Jersey Girl Theresa Weds 'Golden Bachelor' Gerry In Major TV Event

SHREWSBURY, NJ — Fate surely took a hand in the marriage of "The Golden Bachelor" couple Theresa Nist and Gerry Turner, wed in an exquisite ceremony in Palm Springs, Calif., during a Thursday night broadcast.

The couple met on the "Bachelor" spinoff that was the first to celebrate "mature love," as the show called it.

Turner and Nist - who comes from Shrewsbury - are both in their early 70s. Both had spouses they lost to illness.

And both were among the 30,000 people who applied to be featured on "The Golden Bachelor," produced by the Disney Company and shown on the ABC network. The popular show's finale (you can read about it here) had more than 6 million viewers according to Nielsen.

Now, as Nist said, the wedding meant she and Turner could finally "go home to each other."

When the show was first aired in late September, Turner, a retired restaurant owner, was faced with the daunting - but often pleasurable - task of getting to know the 22 women who were contestants for his affection.

Nist, a financial services professional, stood out from the beginning when she met him on her birthday, wearing, she said coyly, her "birthday suit." When she opened her wrap, she was actually wearing quite a tasteful chemise. But it was a fun, memorable moment for Turner.

From that quirky beginning and through many episodes that included a date at a diner, a summertime visit to her Jersey Shore home with scenes from Red Bank and Seaside Heights, and a Costa Rica "fantasy" date, Nist and Turner grew closer and closer.

So close, that Nist not only received the final, golden rose from Turner, but he proposed to her.

And that all led up to quite a magical wedding ceremony and party the whole country was invited to on Thursday night.

It was also a reunion of many of "The Golden Bachelor" castmates.

Kathy Swartz, who was frank about being rubbed the wrong way by Nist's glowing reports about her date with Turner, put all that behind her when she joined the wedding show as a host for the evening. And, of course, Jesse Palmer, who shepherded the show for months, was there to weave the story line.

During an earlier episode, Swartz had had a little tiff with Nist, asking her to "zip it" about her great time with Turner.

In one of the most sly moments of the show on Thursday, Nist, modeling a wedding gown for Swartz and the couple's families, innocently asked Swartz to "zip it" for her. Bygones were definitely bygones as everyone cracked up at the line.

The elegance and complexity of the wedding were a far cry, Nist said, from her own wedding to her late husband. He was being drafted to go to Vietnam and the two married in her parents' basement. But it was the start of more than 40 years of a fulfilling marriage.

"This wedding is a dream," Nist said, but she said she would be just as happy to marry Turner in a basement.

But this event was pure Hollywood: a bachelorette party with "boudoir photos" for the former contestants attending; a Chippendale-style performance by several guys for Nist and the girlfriends; a wedding dress with mermaid ruffles from designers Badgley Mischka; arbors of flowers; strains of classical music and picture-perfect weather - all at the La Quinta Resort and Club in Palm Springs. Stardust memories, for sure.

The wedding itself was personal and fun, officiated by another contestant, Susan Noles, licensed to perform weddings.

As the couple barely held back their tears, Nist joked that she "never thought she would be a 70-year-old bride." She told Turner, "I feel as if I've known you all my life."

Turner said he "couldn't have found a better person" than Theresa. She, he said, "has made me a better man."

And Noles, performing the ceremony, said their relationship has a depth she hasn't always witnessed in her role as officiant.

She told the couple: "You have given us all so much hope that it is never, ever too late to find love."