Clare Crawley Reveals Why Her Mom Was Not Present at Her Wedding to Ryan Dawkins
The television personality got emotional while explaining that the pair initially planned for a summer wedding in Mexico before her mom began to get sick
Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images
Clare Crawley is getting candid about why her mother was not present at her Feb. 1 wedding to Ryan Dawkins.
During an appearance on the latest episode of iHeartRadio's Most Dramatic Podcast Ever With Chris Harrison, The Bachelorette alum, 42, explained that her mother was absent from the big day because she is in "the late stages of dementia" and ended up "getting really sick."
"Ryan, by nature, is an event planner, so he planned the whole wedding. I was kind of frozen with, what do we do? It was very last-minute stuff, and I was so worried about my mom," she said. "But he took the reins. He planned everything... We had a little ceremony. We had the best vows to each other, super personal. It was in the spot that we had our first kiss. It was just the greatest little spot."
The television personality got emotional while explaining that the pair initially planned for a summer wedding in Mexico before her mom began to get sick.
"I always wanted to get married on June 21. It's [the] summer solstice. I was like, 'What if she doesn't make it to June 21?' " she explained. "She ended up getting really sick [at the] end of January. And so I said, 'Let's have a mini little wedding because she won't be able to make it to Mexico anyway. A little mini wedding just for her. A special little one for us, for her.' We were almost going to stage this tiny little wedding for her to be there."
"Not even my sisters were coming. We wanted to make it tiny. Everybody [else] was going to come to the big wedding," she later continued. "But my mom ended up the day before getting really, really sick. She wasn't able to make it. She's okay still, but she was just really sick at the time and couldn't leave the nursing home."
Although Crawley's mom was not present during the ceremony, Crawley shared that the couple still included her during their special day by visiting her afterward. "We went to In-N-Out, got some burgers, and then went, in our outfits and everything, and saw my mom," she added.
Regardless of the circumstances — including having had her wedding dress stolen from her car only a few days prior to the ceremony — Crawley shared with PEOPLE that "she wouldn't change a thing" from her wedding day.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
"If I had to do this day over every single day for the rest of my life… I wouldn't change a thing!" she shared. "Happiest day of my life hands down!"
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
Solve the daily Crossword
