Renee Oteri appall Bachelor enthusiasts when she married some weeks after her heart-wrenching breakup with Juan Pablo Galavis aired. And Renee Oteri did not get married to just some guy she met and knew for a few weeks. She married her best buddy of 22 years Bracy Maynard!
Which led fans to wonder what their history with one another was…I mean why didn’t they get together before The Bachelor….
So that said, how for the love of God, did Renee Oteri meet husband Bracy Maynard?
The 32-year-old single mother from Seattle spoke to People magazine about her whirlwind romance and marriage.
Renee Oteri marries childhood sweetheart Bracy Maynard
Source: Instagram
Source: Instagram
A lot of people are curious about the time-frame of the Relationship-Romance. Although Renee’s break-up episode occurred a few weeks earlier, her actual romance post-JP was five months.
She told People this about the event:
“I’m still walking on air,”….. “It’s surreal. It may seem like it happened so fast, but for me, because I’ve known him my whole life, it’s not.”
But take heart, these two have known each other far longer than five months. They met 22 years ago in middle school students in North Carolina.
“He was my first crush, my first kiss, my first boyfriend,” Oteri says. “When I was 12-years-old, I wrote in my diary that I was going to marry Bracy Maynard. It’s insane!”
This may be better than any love story that ABC could produce.
But this relationship almost didn’t happen. Pay attention. You may need a flow chart to follow this situation.
After Oteri moved away in high school, the stayed in touch, writing letters (so old-school!), then reconnecting over MySpace (so 2004) when both were in college.
Source: Instagram
But Renee was married to another man and she had a son Ben. The marriage ended in 2008 when Ben was 3, and she began a long distance relationship with Maynard.
“It was tough,” Oteri claims. “I think I went broke trying to keep the relationship up! It ended after two years because it had to. We weren’t mad at each other, it was just sad.”
Then in 2013, after a different breakup, Oteri applied for The Bachelor.
“I wanted to get married, have a family. I went there with a clean slate.”
NOW, to ‘the situation’...
After Juan Pablo sent her home in late October 2013, ex-boyfriend Bracy reached out to her.
“He had this epiphany,” Oteri says. “He said, ‘I’m ready now, I want this to work.’ I came to visit him and it was like we never broke up. It was better than it ever was.”
So Maynard was then offered a job in Seattle, and he begged his new ‘situation’ Oteri and her son Ben to come with him, proposing on Feb. 24.
The pair were eager to make it ‘official’ and went to the courthouse to seal the deal on March 20, bailing on the usual pomp and circumstance.
“It was romantic, and it was us,” says Oteri. “We didn’t want a big wedding or a big production. It was more important that Bracy, Ben and I were there. I called the courthouse on a Tuesday and we were married on Thursday!”
Source: Instagram
Renee wore a vintage, ’70s ivory lace dress for the nuptials that she bought for $50. And the tearful vows were witnessed by two people – drumroll please…..her cousin and friend Desiree Hartsock!
“It was the best day,” says Oteri. “Looking back at the photos, I say, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen a smile on my face like that before.’ ”
“I love everything about Bracy,” says Oteri. “This is everything I’ve ever wanted in my life since I was a little girl. It’s definitely my fairy tale ending.”
Congratulations Renee! We are so glad this ‘situation’ worked out.
Featured photo source: Instagram
