Photo: Rich Polk/E! Entertainment/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
Joe AmabileandSerena Pittonly had eyes for each other on season 7 ofBachelor in Paradise.
During an interview on theTalking It Out with Bachelor Nationpodcast, Pitt shared that she was interested in Amabile from the very beginning, even though he was “kind of a mess” when they first spoke.
“I really thought it was endearing because I was like, despite this environment where you almost feel pressure to have this perfect persona of doing the right thing, saying the right thing, and looking great, he’s just sitting there, acknowledging his awkwardness, he’s sweating, he’s being open with me,” she explained.
The couple continued to deepen their relationship as the season went on and during the final episode, Amabile got down on one knee andasked Pitt to marry him.
After the show wrapped, Amabile and Pitt maintained a long-distance relationship for months beforemoving in togetherin New York City. In October 2022, they wed at an N.Y.C.courthouse, and nearly a year later, the couple hosted asecond weddingin Charleston, South Carolina.
August 16, 2021: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt meet onBachelor in Paradise
Serena Pitt and Joe Amabile.Serena Pitt Instagram
Amabile and Pitt were first introduced when they joinedseason 7 ofBachelor in Paradise, which aired on Aug. 16, 2021.
During the premiere episode, Amabile washaving some doubtsabout being back on the beach for a second time and he debated going home.
“I don’t want to be here just to hang out,” he said. “So unless I actually meet somebody that I’m really interested in, I just don’t see the point of staying. Do I want to go through all this again? I just don’t know. I don’t know if I’m up for it right now, to be honest.”
His mind quickly changed, however, when he and Pitt began talking and shared their first kiss.
“Starting to develop feelings for Serena does make me want to stay,” Amabile said.
September 29, 2021: Joe Amabile shares a photo of himself and Serena Pitt atBachelor in Paradiseprom
The couple were named Prom King and Queen during the show’s ’80s-themed prom event. On the night the episode aired, Amabile posted a photo of him and Pitt wearing their crowns onInstagram. He jokingly captioned it, “and my teachers told me I would never be prom king … "
October 5, 2021: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt get engaged
Serena Pitt Instagram
During the season 7 finale, Amabile and Pittgot engaged, along with two other couples.
The newly-engaged couple celebrated the exciting news onInstagram, with Pitt sharing a sweet photo captioned: “And it’s only the beginning ❤️.”
October 6, 2021: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt say they aren’t rushing their wedding
The day after their engagement aired, Amabile and Pitt spoke to theBachelor Happy Hourpodcastabout their wedding plans and shared that they were taking things slow.
“We’re not rushing down the aisle. But we definitely feel confident in the fact that we want to be together,” Pitt said. “It’ll be nice to just take a breath, date, live together, and then marriage will come down the line.”
October 7, 2021: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt talk about their proposal
In an interview withPEOPLE, Amabile said he never doubted proposing to Pitt, even when his ex-girlfriendKendall Longshowed up right before he got down on one knee. “No, it never made me question the proposal at all. I was really only focused on Serena and the ring in my back pocket,” he said. “So when Kendall came down, it was unfortunate timing. It was a quick conversation, and I wish her the best. But I was just ready to see Serena and do the damn thing.”
Pitt explained that her only priority was Amabile, saying, “He seemed completely steady about the whole thing, so I was like, ‘Okay, you know what? It happened, let’s move forward and keep this day about us as much as possible.’ "
October 15, 2021: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt open up about their long-distance relationship
After filming ended, the couple had to navigate their new relationship from afar as Amabile was living in Chicago at the time and Pitt was in Toronto. On Amabile’s podcast,Click Bait with Bachelor Nation, the couple opened up about having to adjust to long-distance.
“We met and then we were never separated from each other. We had never had time apart. We were together morning to night, all day, every single day for a full month straight,” Pitt said. “Then we got engaged and spent a couple days together in Mexico. Then we were together for 10 days nonstop because we couldn’t go anywhere.”
Things changed when Pitt went home to Canada. She said that the weeks she spent there felt “really long,” but the couple were eventually able to adapt to the distance and see each other every other week.
October 30, 2021: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt revive their prom outfits
November 25, 2021: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt share their holiday plans
The couple spent their first holiday season together in 2021. In an interview withBachelorNation, Pitt said that the two were spending Thanksgiving with Amabile’s family in Chicago and Christmas with her family in Victoria, Canada.
When asked what their plans included, Amabile said, “Eating, drinking, and shopping together!”
December 1, 2021: Serena Pitt opens up about the challenges of a long-distance relationship
Amabile and Pitt were still living separately in two different countries in December 2021 when she spoke onBachelor Happy Hourabout how their long-distance relationship was progressing.
“Long distance can be weird because sometimes it feels like you’re living your individual lives then you get to spend time together, but eventually have to go back to your individual lives,” Pitt said. “So I feel like we’re just trying to get to the point where it feels like we’re doing life together the majority of the time.”
December 8, 2021: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt attend the People’s Choice Awards
Rich Polk/E! Entertainment/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
The duo made a red carpet appearance at the 2021People’s Choice Awards. They each shared pictures from the night on Instagram, withPitt captioning a photoof the two, “walking the walk,” andAmabile writing, “all dressed up.”
January 2022: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt celebrate New Year’s Eve together
Joe Amabile Instagram
On New Year’s Eve, Pitt posted avideo montageof photos from the year. “2021 has brought more unexpected surprises than I ever could’ve [imagined] but it has truly changed my life for the better! Cheers to 2022 🥂,” she wrote.
