The couple tied the knot in August.
Nikki Bella didn't need anyone to give her away at her wedding. In an interview with Brides, the 38-year-old former WWE star reveals why she walked herself down the aisle at her August wedding to Artem Chigvintsev.
"I walked myself down the aisle because I'm about to be 39 and I don't need to be given away," she explains. "I’m a mother. I'm an entrepreneur."
Bella and Chigvintsev, who were first linked in 2018, are parents to 2-year-old Matteo.
While she didn't want an escort, Bella did want her loved ones close to her on her wedding day, so she carried two rosaries, one from her grandmother and another from Chigvintsev's mother, and wore her great-grandmother’s rose-shaped ring.
"I’ve done a lot of things on my own in life, so while I knew I wanted to walk myself down the aisle, I also wanted to have the presence of all these strong women with me," she shares.
The pair tied the knot in Paris, after a Napa Valley reception unexpectedly fell through.
"Artem and I went to Paris on a secret vacation when we were first dating and didn't want the world to know we were a couple yet," she recalls. "After that, we always said, 'Run away to Paris with me.' It's always held a special place in our hearts, and when Napa wasn't working out, we were like, 'We just need to run away to Paris. Let’s make it work.' It was literally a fairy-tale ending."
That fairy-tale included four outfits, which fans will get to see for the first time when her four-part wedding docuseries, Nikki Bella Says I Do, airs on E! in early 2023.
"Sometimes I feel like some people are scared to express themselves in fashion, so they hold back in real life. When it's your wedding, it's time to be fearless," she says. "... When I walked down the aisle, I wanted to be the strong, fierce woman, but also have this feminine, graceful side that made Artem melt."
One of those four looks was purchased by Bella when she was engaged to John Cena, and though that wedding didn't happen, the reality star wasn't about to take that out on the perfect dress.
"I had two beautiful dresses that I loved, and they were going to be for a different marriage, but they were my dream and I love them. So, I brought them out to see if I could make them work," Bella says. "What brides will realize when they start searching for the dress is that what you wear is about you as a woman. It has nothing to do with the person that you're marrying or the people that are attending. It has everything to do with what you've envisioned for yourself and how you feel."
"People will try to make you think differently and say, 'Oh, but it was for that person and that wedding.' But after being on this journey, what I realized was no, I didn’t buy those dresses for that person. Yes, it was going to be for that event, but that event didn't happen," she adds. "So my advice to anyone who already has their [wedding] dress and is in the same situation is: If that dress is something you love, wear it. If you don't, you're always going to think of it. It's kind of like your first love, right? You have an attachment to it. Do what makes you happy."
Looking back on the journey that ultimately resulted in her being a married mom is "crazy" for Bella.
"I never knew if I would make it down the aisle, but what I realized was that I just needed to be at this point in my life," she says. "That is what makes me a wife, and a good wife. I’m finally ready for that."
When ET spoke to Bella in July, she gushed over her now-husband.
"This is when I know how God is good -- and believing your gut and intuition and following through, good things happen," she said. "It's hard to see it in the moment."
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