'Too Hot to Handle's Carly Lawrence Opens up About Her Intimate Wedding With 'Love Island's Bennett Sipes (Exclusive)
It was love at first quarantine for Carly Lawrence and Bennett Sipes. Lawrence, who starred on Netflix's Too Hot to Handle, and Sipes, who made a similar reality TV debut on Love Island, tied the knot in private this May after just a few months of dating, but Lawrence tells PopCulture.com that marriage was a no-brainer after their first date turned into much more.
After receiving a message from Sipes on Instagram, Lawrence invited him over to hang out, and they "never left each other." The Netflix star explained, "I got COVID the night he came over. So the next day I woke up and I tested positive. So we were stuck together for two weeks, and I guess that kind of played a role. And then we never left each other's side."
Marriage came up quickly in the relationship, especially with Lawrence being Canadian. "Well, we obviously talked about marriage as well, but with me being Canadian, it was hard for me to be in LA and be together," she told PopCulture. "So we were either going to move back to Canada or we wanted to stay in LA. So he was like, 'You know what, let's get married. Let's do this.'"
The two said 'I do' at True Love Wedding Chapel in Los Angeles in a "really simple" ceremony featuring their close friends and family, including both the bride and groom's mothers, who flew in with just a few days' notice to see their big day. "There wasn't anything extravagant in it really, other than, I guess, just having our family there," the newlywed shared of her wedding day. "But it was pretty simple and quiet, but it was nice."
A big celebration is "still to come," Lawrence told PopCulture, one that can include all of her loved ones, including her dad. "My best friend walked me down the aisle, but I still want my dad to walk me down the aisle, so I definitely want him there, and my brother," she shared, adding, "I guess for us, it was really like [our] LA wedding. I guess that's how I'd explain it. It was an LA wedding. It wasn't my home, Canada [with] my Canadian loves."
The couple isn't "super focused" on planning their big ceremony at the moment, but Lawrence says "down the line maybe a couple years" they'll start looking at planning something grand. Right now, the pair is concentrated on moving into their house and working – which for Lawrence means getting her perfume line off the ground. The reality personality is looking for the perfect "sexy sweet" scent, which she hopes will just be one of many successful business endeavors down the line.
"I want to be a businesswoman all the way," Lawrence said, noting she could "really care less about being famous or being in the spotlight." That doesn't mean she and Sipes would rule out a return to television – but this time together. "I would be down to be back on TV. It would be nice to have [Bennett] because I think before I didn't really have much support in the house," Lawrence told PopCulture. "Obviously, it was with strangers, but with someone that you're so close to, I think I would do it again."