Courtney Stodden and her fiancé, Jared Safier, got married in a “last-minute” wedding, Us Weekly can exclusively confirm.
The reality star, 30, and the TV producer, 41, tied the knot at Casa de Monte Vista in Palm Springs, California, on Tuesday, December 3, with just 20 guests in attendance.
“We planned on getting married, and we didn’t have a date. We just kind of looked at each other, and we’re the same kind of crazy. We just looked at each other and we’re just like, ‘This is the perfect time to do it,’” Stodden exclusively tells Us, noting that the couple began planning the nuptials three weeks ago when they realized both of their families would be in town for Thanksgiving.
“It’s the holidays, it’s already stressful and we just bought a house together, so we’re dealing with that. Our family was like, ‘Are you guys crazy?’ and we’re like, ‘Yeah!’ It just felt like the right time,” she explains. “I’m really a free spirit and I’ve always been that way and I don’t think that’s going to be going away after the marriage, and so I just felt like it was the right time and it all just came together.”
Although the details of the pair’s impromptu wedding were sorted out quickly, Stodden did not forgo a few unique touches. For her special day, Stodden wore a $60,000 vintage wedding dress and a ring that her dad gave her mom when her parents tied the knot. After the ceremony, the newlyweds treated their guests to an entirely vegan menu, including a vegan carrot cake.
Stodden was previously married to actor Doug Hutchison from 2011 to 2020. The pair made headlines for their Las Vegas nuptials when they were 16 and 50, respectively. Stodden subsequently moved on with entrepreneur Chris Sheng, to whom she was engaged from 2021 to 2023. After their split, Stodden began dating Safier in August 2023 and announced their engagement in June.
Stodden recalls meeting Safier for the first time ahead of a project they were working on together. After they had coffee, she warned him not to fall in love with her.
“He looked at me like I was crazy, and he goes, ‘What? Don’t fall in love with me at a business meeting?!’” she tells Us. “But I just felt like, if this guy falls in love with me, I’m kind of, you know, I’m done for because I just felt this calling toward him, and our first kiss, it almost felt like it was our 80th kiss, the first kiss for me. It’s something I never experienced before and felt like it was an unspoken feeling. I felt like this is just where I need to be. It’s weird, but I just felt like I was supposed to be with him, and I am supposed to just be with him, and everything is effortlessly, chaotically working out.”
While planning her wedding to Safier, Stodden reflected on her past marriage to Hutchison.
“I want to be happy, and I think the marriage that I went through in Vegas — it was so fast and I couldn’t process it because I was 16,” she explains. “So this is so important to me, to just finally have my choice of getting married. I don’t have to have a parent sign off on this one. This is completely my decision.”
Despite feeling “overwhelmed,” Stodden said she is also “excited” for the next chapter in her relationship with Safier.
“I think that it’s only natural for me because of my story to feel nervous about this because I really do want my happy ending,” she says. “I want this to be it, and it’s nerve-racking because a lot of PTSD and a lot of different things have been swirling around, but I know that I’m marrying a really amazing man and I’m just hopeful, and so I’m feeling all the feels. … I just know that my gut is telling me this is where I belong right now, and I’m just going with it.”
Keep scrolling for an exclusive glimpse into Stodden and Safier’s magical day:
With reporting by Lanae Brody