Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are happily taking their time when it comes to tying the knot.
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are happily taking their time when it comes to tying the knot.
The 50-year-old singer and the 43-year-old country star have made it no secret how serious they are about one another but a source tells ET that they're still in no rush to get married. Despite a report that the couple wants to marry but have run into an issue due to Stefani's Roman Catholic faith -- the Catholic Church does not allow remarriage after a divorce unless the previous marriage has been annulled, a process that could take more than a year to complete -- our source says religion is not the sole reason the couple is waiting.
The source also notes that the two already have their ideal life together.
"Gwen's faith is incredibly important to her but it isn’t the only thing keeping them from a big wedding," the source says. "They made a deal to take it slow after their divorces. Neither Gwen nor Blake wanted to rush into marriage. They have been living the life they have always dreamt of together and haven't felt the need."
"Religion is very important to Gwen and Blake has been so respectful of that," the source continues. "She doesn't take her Roman Catholic faith lightly but of course, has to apply it to her life today. She is head over heels in love with Blake and they both know they want to spend the rest of their lives together."
Still, the source says their friends are sure the two will eventually tie the knot.
"A wedding hasn’t been a priority, but when it becomes important, they will take the steps they need to do it properly through the eyes of the Church," the source says. "It will take time but they will follow the steps and make it happen. They make all their important life decisions together, talking throughout the day whenever they are apart."
"Gwen feels she has found the man of her dreams and Blake knows Gwen is the one for him," the source adds. "They both adore one another and plan to spend the rest of their life together. Their friends are sure a marriage will happen soon enough."
According to our source, the two are definitely already very committed to one another, especially when it comes to Shelton's relationship with Stefani's three sons -- 13-year-old Kingston, 11-year-old Zuma and 5-year-old Apollo.
"Gwen and Blake even parent together," the source says. "While Gavin, as their father is, of course, a big part of the boys' lives, Blake has also become a father figure to them. Gwen and Blake couldn't be happier with how life is today, despite not having tied the knot."
"Gwen and Blake fell in love so soon after their marriages ended that they needed to take time to live their new lives together," the source continues. "They both were in very difficult situations and relied on one another throughout their process. It actually brought them closer together. Blake loves Gwen and had always wanted children, so her boys have been one of the biggest gifts in his life. He raves about them all the time."
Both Stefani and Shelton have been married before. Stefani married Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale in 2002 and their divorce was finalized in April 2016. Meanwhile, Shelton has been married twice. He divorced his first wife, Kaynette Gern, in 2006 after three years of marriage, and he married his second wife, Miranda Lambert, in 2011. The two country singers announced their split in July 2015, and their divorce was finalized that same day.
Stefani and Shelton have been dating since 2015 after meeting on The Voice. Stefani has talked about her religious faith before, specifically, how she feels it led her to Shelton.
"At the time when it was going down, never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagine the miracle that happened to me,” she told Yahoo Entertainment in 2017. "Some people don't like to hear this, but for me, it was a spiritual intervention. It was a true miracle. I think the only way I got through all the hard times is just my spiritual faith and my belief in God, because I’ve just seen the miracles around me. ... My No. 1 thing in my life is my faith and everything else falls after that, and I just always have been constantly asking for guidance. That's all I care about. Everything else is underneath that. [Shelton] was just one of the gifts that I was given. And I'm so very, very, very grateful."
Meanwhile, Shelton also credited their relationship to God in an interview with The Tennessean earlier this month and said that Stefani had convinced him to attend church regularly for the first time in his life.
"I believe in God now more than I ever have in my life," he said. "The biggest part of that is just how [Stefani] came into my life and now our relationship. It's just too weird. If you take God out of it, it doesn't make sense. If you put God into it, everything that's happened with us makes sense."
ET spoke with Shelton in June, where he directly addressed rumors that he and the No Doubt singer were heading down the aisle. Shelton called the reports "complimentary."
"If I am somehow, and Gwen is somehow, newsworthy enough that they have to make up stories about us just to have something to say, then I guess that's a good problem to have," he told ET. "You know, I gotta say that we couldn't be happier, and we've never been doing better."
Shelton also noted that his bond with Stefani "gets stronger every day."
"Obviously, that's gotta lead somewhere, but I promise you, we won't break the news in any of the grocery store trash magazines," he shared.
ET last spoke with both Stefani and Shelton on Monday at a taping of The Voice, and Stefani clearly couldn't be happier with her longtime beau.
"Blake saved my life, everybody knows that," she said. "Like, we're just having the time of our lives, and we never expected that this late in our lives, so we're just trying to savor every moment together, and just to be back on The Voice as well ... but working together again has been really fun, and I love being here and I love being with him."
Meanwhile, Shelton shared that dating Stefani definitely changed him as a person.
"I don't want to remember what I was like before Gwen, actually," he admitted.
"I'm a little bit of a jerk to you still," he then joked to fellow Voice coach Kelly Clarkson. "But I was a jerk to everybody... Look how nice I am now!"
For more, watch the video below:
-- Reporting by Adriane Schwartz
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