Mean Girls may have taught us to stop trying to make “fetch” happen, but star Jonathan Bennett has made “hitch” happen! The actor just married his longtime fiancé, Celebrity Page host Jaymes Vaughan on Saturday, March 19th at an intimate and inclusive ceremony in Mexico.
Speaking with PEOPLE, Jaymes said of the ceremony that took place at the Unico Riviera Maya Hotel, “When you’re part of the LGBTQ+ fam, not everything in the wedding space is for you yet. The whole purpose of our wedding is to come together and join the two of us together, join our families together and start a new family.”
“And all that, as we were going through this process, we realized that our wedding is also more than just about us,” Jonathan also told the outlet “It’s about the entire community.”
The couple tied the knot right on the beach, surrounded by close friends, including The Wonder Years star Danica McKeller, YouTube star Brian Tyler Cohen (who also served as officiant), and RuPaul Drag Race‘s Jackie Cox.
“I got to marry my best friend! I knew we’d be emotional but I don’t think either of us realized just how overwhelming that moment would be until we were in it,” Jaymes continued. “Seeing him crying only made me cry harder, and then our guests cry harder, and then we’d all start laughing, and then all back into crying.”
“It was honestly a dream wedding!,” Jonathan added. “We kept having to stop and remind ourselves that we weren’t on a movie set, but this was actually our real life. If you had told me this was one of my Hallmark movie sets, I would have believed it. It was that perfect.”
The happy couple, who first announced their engagement in November of 2020, didn’t have a smooth road to the altar. Speaking with The Knot in April 2021, they revealed they faced discrimination when searching for a wedding venue in Mexico.
“When we got engaged, the owner [of Palace Resorts in Mexico] said he couldn’t marry us because we’re two men and it goes against his morals,” Jonathan told the outlet for their cover story. “That was a sucker punch to the gut.”
“We decided in that moment that our wedding was bigger than us,” he continued. “It’s our wedding, but it isn’t just about us. It’s about the LGBTQ+ community. We’re really making a point to make this wedding very loud on purpose.”
That’s when they settled on the Unico Riviera Maya Hotel. “When we first started talking about having our wedding there, they were excited for us,” Jaymes said, “which is what everyone’s wedding is supposed to be.”
That interview in The Knot also made history as Jonathan and Jaymes became the first LGBTQ+ couple to grace the cover.
J+J also had a gender neutral theme for their wedding, encouraging guests to either wear black or white tuxes, regardless of gender identity.
“It’s gender-neutral but everyone looks represented and feels sexy in their own way,” Jonathan explained to PEOPLE. “So it’s like a new tradition for the community. You don’t have to do dresses and tuxes. Anyone who wants to wear a tux, wear a tux, go for it.”
They also exchanged custom-made Kay Jewelers rings, encrusted with diamonds, and the couple told the outlet that their ring design is actually now available to the general public for purchase from the retailer.
Congrats to the happy couple!
