Fill The Bachelorette Void By Celebrating These Successful Pairings

The OG Bachelorette, Sutter was the first to prove that a stint in the mansion could lead to love, marriage and even Bachelor babies. “Nowadays they shoot the show for, I believe, three months. So it’s like 12 weeks,” the author recently shared with Us Weekly of her 2003 season. “My show was shot in six weeks. So Ryan and I met, got engaged, got married a year later, after knowing each other for six weeks. So that’s how it used to be.”

Their years holding it down as the show’s sole success story have taught the Colorado-based pair they can handle pretty much anything. Including months sheltering in place with their middleschoolers, son Maxwell, 12, and daughter Blakesley, 11. “It’s really hard for us to get a date night. I think when the kids are working, we try to take advantage of that time as much as possible,” she said of working around the firefighter’s early bird tendencies. “But yeah, we’re good. We’re 16 years and this too shall pass, as they say.”

Nine years into their romance, the Miami-based pair have already lived the “for worse” portion of their 2012 wedding vows. Last December, the consultant was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that left him unable to move enough to hug son Fordham, 5, or daughter Essex, 3. “I can’t even pick up my kids. I can’t bathe them, I can’t do anything. I can’t contribute at all,” he told People at the time. “Watching Ashley do all of it is the hardest part.” 

The silver lining: it gave him new appreciation for his bride. “Ashley is a Superwoman,” he said of the pediatric dentist. “She’s been amazing. She’s been supportive, and she does it all.” And he never misses an opportunity now to share his gratitude. Acknowledging her April birthday, he posted to Instagram, “Yes she’s beautiful, yes she’s brilliant, and yes she’s the most loving mother any child could ask for, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of how incredible this woman is and what she is capable of, not even close!”

For as much as the wedding dress designer seemed to key in on Brooks Forester during her 2013 season, it was sweet mortgage lender Siegfried and his thoughtful prose that proved to be the perfect fit. More than five years after their L.A. vows (during which the Desiree Hartsock Bridal designer wore two of her own original creations) they’re settled in Portland, Oregon, with sons Asher, 3, and Zander, 16 months.

“If our life were a storybook I would be the damsel in distress,” the host of podcast Heart of Purpose surmised in a February post. “Chris would be the funny yet charming knight who saves the day, Asher would be the pragmatic problem solver while his little brother would be the carefree sidekick trying to kiss all the ladies!” And they would all enjoy a happy ending. As Hartsock put it in a post acknowledging the choice of Crawley as Bachelorette, “Reality TV worked for me!” 

Even the most wishful of Bachelorette fans likely weren’t betting on Fletcher and Rodgers’ journey leading them to an altar. Because with the persistent rumors of the former Vanderbilt quarterback’s ill intentions ramping up even before they took the stage for the requisite grin-and-gush After the Final Rose appearance in 2016, it seemed unlikely she would still be wearing her 3.75-carat Neil Lane diamond years later.

Which, she’s not. But only because Rodgers presented the real estate developer with an upgrade this past August. Though their summer wedding plans are certainly at risk, their rock-solid relationship definitely isn’t. “You make me laugh, love me endlessly, encourage me to be brave, and always, without fail, are my biggest cheerleader,” the native Texan wrote in a recent post acknowledging their fourth anniversary. “Can’t wait for what the rest of our lives have in store for us.”

When the Bachelorette duo took their love to Mexico for their August vows, they skipped the beaches of Nayarit for the rooftop of the Royalton Suites Cancun and red roses for tasteful green and white florals. “Our wedding was about us. It was about the life we built together outside of [The Bachelorette],” she shared with People. “And we stayed true to who we are.” 

With any luck, the Texas-bred attorney and the chiropractic doctor will be Mom and Dad before 2021 is up. Asked about their plan for kids, she told Us Weekly in October that they were hoping for “sooner rather than later.” In a perfect world, she continued, it would happen in the next year: “We definitely are on the same page in what we want.”

All’s well that ends well? Sure, Kufrin had to endure having her heart shattered on national television with Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr.‘s cruel breakup, but keeping her head high through the whole ordeal earned her a return trip to Bachelor mansion and a chance to dole out her own roses. Her decision to commit to Yrigoyen, he of the abhorrent Instagram activity, wasn’t exactly beloved, but the medical sales rep offered up a full mea culpa and the two have seemed happily coupled since the 2018 finale. 

Keeping to their plan of exploring her native Minneapolis, then his home near Reno, Nev. and his parents’ place in California before they settled down outside of San Diego, she gets why people assume they’ll follow through on their vow to wed next. “I went on the show to find somebody to get engaged to eventually get married, so I understand that that’s why people always ask and they’re interested,” she allowed on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast in December. But they’re comfortable completing their journey at a slower pace. Noted Kufrin, “We literally have zero wedding plans right now.”