Opening up.
Bachelor Nation fans saw Kelsey Anderson and Joey Graziadei fall in love and get engaged on Season 28 of “The Bachelor.” Since then, the two have been enjoying their lives together and are starting to plan their wedding.
While on the show, Kelsey opened up about her late mother, who passed away in 2018 after being diagnosed with breast cancer that metastasized to her bones. Kelsey shared with Joey that she sees her mom through butterflies and the two connected over her whenever they saw butterflies during filming.
Now, the Bachelor Nation star is opening up about grieving the loss of her mom while wedding planning and how she hopes to honor her on their big day.
On the “Heal Squad x Maria Menounos” podcast, she said, “I’ve been trying to think of little things that I could do. My mom and dad, they eloped, so she never had a wedding dress, so there’s not a dress that I could really wear or anything. I’ve been trying to think of little gestures or things that I could do. I know that I wanna honor a lot of people that aren’t with us anymore. For instance, Joey’s grandma, her favorite flower is [a carnation] … so I want those to be the flower girls having those.”
“I don’t remember my mom having a favorite flower. She loved pink and orange together, and she loved green and blue together. But she didn’t have a particular [flower] I feel like.” Kelsey continued, “She loved a good color combo… But I’ve been trying to think of little things that honor the people we love that aren’t able to be at our wedding presently anymore.”
Kelsey then discussed her grief during this time in their lives, but finding peace in knowing that her mom would’ve loved Joey.
“I still have days where they’re harder. I have sad days, I have days where I’m so happy and then it makes me really sad that she’s not here because I’m like, ‘Oh, she would’ve loved this,’” she said. “But I think that it’s a process but to feel this pain means that I loved her so much and she loved me so much. So, although it’s weird to say, it’s like I’m grateful that I have this pain for my mom.”
“My mom would’ve loved Joey,” she went on, “My mom was always dancing and laughing, she was always just having the most fun in life… I feel a lot of peace with knowing that my mom would love Joey. My mom just loved any guy that treated me well you know, and Joey treats me so well. And he I feel like gets along with my family so well, which is nice. But yeah, I think that she would be happy, I think that she’d be excited. It does suck, though, I remember whenever I got engaged, I was so excited and then I was like, ‘Oh, I wish that my mom was able to experience this as well and see it.’ I know she is, but I wish I could hear her talking back to me.”
We’re sending our love to Kelsey, Joey and their families during this time. We know their wedding is going to be beautiful, and we’ll be keeping Kelsey in our thoughts.