Six years after meeting in Mexico, Juelia Kinney and Aaron Bass wed in Cancún, Us Weekly can exclusively reveal.
The Bachelor season 19 alum, 38, exchanged vows with Bass on Friday, June 30, in front of family and friends, including his brother, fellow Bachelor Nation alum Evan Bass.
“Aaron’s the best. I had never met him before meeting him through Evan, obviously, and we actually met at Evan and Carly’s wedding,” Kinney recalled on Us’ “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast last month of Evan and Carly Waddell’s 2017 nuptials. “There was Aaron — tall, dark and handsome — standing there and I’m like, ‘Who are you?’ He’s like, ‘I’m Evan’s brother.’ And I’m like, ‘You are? I didn’t even know Evan had a brother!’ So yeah, Aaron’s the best. He’s hilarious. He’s the best dad. He’s just the sweetest. He’s my best friend.”
Aaron, who has two sons from a previous relationship, relocated from Nashville to San Diego to be with Kinney and her daughter, Ireland, 10. The pair, who got engaged in 2018, went on to welcome son Van, 2.
“I think [Ireland is] almost as excited as I am [about the wedding],” Kinney told Us on June 1. “All the kids are. It’s gonna be so much fun.”
Kinney added that the twosome were set to get married in Santa Barbara in June 2020, but they were forced to cancel amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“People keep saying like, ‘Aren’t you guys married already?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, you would think so ‘cause we’ve been engaged forever.’ … I’m like, ‘I am not planning another wedding. I can’t do it. I put so much effort into it,’” she noted. “We’re just gonna go off to Cancun and do all-inclusive and they can hand me my flowers that [I] don’t even care [about] and we’re doing it!”
Evan and Waddell, meanwhile, split in 2020. While Kinney remains close to both Bachelor in Paradise alums, who share two kids, Waddell told Us in April that she was skipping the nuptials to avoid causing a distraction from Kinney’s big day.
“If I’m there, lots of people could be uncomfortable and we don’t need that to be the focus. So instead, I’m going to FaceTime her the whole day [as] she’s getting ready. Obviously drinking champagne,” Waddell told Us. “It’s [Evan’s] brother, it’s his family and friends and I think that takes priority.”
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Scroll through to see photos from Kinney and Aaron’s wedding: