Heavy/Getty Hayley Erbert and Derk Hough.
Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert gave an update on their upcoming wedding and they also dished on a major rule they have regarding the guest list.
The “Dancing With the Stars” couple got engaged in May 2022 after seven years of dating, and they’ve been in planning mode for months. And while they may not have agreed on every single thing in their planning process, they are completely in sync when it comes to curating their guest list. In fact, they have a rule they plan to stick by.
“A rule that we’ve set is that we don’t want to catch up with people on the day of the wedding,” Erbert told Brides in a May 2023 cover story. “We’re inviting people that maybe we haven’t seen in a while, but every time we get together with them, it’s like we pick up right where we left off, or they’re people that have been consistently in our lives throughout the years. We’re not going to catch up with people, we’re just gonna have a blast with people.”
Derek Hough Previously Teased How Many People Would Be Invited to the Wedding
GettyDerek Hough and Hayley Erbert.
Hough and Erbert talked about their guest list early on. In a 2022 interview with Parade, the groom-to-be dished that about 160 people will be invited to the wedding. “About 155 of them are all my nieces and nephews,” he joked of his large family. The six-time mirrorball champion also made no secret of his desire to cut down the guest list due to cost.
During a September 2022 appearance on “Live With Kelly and Ryan,” Hough said he had no qualms about cutting out distant family members. “We’re looking at ‘Oh, this person, do we need that fifth cousin for $800 a plate’ or whatever it’s going to be, something crazy,” he said.
One person who definitely scored an invite is Hough’s best friend, Mark Ballas. “He’s my best man,” Hough told Us Weekly of the DWTS season 31 champ in early 2023.
Derek Hough & Hayley Erbert Dropped Other Details About Their Wedding
Elsewhere in the Brides interview, Hough and Erbert shared some new details on their three-day wedding event, the date of which is still under wraps. One thing they don’t want is a stuffy wedding. “We’re fun!” Hough said. “What we gravitate towards isn’t always the most lavish option.”
He added that he wants corn dogs on the menu for the rehearsal dinner and is toying with the idea of a macaroni and cheese bar.
“We’re playing with different approaches to certain things so that the day still feels elegant and beautiful and magical, but grounded and down to earth and just approachable,” he said “We want the entire day to be a blast.”
On the bigger scale, Hough revealed he hopes to have fireworks at the wedding venue. And while he has already shut down the idea of him and his bride performing an elaborate first dance for the crowd, he previously told People magazine that he has also lined up some celeb friends to perform. “It’s going to be a full-on festival,” he teased.
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