Congrats are in order for Don Lemon and his husband Tim Malone as the former longtime CNN anchor ties the knot with his longtime partner in a beautiful New York City wedding! The ceremony took place at a Manhattan church on Saturday, April 6 — the same day as Malone’s 40th birthday. Lemon said, “I wanted to get married in the church. So Tim made that happen.”
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Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE just days before their wedding, the grooms talked about their upcoming bid day. Lemon — who hosts his own streaming program ‘The Don Lemon Show’ — said he’s usually a “last-minute person,” but things were a little different for his wedding day.
The 58-year-old host said, “I’m a last-minute person and most things I just don’t worry about.” He added, “But this one I’m secretly worried about, but I’m letting Tim take the reins because he’s a good planner. I’ll be writing questions for like the U.N. Ambassador and he’ll be saying, ‘Oh, when are they going to put the buttons on our jackets?’ It’s an important question, but I’m just like, ‘Huh? What?’ So he has a million questions, but usually, he gets it done without me even answering.”
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The couple’s ceremony — which included about 140 guests — was held at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in midtown Manhattan and was officiated by the couple’s friend, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Speaking on their journey to the altar, which has been in the making for five years, Tim Malone said, “We wanted to make a public statement and we wanted to involve our loved ones. We obviously could have easily gone to City Hall. We could have used Covid as a perfect excuse to do something really quiet. But I think this is also a message. For I don’t know what percent of our guests, on both sides, but for a lot of them it’s going to be their first gay wedding.”
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When it came to preparing their vows, Don Lemon said, “I have not been nervous about anything except writing the vows. We are saying our own personal vows and then we’re doing the traditional wedding ceremony vows.”
Up until their wedding day in New York City, Don Lemon had different thoughts about marriage. He said, “I never thought that I would get married. I mean, maybe Tim’s generation, he’s 18 years younger than me. So for him maybe it was more of a possibility. The legal part of it is a big deal because I didn’t think it could happen. And for so many years of my growing up and hiding things, I never thought it could happen legally. But when you consider all the rights that people are trying to take away, I wanted to make sure that we get this done right.”
Lemon added that to the grooms, marriage means “a confirmation of our love and our commitment to each other. It’s also about celebrating our relationship, and our relationship with the people who are most important to us in our lives.”
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This is not how God planned things to work out. This is nothing to be proud about.