Wedding bells will sonn be ringing for The Real host Adrienne Bailon and her fiancé Israel Houghton and she’s happily counting down the days until they say “I do.”
For those who have never walked the aisle or jumped the broom, you should know that planning a wedding requires a lot more than popping champagne bottles and donning a big pretty dress. There’s major preparation involved. There are event halls to be booked, bridal showers to plan and and in-laws to consult. It’s not easy – but Bailon says she doesn’t mind because, for her, everything has been “so much fun.”
“I think everybody keeps making fun of me ’cause they’re like, ‘Aren’t you stressed?’ And I’m like ‘This is not stressful to me at all,’ but I’m also someone who loves to party plan,” Bailon tells ESSENCE. “The hardest thing would probably be the anticipation. There’s so much “Oh-my-God” [going on] like doing countdowns and that sort of thing…waiting for it to happen is the hardest part.”
But just because she has some lingering pre-wedding butterflies, that doesn’t mean she’s not keeping herself busy with traditional bridal duties, like doing everything she can to fit into her wedding gown. So far, the former Cheetah Girl has lost 15 pounds to celebrate her nupitals, and it doesn’t look like the wedding is the only thing she’s planning for.
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“Carbs are not my friend,” Bailon says as she laughs about how much she loves them. “I had to come to that realization because I used to call myself a carboholic, proudly. Then I realized carbs just turned into sugar in your body, and I have a mom and grandma that are diabetic and my health is more important than anything. So laying off the carbs has definitely made a huge difference. No more bagels for breakfast, no more French toast, no more sandwiches for lunch (laughs) and eating the whole breadbasket for dinner. And not drinking as much either. I actually haven’t been drinking at all. Cutting back on that is also helpful.”
While roaming around on a press tour bus with her hubby-to-be by her side, Adrienne shares why she’s in love with their love.
“We are my favorite couple ever, but I guess that’s how everyone feels,” says Bailon. “We watch…old school movies. We love working out. We love going to Soul Cycle, and oh my God, this might sound really weird, but we love to color in coloring books. They have adult coloring books you can get at Urban Outfitters. There’s a Vogue one, there’s a Paris, France one – so, we color. And the craziest part is he’s better than me, so I get very competitive. I have to step up my coloring skills.”
When the lovebirds aren’t competing against each other in coloring contests, the two are indulging in marriage counseling and a good read. “We read out loud to each other. We read LA Reid’s entire book [Sing to Me: My Story of Making Music, Finding Magic, and Searching for Who’s Next] out loud to each other. We love reading and finishing books together.”
