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There were 22 wannabe brides of Gerry Turner, 72, on the smash TV reality show The Golden Bachelor. Now there’s just Theresa Nist, 70, who will marry the big guy Jan. 4 on ABC. The bubbly couple spilled some of their plans to AARP.
Can you tell us some details that nobody else knows?
Theresa: About the wedding? We don’t even know.
Gerry: Yeah. Planning is a rather dynamic process.
Theresa: So we had to come up with signature drinks. I’ll give you one — it’s called Birthday Suit.
Ah, because you met Gerry on the first episode on your birthday, so you greeted him in what you claimed was your birthday suit — actually a bodysuit.
Gerry: Another signature drink is One Headlight [referring to the time Theresa comforted Gerry after his headlight went out on their date, discombobulating him]. And another is called Turn Her Into a Mrs.
Theresa: Gerry’s in charge of all the cakes, and my daughter is getting together a vision board, and we’ve got images of flowers and greenery and silverware and plates and glasses. So it’s coming together in a whirlwind!
Will anyone from the show be a bridesmaid?
Theresa: No one from the show will be a bridesmaid, but they will certainly be in the audience. I mean, if we could, we would invite every single one of these women, we love them so much.
Have you heard from any of them, congratulating you?
Theresa: Oh, yes. I think all of them, all of them. And I just came back to 36 more texts in addition to the 38 I had last night. The women being a tight-knit group wasn’t just for the show. That’s a legitimate deal. I’ve heard from many of the women, some of the very final contestants. It was just different than anything we had ever experienced in our lives. One of the things we wanted to do was to form bonds with women in addition to seeking the love of our lives.
Do you think that you two bonded because you’re both businesspeople?
Gerry: Maybe. Go one step back: We’re both very logical thinkers. And that was one of the things that really impressed me at that final dinner, about what Theresa did for her living. I realized that her way of thinking and mine were very compatible. So that when it came time for problem-solving, we were going to approach things from a similar direction.
Theresa: It just clicked with us. And we really do have very, very similar views about life and everything. And we’re good at compromising too.
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