Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist are ready to say “I do,” and they’re inviting all of America to witness their celebration. Following their whirlwind TV courtship, The Golden Bachelor stars will wed in a ceremony broadcast live on ABC. 

‘The Golden Wedding’ airs Jan. 4 

'The Golden Wedding' invitation
‘The Golden Wedding’ | Disney

Gerry, 72, asked Theresa, 70, to marry him in the emotional season finale of The Golden Bachelor. She said yes, and now the couple are preparing to walk down the aisle. 

The Golden Wedding airs Thursday, Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Jesse Palmer hosts the 2-hour special, which streams the next day on Hulu. 

Gerry and Theresa’s wedding will be the first televised ceremony for a couple in the Bachelor franchise in a decade. Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici tied the knot in a live event in January 2014. 

Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist don’t want to wait to get married 

Gerry and Turner may have only met a few months ago, but they don’t see any reason to put off their wedding. 

“We are going to get married,” Gerry said during The Golden Bachelor season finale on Nov. 30. “We’re going to do it as quickly as we can because, at our age, we don’t have a lot of time to waste. As quickly as we can put together a wedding plan, we’re getting married.”

Gerry and Theresa further discussed their race to the altar during an appearance on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast (via YouTube). 

“Think about it this way,” he said. “You can wait a year when you’re 20 years old and it might be 3% or 4% of your remaining life. When you’re 70, a year could be 10% or 20%. So, we didn’t want to put off what we really felt was right.”   

The couple’s kids are taking the lead in planning the wedding 

When it comes to managing the details of their big day, Gerry and Theresa are turning to their adult children for help.

“We have daughters who are so involved,” Theresa, told People. “My daughter, she’s seen a million weddings and she is incredible. She’s put together the vision board. She’s asking me, ‘Do you like this? Do you like this?’ And I go, ‘Wow, OK, I don’t even have to do this. This is awesome.’ She’s handling it pretty much.”

Gerry has asked his sons-in-law to act as his best men. Theresa’s daughter will be her maid of honor. Other family members will also play a role. 

“All of my six grandsons will be involved and we want to have Henry as the ring bearer,” Theresa said. “And we’re going to have my sisters — they don’t know this — as flower girls. They’re older. They should be thrilled with that.”

The Golden Bachelor couple’s ceremony will take place at the La Quinta Resort and Club in La Quinta, Calif., according to Reality Steve. For a honeymoon, Theresa and Gerry plan to jet off to Italy on a vacation gifted to them by ABC. 

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);fbq(‘init’,’1931209583834020′);fbq(‘track’,’PageView’)