During their wedding ceremony at a picturesque resort in the Southern California desert, Gerry Turner walked down an aisle filled with roses.
Then he turned around and walked back.
The crowd murmured. Cold feet? No, the remake was for the cameras that broadcast the wedding on ABC. “For real this time!” Mr. Turner mouthed to the guests as he passed by again a few moments later.
If both versions had aired, viewers might not have cared: Turner has all but nominated himself as the face of second chances. On Thursday night, the 72-year-old widower and star of “The Golden Bachelor,” ABC’s dating spinoff featuring older cast members, married Theresa Nist, 70, whom he had known in the program.
The couple’s love story may have been helped by a casting team and the opaque machinations of reality TV. It may have been scrutinized by tabloids, evaluated in franchise ratings, and subjected to debate over whether the show combated or perpetuated television’s concerns about aging. But Turner and Nist say there’s something real underneath.
“It’s not a ghost wedding,” Turner said as the couple sat shoulder to shoulder during an interview with The New York Times earlier in the week. It is a “real and sincere” commitment, she said, complete with a marriage certificate.
The ceremony took place before 150 guests and many more television viewers at the La Quinta Resort and Club, a Mission-style estate where cameras hung from palm trees and a carpet of astroturf had been rolled over an outdoor patio. Guests seated on white couches wrapped themselves in pashminas as the sun set over Joshua Tree National Park.
An outside fireplace crackled; a camera drone buzzed overhead.
The wedding was also broadcast as a live two-hour special on ABC, perhaps a risky gamble given the number of Mr. Turner’s ex-girlfriends who attended. Among them was the wedding officiant, Susan Noles, who is ordained through Universal Life Church and owns Nuptials by Noles. Leslie Fhima, whose breakup with Mr. Turner spanned much of the season finale, was also among a handful of guests who had been contestants on the season.
Mrs. Nist walked down the hallway arm in arm with her son, Tommy Nist. “We had a lot of fun together,” she told Mr. Turner during his vows. “We laughed until we cried.”
He hoped they would continue doing so “for the rest of the days we have left on this earth, which could be another hour.”
The couple met five months before their wedding day, when Nist and 21 other women had emerged from limousines to compete for a combination of screen time and Turner’s heart.
Turner, a retiree from Indiana, said he had signed on as the show’s lead in part to show that people his age can still experience desire and transformation. Ms. Nist, a financial services professional from Shrewsbury, New Jersey, said her daughter had encouraged her to apply.
They soon bonded over their romantic stories. Both had married young to spouses they adored and both had survived the deaths of their partners. In front of the camera, they shared a smoothie, talked about grief, and met each other’s grandchildren. Less than a month after they met, Turner proposed.
“I think as you get older, you also realize that you have more confidence in your decisions,” Turner said.
Still, when producers began discussing the idea of a televised wedding shortly after filming wrapped, the couple hesitated. Turner said she worried that Nist would have to speed up preparations as she did for her first wedding, held during a brief break in her husband’s deployment to the Vietnam War. Only once she agreed to the compressed schedule did they move forward, she said.
Ms. Nist found time to try on Badgley Mischka dresses with her daughter and bridesmaid, Jen Woolston, and Mr. Turner’s daughters, Angie Warner and Jenny Young. Her bridal shower was held at a mansion in the Hollywood Hills.
“There were beautiful gifts, Chippendale dancers,” Ms Nist said. “Maybe some bar drinks.” (Mr. Turner stopped throwing a stag party, describing his first one as “brutal.”)
One such dancer was present, although shirtless, on the dance floor at a wedding reception held about 20 meters from the ceremony. A group of uninvited spectators had gathered outside the walls of the venue, hoping to catch a glimpse of cast members from the “Bachelor” franchise.
Kerry Leffel, a member of Turner’s pickleball league in Indiana, posed for a photo with Faith Martin, a favorite whom Turner had sent home at the end of the season. Since she had not yet met Ms. Nist, she reserved judgment on her pickleball skills.
Leffel said his friend had made a good appearance on television, adding: “He wears his heart on his sleeve.”
Other viewers were more critical after a Hollywood Reporter article published in November claimed that Turner had misrepresented her romantic past. Turner first said that he was not focused on the accuracy of the article; This week he called it “completely fictitious.”
Nist said they were both learning about the dangers of being in the public eye. “At first it bothered me that people said such bad things about you,” she said. Now, she said, “I almost find it funny.”
The newlyweds are still working out the details of their life together. Turner is drawn to New Jersey, Nist said, but they are also considering moving to South Carolina, near his son. They hope to explore both areas after their honeymoon in Italy.
And they plan to take a step back from on-screen life, starting on their wedding night. After a raucous rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” marked the end of the live broadcast, the couple retreated to a second, more intimate reception. Family and friends were welcomed; Television cameras were not.
In this day
When January 4, 2024
Where La Quinta Resort and Club, La Quinta, California.
A maximum audience proposal During a cocktail party before the ceremony, Brayden Bowers, a contestant on the most recent season of “The Bachelorette,” proposed to Christina Mandrell, a former contestant on “The Bachelor.” “Is that why we get our nails done?” she asked, after agreeing.
Don’t forget the grandchildren The couple’s grandchildren participated in the wedding. Mr. Turner’s two granddaughters, Payton and Charlee, were young bridesmaids. Five of Mrs. Nist’s grandchildren (Dempsey, Leo, Brandon, Brody and Braxton) were young groomsmen. The youngest of the group, 6-year-old Henry, was the ring bearer.
music lessons Ms. Nist took the lead in choosing the day’s music, which included Ray LaMontagne’s “You Are the Best Thing” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” “She’s been very good at telling me what I like about these songs,” Mr. Turner said.
Cocktails galore Guests could choose from several signature drinks, including a spicy margarita titled “Birthday Suit,” a nod to Ms. Nist’s entrance into the Bachelor Mansion on her 70th birthday. She introduced herself to Mr. Turner by unraveling a black robe to reveal a tan jumpsuit underneath.
