Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist chat to PEOPLE about their Jan. 4 live, televised wedding as the Golden Bachelor says they don’t want to miss “any of the moments”
‘The Golden Bachelor’ stars Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist
It’s never too late for a happily ever after — and the Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist are proving just that.
The couple got engaged on the season finale of the first-ever installment of the Bachelor spinoff, and are preparing to say “I do” in a live, televised wedding on Thursday. Speaking to PEOPLE recently, they say it’s a dream come true.
“See, you’ve got to remember, Theresa didn’t get — her first time around, she didn’t have much time to plan and really, I didn’t either,” says Turner, 72, referring to his fiancée’s first marriage to her childhood sweetheart Billy, while making their red carpet debut as a couple in New York City in December,
The pair planned their wedding in three days, Nist, 70, previously told PEOPLE, as Billy was “drafted during the Vietnam War” while she was still in her “first year of college.”
The same was true for Turner, whose first wife, Toni, died suddenly of cancer in 2017.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of time and [we were] pretty broke, both of us,” he says of his and Nist’s previous weddings. “So this is kind of big. We want to make it so we don’t miss any of the moments.”
Gerry Turner proposing to Theresa Nist on ‘The Golden Bachelor’
Related: Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner Reflects on a Few ‘Failures’ Trying to Date After His Wife’s Death (Exclusive)
The couple also share that their families have been more than supportive of their relationship and their choice to get married so quickly.
“I had my family along — my daughters — from the beginning to the end and they were just pulling for us that we would be happy at the end,” Turner says. “They were excited.”
As for Nist, she says some of her friends were a little skeptical when the news of the engagement hit, but they quickly realized that she was head-over-heels in love.
“I would say my friends who didn’t know until when it really was announced, they just wanted to make sure, ‘Are you really in love? Are you really happy?’ Yes, I am,” she recalls. “And as soon as they knew that, they were satisfied and happy and really onboard.”
‘The Golden Bachelor’ stars Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist
Related: Golden Bachelor Producers Admit They Feared Seeing Gerry Turner’s First TV Kiss — but ‘Erupted’ When It Happened
The fiancées previously told PEOPLE that they know it’s a quick turnaround — they got engaged in August and will say “I do” less than six months later — but they’re all in.
“When you’re in your 20s and you put something off for a year, it’s a very small percentage of your life,” Turner said. “In your 70s, the clock ticks faster. And I’m 100% certain I found the right girl for me. So it’s like, why not?”
Nist agreed. “I met the man of my dreams. It wasn’t our original timeline, but to be presented with the wedding of our dreams? Spectacular, incredible, wow!”
Anthony Behar courtesy of ABC
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist attend a screening and panel of ‘The Golden Bachelor’ in New York City
The retired restaurateur said that he just wanted to make sure Nist didn’t feel too rushed, like she was the first time around.
“Since she’d sort of gotten the hurry-up job the first time, I wanted her to be able to savor all of the anticipation and the joy and the planning and everything. That was my only question is, ‘Are you okay with the timeline? Do you feel like you get cheated a little bit in it?’ And it doesn’t sound like she’s getting cheated.”
Nist doesn’t feel cheated “at all,” she said. “It’s going to be incredible.”
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The Golden Wedding will air Thursday, Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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