The wedding of last spring's "Bachelor" Jason Mesnick and his second-then-first-choice bachelorette Molly Malaney aired Monday on ABC. The couple married two weeks ago on a windy and rainy day in Los Angeles. The two-hour special "The Bachelor: Jason and Molly's Wedding" featured "Bachelor" alums and family. Noticeably missing was Jason's son Ty. He attended the wedding, but wasn't shown because his mother (Jason's ex-wife) didn't want him featured on the episode.
Why did Molly and Jason agree to have their wedding shown on ABC? They haven't said, but ABC paid the bulk of the yet-to-be-disclosed wedding bill. It probably wasn't an inexpensive affair with celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves and celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal getting Molly ready to wear her Monique Lhuillier designed wedding gown.
Did the rain spoiling the Big Day? Not for Jason. "All I need in my life is Molly and Ty and then I'm good."
"Bachelor" host Chris Harrison interviewed windblown wedding guests before the wedding. Former "Bachelorette" DeAnna Pappas arrived with date Stephen Stagliano — twin brother to Michael, who was featured on the Jillian Harris' summer season of "The Bachelorette." Married "Bachelorette" stars Trista (Rehn) and Ryan Sutter, dating "Bachelor" stars Charlie O'Connell and Sarah Brice and engaged "Bachelorette" couple Jillian Harris and Ed Swiderski also attended the wedding.
The ceremony started with Jason and his parents walking down the aisle as the rain stopped and the sun made an appearance. Molly walked down the aisle as fourth-place "American Idol" contestant Jason Castro played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
As the wind restyled Molly's hair and interfered with the officiant's microphone, Molly and Jason read poems. Doves were released from white baskets, and the couple exchanged vows they wrote themselves. Molly said Jason still gave her "butterflies" and "made her focus on what mattered most in life." Guests cuddled under plastic umbrellas as the rain poured down on uncovered Molly and Jason. They exchanged rings in the downpour. The couple kissed and seemed in no hurry to get inside as they walked down the aisle. "This is so fun," a drenched Molly said.
At the reception, Chris Harrison introduced Gavin DeGraw who sang "Follow Through," Molly's favorite song, while the couple danced.
After the wedding, an excited Molly summed up the couple's adventure. "He's officially mine."
Jason and Molly chose to have their bachelor/bachelorette parties in Las Vegas on the same weekend. The best footage of the Vegas trip was of a toast at the groom's dinner. "Of all the women Jason's proposed to, I think Molly's the best," a groomsman said. Jason proposed to three women before Molly. First was Ty's mom, whom he married. The second proposal was to DeAnna Pappas when he was on "The Bachelorette." DeAnna rejected Jason. The third time was when he was "The Bachelor." On the finale, he dumped Molly and became engaged to Melissa Rycroft. The fourth — and let's hope final — time was when he and Molly become engaged in October.
ABC started the show with a discussion of Jason's controversial flip-flop. In the season finale of 2009's "The Bachelor," Jason gave Melissa the final rose and an engagement ring. He sent runner-up Molly home. When Jason and Melissa reunited six weeks later on "The Bachelor: After the Final Rose," Jason said things weren't working. He confessed that he still had feelings for runner-up Molly and dumped Melissa on television. Minutes later he asked a stunned Molly for a second chance. She agreed, but things didn't go smoothly.
The tabloids took Jason to task for changing his mind. "It was just a mess," Molly said. She cried when talking about how difficult it was to hear strangers saying bad things about Jason.
In the end, though, Jason said the difficult times brought him and Molly closer together.
"I love her more than anything," Jason said. "She's resilient... We know how to be each other's best friends... we make a really good team."
ABC also showed footage of previous "Bachelor" couples who are still together. This season's "Bachelor" Jake Pavelka and his top-choice Vienna were shown making dinner together. "We are just a perfect match," Vienna said.
"Right now we're just having so much fun loving each other," Jake, a soon-to-be "Dancing with the Stars" contestant, said. He wished Molly and Jason luck and said, "hopefully we'll follow in their footsteps shortly."
Last summer's "Bachelorette" Jillian Harris and her number-one bachelor Ed Swiderski share an apartment in Chicago. They're planning their wedding. "We will be the next 'Bachelor/Bachelorette' couple to make it," Jillian vowed.
Charlie O'Connell and his top-pick Sarah Brice were also featured. The couple broke up for a year after dating for two years when Charlie's season ended. "We just fell back in love with each other," Sarah said about being reunited with Charlie. Charlie said they were looking to buy a house together, but Sarah said she wanted to be engaged first. "So whenever I have a ring, we'll buy one," Sarah said. "Like I said, we're looking at houses," Charlie said.
The show's most successful couple, Ryan and Trista (Rehn) Sutter were shown at their home in Colorado. "We live in a fairy tale," Trista said. "We couldn't feel more blessed." Trista was the season two "Bachelorette" and Ryan was her first choice. They married in December 2003, and they now have two children.
Jason and Molly's wedding guest list featured Kiptyn Locke, Jesse Csincsak and Natalie Getz, Stephanie Hogan and Nikki Kaapke.
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