The Bachelor alum Joey Graziadei has explained why he decided to propose marriage to Kelsey Anderson again.
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On The Bachelor's Season 28 finale that aired in March 2024, viewers watched Joey get down on one knee in Cabo San Lucas and pop the question to Kelsey.
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"We've grown so much since that moment," Joey, 31, told People of Kelsey, 28, at Dancing with the Stars Con 2026 in California.
So after being engaged for more than two years and truly getting to know one another, Joey said he felt the need to repropose to Kelsey.
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Joey therefore proposed marriage a second time -- with a brand new engagement ring -- in Mexico in May.
"It felt right to do something our way in a more intimate setting. [We] felt like [that's how] it should be, you know?" Joey shared.
Since Joey met Kelsey when his The Bachelor season filmed in late 2023, Joey acknowledged how that's the "usual time someone dates before they get engaged."
But Joey clarified, "We said that when we announced it, it didn't demean anything we did on the show. It was just a reconfirmation of how we feel about each other."
Joey called the couple's second engagement "a promise to one another."
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"There's still so much meaning for the first engagement, but this new one, too, was really special," Joey noted.
"[It was] something that was different and something that was really just for us."
The Dancing with the Stars champion opened up about his second marriage proposal via Instagram in May.
"SHE SAID YES (again). Proposing again meant taking something that was already extraordinary and making it fully our own," Joey wrote at the time.
"It means the world to be able to reaffirm our promise and love to one another just the two of us. Forever isn't enough with you. I cannot wait to make you my wife."
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Joey and Kelsey celebrated their second engagement with a big party Joey had planned for their family and friends in Los Angeles, CA, in June. Joey also secretly booked Kelsey an appointment to try on wedding dresses.
"[Joey] coordinated with one of my friends to set up a dress appointment at LOHO Bride so my sister and closest friends could be there for the experience," Kelsey previously told the magazine.
"Being able to share that moment with some of my favorite people meant so much to me, and I'd say it's up there on the list for one of the most thoughtful things Joey has done for me. It made an already unforgettable time in our lives even more special."
Now that Joey and Kelsey are deep into planning for their Spring 2027 wedding, Joey gushed about how it's been a "fun" experience thus far.
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"Wedding planning is obviously something new. I'm trying to take the backseat and let Kelsey have as much control as she wants. But surprisingly, I've been involved a lot, too," Joey told People at the DWTS convention.
Joey confirmed that the pair chose Kelsey's native Louisiana as the place they'll exchange vows, and he said they picked out a wedding venue that they "love."
"Now, we're just picturing what it's like to have all these people that are so important in our lives come together and celebrate us and what we've built together," Joey said.
"I'm just really excited for that moment to get here. I can't wait to marry her. It'll be here before we know it."
Kelsey boasted in January on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast how Joey was being so helpful through each wedding planning stage.
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"Joey has booked all of our tours! He has been coordinating with our wedding planner because I've been so stressed out," The Bachelor 28 winner admitted at the time.
"It's overwhelming and so I completely shut down! I think it's an ADHD trait. So Joey has been helping so much with planning all that. I know once we get the wedding-planning venue locked in... [then] we can worry about the little details."
When asked if she's going to have bridesmaids, Kelsey replied, "Yes, but I don't know if they're going to stand up [at the altar] with us. I feel like if we have 50 bridesmaids and groomsmen, it's just going to look crazy when we're standing up there!"
In terms of their wedding vows, Kelsey said she and Joey will write their own personal vows and recite them in front of their guests.
And as far as her "non-negotiables" for the wedding go, Kelsey shared, "I definitely want to have an oyster bar and a sushi bar. I think we both want that really bad."
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But Kelsey continued, "I just want it to really incorporate each other and be sentimental. I am such a sentimental person. So I just want it to feel like Joey and I... It's a celebration of our love."
Kelsey said she's going to be a "chill" bride when her big day comes, totally unaffected by things potentially going wrong.
Joey and his pro partner Jenna Johnson won Dancing with the Stars' 33rd season in late 2024, not long after his engagement aired on The Bachelor on ABC.
Jenna therefore said she'll be choreographing Joey and Jenna's first dance as husband and wife.
In September 2025, Joey and Kelsey confirmed to People that they won't be televising their wedding, although Joey clarified that they have "nothing against" the Bachelor Nation couples who have.
Joey noted how he and his fiancee would like their wedding to be an "intimate" affair.
Kelsey elaborated at the time, "This will be for us. We'll show little glimpses for sure through social media and everything, so people [will feel] like they're a part of it, but I think that we just want it to be for us."
Kelsey also told Sports Illustrated Swimsuit in May 2025 that she wants her wedding to be "timeless."
ABC announced in April The Bachelor's 30th season and Bachelor in Paradise's eleventh season will both return in 2027.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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