When the clock hits midnight on New Year’s Eve, Luann de Lesseps will no longer be a Countess.
The RHONY star is set to marry her fiancé, Tom D’Agostino, on the last day of 2016 and, per royal tradition, the new marriage means she’ll have to give up her title.
Last season on RHONY, Tom and LuAnn were at the centre of a scandal when it was revealed both that Tom had previously dated Lu’s cast mates Sonja and Ramona (he says they were “just friends”) and that Tom cheated on LuAnn the night before the couple’s engagement party (at The Regency!! In front of everybody!!). Despite all that, LuAnn is charging ahead with the wedding.
Here’s everything we know about the soon-to-be ex-Countess D’Agostino’s wedding plans:
The wedding will take place in Palm Beach, Florida
The couple lives in New York City, but they’ve settled on a destination wedding in Palm Beach. About 250 of LuAnn and Tom’s friends are expected to make the trek to Florida for the wedding. The wedding will take place on New Year’s Eve, which happens to also be the day before Tom’s birthday.
It will be a classy affair – would the Countess have it any other way? – the dress code is strictly black tie.
Photo: Twitter
They already have their marriage license
Lu is prepared! Last week she tweeted a photo of her and Tom outside of a courthouse getting their marriage license. And, since we know you want to know – yes, both Lu and Tom will be signing a prenup.
This is LuAnn’s first walk down the aisle
LuAnn and the Count eloped shortly after they met and started dating, so she’s never had a really wedding. This time around, she’s revelling in the pomp and circumstance of wedding traditions.
“I’m excited to walk down the aisle,” LuAnn told People. “I’ve never done it – I eloped [before]. So I never have been married in a traditional way so I’m excited to be a bride. That’s why I’m wearing a veil.”
She plans to wear three (!) wedding dresses
LuAnn is really going all out. Plenty of brides buy a second dress to slip into after the ceremony, but LuAnn is planning a third outfit change as a nod to the the party’s secondary celebrations: Tom’s birthday and New Year’s Eve.
“I’ve got three things to celebrate: it’s our wedding, it’s [Tom]’s birthday and it’s New Year’s Eve,” she told People. “So I’m feeling like I’m gonna go very traditional bride, and then party dress for Tom, and then glitz and glamour for New Year’s Eve.”
Each of the dresses were designed by Randi Rahm, a personal friend of LuAnn’s. Explaining her choice to People, LuAnna said, “Randi and I have been friends for some time and I felt that she really gets me. We think alike and I trust her with taking my dreams to heart and creating the perfect wedding gown as well as my two other special dresses to celebrate Tom’s birthday and New Year’s Eve.”
Photo: Instagram
According to Rahm, the main wedding dress will be “bride appropriate.”
“She’s a very elegant dresser. Her look is very stately, elegant, sensual. It’s going to be age-appropriate, body-appropriate for the occasion,” Rahm said. “And then she’s go into something very ‘happy birthday’ [for Tom], and of course [the third dress] is a very, very elegant New Year’s Eve dress. Very elegant.”
Photo: Instagram
“She keeps saying Tom’s her soulmate,” Rahm continued. “For her to say that is amazing because I’ve been around her for the past couple years and I’ve never seen her glow like this.
Photo: Instagram
Sonja and Dorinda co-hosted LuAnn’s bridal shower
It looks like Sonja and LuAnn have set aside their differences about Tom (like, whether or not Sonja dated him, for example…), because Sonja was the co-host of LuAnn’s bridal shower, along with fellow NY Housewife Dorinda.
The party was held in New York in September and was a Housewives-studded affair.
Photo: Instagram
In addition to LuAnn’s RHONY castmates, former NY Housewife Jill Zarin attended, as did RHOM star Marysol Patton.
However, there were a few current New York Housewives who did not attend…
Bethenny is definitely not invited…and neither are Ramona or Carole
Sonja and Lu may have made nice, but she and Dorinda are the only New York Housewives on the guest list for the wedding. Bethenny certainly isn’t invited: when asked about Bethenny, who revealed that Tom cheated to LuAnn, Lu told People,“It’s hard to invite people that tried to do you harm.”
Same goes for Carole and Ramona. “[They] don’t have my back,” LuAnn said.
