Photo: chris J. Evans/@chrisjevansphoto
Lesley Murphy’s wedding celebrations have officially begun!
TheBacheloralum, 35, and her fiancé Alex Kavanagh, 35, kicked off their destination wedding weekend at theRitz-Carlton Maui, Kapaluaon Oct. 13th with a luau welcome party.
“It just kind of grew into this big celebration of a rehearsal dinner,” Murphy tells PEOPLE. “We wanted to have everyone there as a thank you for coming so far for our wedding.”
Murphy and Australian-born Kavanagh will exchange vows on Oct. 14.
The welcome party took place on the oceanfront Casa Bella lawn, where beer and guava spritzers were served as a nod to the groom’s Australian heritage and love of beer.
chris J. Evans/@chrisjevansphoto
“I really wanted everybody to experience that sense of place: Hawaiian food, a luau, the culture,” says Murphy." It was perfect."
The couple, who are parents to20-month-old-daughterNora,got engagedin Feb. 2020 after a year of dating.
“It was such a special night on the beach during sunset. We met a couple of years ago through a drone, and being the exceptional drone pilot he is, I loved that he incorporated a drone in the most unique way during the proposal,” Murphy tells PEOPLE about Kavanagh, who is a professional drone pilot from Australia. “I can’t wait to marry this man! 202? is our year!”
Murphy and Kavanagh made their relationship public in January 2018 with a photo of them kissing while sitting on the edge of a cliff in Norway.
“Boy meets world — World, meet boy,” she captioned the stunning photo. “Thought it was about time to let y’all in on the newest addition to The Road Les Traveled! We’re 3 continents down together…with the next one being Alex’s home country soon.”
Murphy first appeared onSean Lowe’s season ofThe Bachelorin 2013. She was sent home the episode before hometown dates.
source: people.com
