‘Bachelor’ Star Ben Higgins Teases TV Wedding With Lauren Bushnell

Ben Higgins sounds like he is ready to say “I do” to a TV wedding. The Bachelor star, who became engaged to Lauren Bushnell on the finale of his season of the ABC reality show, says his wedding to his final pick will likely take place sometime next year. And in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Higgins said it would be downright dumb not to tie the knot in front of TV cameras.

Ben Higgins said it would be a “cool opportunity” to have a TV wedding, especially since fans have followed his love story with Bushnell since day one.

“When it comes to the wedding, if that’s an opportunity or possibility, it’s a really great one for us,” Ben said of a televised ceremony.

“It would almost be stupid not to. And you’re going to have cameras at your wedding anyway. There’s going to be people following you around no matter what, so why not add a whole production crew?”

Higgins said he and Bushnell agree that an ABC-hosted ceremony would be a nice culmination to their fairytale romance and that they both think it would be fun. Ben pointed out that this November will mark one year since he and Lauren became engaged, so there has been no rush to walk down the aisle. Still, Bachelor host Chris Harrison has already offered to officiate Higgins and Bushnell’s vow exchange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wtN7iXCHA8

Fans can expect to see some of Ben and Lauren’s wedding planning on their upcoming Freeform series, Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? But since a TV deal for their ceremony hasn’t been inked yet, the ideas for their big day are just in the preliminary stages at this point. Still, in June, Ben and Lauren told People that their wedding planning was at the top of their to-do list.
“All of the things that are on our initial ‘to-do’ list post-Bachelor, we’ve accomplished,” Bushnell said at the time. “So, now I think we’re both ready to start wedding planning. That’s top of our list.”

Ben Higgins’ bride-to-be also teased that the Freeform show will document all of the couple’s ideas and plans for the future, but she stopped short of giving away too many details—like the location. Bushnell is from Portland, Higgins is from Indiana, and the couple currently lives together in Denver.
“It’s kind of tricky when you grow up and become an adult, everyone is so spread out,” Lauren said. “It’s just kind of one those things that we really need to just sit down and look at locations and figure out what it is each of us have dreamt of.”

Ben Higgins is handling his post-Bachelor fame much differently than his predecessors. While several former Bachelor stars, including Jake Pavelka and Sean Lowe, continued on the reality TV train by competing on Dancing with the Stars, Higgins is the first franchise alum to get his own spin-off show. Now, fans hope that show will include a front row seat to his wedding to Bushnell.

Of course, if Ben Higgins says “I do” in front of million of viewers, he won’t be the first star from the ABC franchise to do so. In 2003, original Bachelorette star Trista Rehn wed her final pick, Ryan Sutter, in a lavish ABC primetime affair. Not only did ABC foot the bill for the extravaganza, but the reality TV couple reportedly received a $1 million payday to let their special day play out on the Alphabet network. A few years later, Jason Mesnick’s wedding to Molly Malaney aired on ABC, and Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum’s nuptials also warranted a primetime special. Also, Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici’s 2014 ceremony was the franchise’s first-ever wedding to air live.

Ben & Lauren: Happily Ever After? premieres Oct. 11 on Freeform. Take a look at the video below to see a preview for Ben Higgins’ new show.

[Featured Image by Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for iHeartMedia]