When it comes to The Bachelor and its various offshoots — also referred to as "Bachelor Nation" — a televised wedding is the Holy Grail. Every show in the franchise is seeking the same end: a knot-tying, televised for all the world to see. These one-time events prove to prime time viewers that true love does indeed exist in the Bachelor 'verse, and bring in pretty good ratings to boot. However, a televised ceremony is pretty hard to produce, and not just because so few Bachelor couples stay together. As it turns out, not all of these couples want their nuptials to be televised. Nick Viall and Vanessa Grimaldi, who got engaged on season 21 of The Bachelor, are likely in that camp. Viall spoke to Mario Lopez of Extra on Tuesday, and did not seem keen on the idea of broadcasting the big day.
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"The thing about the wedding shows is that there's a lot of Bachelor engaged couples — they don't always do weddings," Viall said when Lopez asked about upcoming nuptials, per Us Weekly. Viall is right. The last few couples to emerge from Bachelor Nation have so far opted out of a wedding show. Kaitlyn Bristowe and Shawn Booth, who are very vocal about wanting children, are two years into an engagement and show no signs of wedding planning. Similarly, Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell called their wedding off altogether on their show Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? The last couple to have a televised wedding was Bachelor In Paradise's Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert, who are now expecting a baby. Prior to that, Sean Lowe wed wife Catherine Giudici in a special titled Sean and Catherine's Wedding in 2014.
"Vanessa and I are just focused on our relationship — when we decide it's time for us to take that next step, we're just going to plan a wedding," Viall continued. "If the show wants us, great, and if not… We're not really focused on whether it's going to be televised or not."
It's an equivocating answer, but it seems clear that Viall isn't interested in another reality television love fest. Better to look in other corners of Bachelor Nation for our next televised ceremony — corners like Evan Bass and Carly Waddell's tidy home in Nashville. The two met on Bachelor In Paradise and can't stop gushing about each other and their future nuptials.
"We are so close to setting a wedding date," Waddell told E! News in April. "I think we're going to have a wedding date in like two weeks. We're very close to having that nailed down. It's going to be this year." The two got engaged just last summer, so a summer wedding on ABC isn't that far-fetched of an idea. (My prediction: They'll get married on the premiere of Bachelor In Paradise season 4, which is how Bachelor couple Marcus Grodd and Lacy Faddoul tied the knot.)
When Waddell was asked about a televised wedding, she teased, "Anything is possible." So, there is a Holy Grail on the horizon — possibly. But it's unlikely Nick Viall and Vanessa Grimaldi will be the ones marching down the TV aisles.