Lawson Bates and Tiffany Espensen. Courtesy of Lawson Bates/Instagram
Now they’re newlyweds! Lawson Bates and Tiffany Espensen are married less than one year after getting engaged.
Bates, 29, confirmed the pair exchanged vows on Friday, May 13, via his Instagram Story.
Us Weekly confirmed in October 2021 that the Bringing Up Bates alum proposed during a trip to Italy. The couple took their romance public in February 2021 and collaborated on the reality star’s music video for his song “The Way I See You.” Bates gushed over working with Espensen in a love Instagram post that summer.
“When I first had the idea to write this song, my goal was to capture a genuine and heartfelt message of empowerment, hope, and validation to someone who may be feeling overwhelmed, overlooked, and under appreciated,” he wrote in July 2021. “I wanted to make sure I had a broad perspective on things in the writing session, so I reached out to two of my favorite co-writers @janellearthur & @thejordanrainer. After an incredible 3 hour session, it all started coming to life!”
Gil and Kelly Jo Bates‘ son continued, “Little did I know before this song released that the girl of my dreams would be in my life and I’d be singing it for her 🤍.”
Ahead of their big day, the “Crazy Love” performer and Espensen answered fans’ burning questions about their wedding plans in a lengthy YouTube vlog. The couple explained why they chose to exchange vows on the West Coast despite the singer’s southern roots.
Lawson Bates and Tiffany Espensen. Courtesy of Lawson Bates/Instagram
“For me, I’m super easy, I would have been like, ‘Let’s go to the courthouse,’” the former actress said in the April video. “We just kind of blended … and said, ‘OK, we’ll have it in San Diego.’”
Lawson chimed in, adding, “Well, there’s a few reasons. A, traditionally, you always have the wedding in the girl’s hometown. … But everything’s not traditional, and that’s fine. Tiff said, ‘Let’s go to the courthouse,’ which would have been cool too. But I also thought that [San Diego] would be cool because there’s just so much beauty here. This is where I met Tiffany in person [and] fell in love with her, so I think it just made sense to have it here.”
The former UPtv personality said that the wedding’s location factored into the celebration “being on the smaller side,” explaining, “We want to keep it kind of [to] just our really close friends and family. Right now that’s putting us [at] about 200 folks, which is perfect.”
Lawson is the fourth of 19 Bates children, all of whom were featured on Bringing Up Bates before it was canceled earlier this year. Last month, the songwriter teased that he had something special up his sleeve for his bride on as they prepared to walk down the aisle.
“I did write a song for the wedding,” he said during their pre-wedding YouTube Q&A. “I love love songs now. A lot of you guys who listen to my albums know that I really love heartbreak songs, but I am definitely on the love trend right now. … This isn’t like anything I’ve ever done before. I feel like it matches Tiffany’s personality more than anything that I’ve written for her.”