February 14, 2022: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt celebrate Valentine’s Day
In an interview withBachelorNation, Amabile and Pitt shared that they both enjoy cooking for each other. Amabile added that his Valentine’s Day plans included making Pitt some pasta with his own sauce,Sundays with Joe.
On the day of love, Pitt shared a throwback photo of Amabile onInstagram, captioned, “Happy Valentine’s Day 🤍 This is the first photo I ever took of @joeamabile1 and still one of my favorites.”
Amabileposted a photoof the couple snuggling on the couch with wine, writing, “We stayed in 🍷.”
March 2022: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt move in together
In March 2022, Amabile shared that he and Pitt would be moving in together on his podcast,Click Bait. “I can’t wait to move in with Serena so we just have one place because going back and forth between our two places has been pretty rough,” Amabile said.
He added, “We are moving to New York. My business is still in Chicago, so I’ll be back and forth, but we’re moving to New York.”
April 8, 2022: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt play matchmaker for friends
The following month, Amabile revealed onClick Baitthat he and Pitt had set up anotherBachelorcouple,Anna RedmanandChris Bukowski.
“Serena is friends with Anna and they were on the phone and Anna mentioned that she was sick of being single,” Amabile explained. “Don’t quote me on this, but I think that’s how it went.”
He went on, “Then that night, I met up with a few people to watch a game and Chris was there. He was telling me that he was also sick of being single. I was like, ‘Well, I actually know someone who’s also sick of being single.’ It went like that, so I told him to text her. I texted Serena and told her that Chris was into Anna and that was it.”
April 12, 2022: Serena Pitt celebrates Joe Amabile’s birthday
In honor of Amabile’s 36th birthday, Pitt penned a sweet birthday tribute to her fiancé onInstagramalongside two black-and-white shots of them kissing. Her caption read as a suggestion from her fiancé: " ‘Make the caption Happy Birthday to the greatest, most amazing, most charming, cute, funny, handsome, legit the best fiancé ever! My one and ONLY! He’s just so great!’ - Joe.”
May 18, 2022: Serena Pitt says it’s time to start planning her wedding to Joe Amabile
Pitt toldLife & Stylein May that she and Amabile hadn’t begun planning their wedding yet, but that they were thinking of a date. She said, “I should probably start planning it! I think somewhere between next spring and next fall we’re gonna be having our wedding.”
May 22, 2022: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt travel to Spain
Pitt and Amabile packed on the romance with a May 2022 trip to Spain. They each shared photos from Madrid and Mallorca, with Pitt captioninga beach day photo, “Best day with you 🤍.”
August 25, 2022: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt have their engagement party
Brandon Taylor Photographer
Nearly one year after their on-screen proposal aired, Amabile and Pittcelebrated their engagementproperly with an “elevated boho” engagement party in Toronto.
“I think my parents originally brought the idea to us for an engagement party, just because we obviously had an unconventional engagement,” Pitt told PEOPLE exclusively. “We got engaged and it was a secret for a period of time. So this was a nice idea to bring some of our family and close friends together to celebrate a whole year later.”
Amabile added, “It all happened so fast, but now we’re a year down the road and we’ve realized our parents never even met in person yet.”
Plenty ofBachelorNation alums were in attendance as well as the couple’s close friends and family.
October 27, 2022: Joe Amabile and Serena Pittget married
“We still plan on having a big wedding next fall that we are already planning, but with everything being so public in our relationship, having a private moment just the two of us felt so special and intimate,” they added. “Natasha Parkerwas our witness, someone that has seen our relationship from the very beginning.”
“We can’t wait to celebrate with all of our family and friends next year at our wedding,” they continued, “because who doesn’t want to marry the love of their life twice?”
The couple shared more about their wedding day on theClick Bait with Bachelor Nationpodcast.
“I just figured you sit down, you sign some papers, and they’re like, ‘You’re married!'” Pitt recalled. “But you go into this room and it’s the two of us, and [our witness] Natasha [Parker], and this woman. And she’s like, ‘Face each other, look into each other’s eyes, hold hands,’ and I got so emotional. It made it really real, [but] not in a bad way. I was crying the whole time.”
Amabile added: “It has taken a lot of pressure off of the wedding itself. I already feel like the pressure is gone.”
They also filmed a Q&A session on YouTube, where they answered fan questions about the wedding andaddressed pregnancy rumors. “‘Are you pregnant?’ I’m not,” Amabile said jokingly. Pitt added, “I’m not either.”
February 7, 2023: Serena Pitt cancels Valentine’s Day plans with Joe Amabile after realizing she “double-booked” herself
With a double date planned for Feb. 14, the couple decided to have a romantic one-on-one dinner at The Waverly Inn the day prior — until Pitt realized she’d “double-booked” herself that evening.
“I forgot that I alreadycommitted to going to a fashion event,” she told PEOPLE. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Joe, I’m so sorry.’ "
Amabile canceled the dinner reservation, and the couple agreed that they didn’t need two Valentine’s Days.
September 2, 2023: Serena Pitt and Joe Amabile get married a second time
Olivia Leigh Photographie
“This time around it feels like the start of an exciting new chapter and we are looking forward to continuing doing life together,” Amabile told PEOPLE. Pitt added: “It truly [was] such a magical day.”
source: people.com
