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Even though they are both self-proclaimed “devout” Christians, The Bachelor‘s Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell aren’t shy about one thing — that they’re living together before marriage.
Besides the fact that it’s 2016 and it’s NBD, The Bachelor and his fiancé have some very good reasoning for their co-habitating decision. “Our life had really started out so abnormally, and it was going to be very difficult for us to spend time together with how fast our lives were moving,” he said. “Any amount of time we could be together to get to know each other better, which I think God would desire for us to do before we make that ultimate commitment,” Higgins told ET Online. Chilling out and enjoying engaged life before a walk down the aisle sounds like a great plan, especially when your relationship has been a televised whirlwind to the present day.
The reality stars’ new show Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? premiered on Freeform recently — with the first and second episodes focusing on the couple’s adjustment to “real life” post-Bachelor. “The storyline initially is ‘Are we going to be able to move past JoJo or not?'” Higgins said. “I think that’s a fair storyline, because it’s something that was a part of our life for a long time. But [people will] see us move on.”
Bushnell revealed in August that the pair is just starting the wedding planning process now. “We haven’t set a date,” she told Us Weekly. “We definitely started talking about it more, and I think we both agreed that August we actually want to sit down and start planning, so that includes setting a date, that includes the place. We have been throwing around some locations, and I think we’ve narrowed it down to the area that we want to get married. We’re thinking 2017.”
Though she may not know what her wedding dress will look like or where they’ll exchange vows, Bushnell did say that the couple is hoping to have their wedding filmed (shocker!). The good news is that we’ll be able to see how it all goes down — but until then, we’ll keep our eyes glued to Freeform for more wedding updates!
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