'Bachelor' Sean Lowe Father to Officiate Catherine Giudici Wedding in January
Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici are in the midst of planning their dream wedding and the season 17 "Bachelor" recently revealed that his father will officiate their ceremony.
The couple, who are set to wed in January, got engaged in Thailand while filming the "Bachelor" finale earlier this year after Lowe, 30, presented Giudici, 27, with a 3.15-carat platinum-and-diamond ring.
The Christian entrepreneur's father, Jay, is expected to officiate the wedding in a televised ceremony to air on the ABC network.
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"I can't think of a more godly man to conduct the ceremony," Lowe told Life and Style magazine. "My dad has had such a powerful and positive influence on my life, I thought it was only fitting to have him officiate our wedding."
In October Lowe and Giudici, who is a graphic designer, celebrated their engagement party in Seattle, Wash., but his parents did not attend.
Unreliable sources initially attributed their absence to their alleged "dislike" of Giudici, but Jay confirmed that this is not true. He explained that they were simply busy planning events for Lowe and Giudici's big day.
"We have hundreds of people involved with getting these three major events under way in preparation for their January wedding," Jay told the Daily Mail U.K. "There is a lot of love for this girl. We have embraced her since the day we met her in Thailand. We would never snub her."
One report went as far as to claim that Lowe's parents did not approve of the Seattle native because they had doubts about her Christian faith, but Jay insisted that this is not the case.
"She's one of the most devout Christians I've ever met," he said. "She and Sean go to Bible study every Tuesday and Wednesday, and they go to church every Sunday."
Lowe and Giudici are set to become the fourth "Bachelor" franchise couple to wed on TV. They will follow in the footsteps of "Bachelorette" star Trista Rehn and husband Ryan Sutter, who starred in "Trista & Ryan's Wedding" among others.
The ABC network is reportedly paying the couple a six-figure sum to exchange "I dos" on TV, according to E! News. In addition to this, the network will also foot the bill for what is expected to be a million-dollar wedding.
"They are not marrying for money, they are marrying for love," Jay said in response to critics. "They would get married in our backyard if they had to, but ABC graciously asked them to marry on television for the fans."
In September the couple, who has vowed to abstain from sex until their wedding night, moved to Lowe's native of Dallas after residing in Los Angeles for six months.
Lowe previously explained his decision to go ahead with a televised wedding.
"TV certainly has its advantages. As I've said a number of times, a free wedding is always a good thing and you can create the wedding of your dreams, all her dreams, then you don't have to sit back and worry about the budget and freak out about stuff like that, so I think there are advantages to both — either it being televised or private," Lowe told "Good Morning America."
"We've always said our relationship started on TV, so we may as well solidify it on TV. Hopefully we'll have a date sometime soon," he added.
