinking about having a “first croc feed” as a married couple, he says.
“You are now husband and wife; you may feed the crocodiles,” Terri jokes.
Bindi says it would be fun to have everyone walk down the aisle with koalas. Although the bride will wear white, there will definitely be touches of khaki.
Bindi found her dress in New York City. As soon as she tried it on, she and Terri were in tears. The dress is a tribute to Terri’s; she married Steve in what Bindi calls “the most gorgeous lace gown.” Since she was a little girl, she knew she wanted to wear something similar.
The bride- to- be posted a photo on Instagram that was a nod to Animal Planet’s sibling channel TLC: “I said yes to the dress.”
The couple just need to pick a date.
It shouldn’t be too difficult to reserve the venue. “Hopefully your wedding is on season three,” Robert says.
“Crikey! It’s the wedding,” Chandler chuckles.
In addition to the engagement, the second season is filled with daring missions, koala romance, animal rescues and releases and preparations leading up to the 50th anniversary of Australia Zoo.