Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino and Fiancée Lauren Pesce Reveal Timeline to Start a Family

Jersey Shore’s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino delighted his fans on April 27 when he announced he and college sweetheart Lauren Pesce were engaged.

“GYM TAN WE’RE ENGAGED,” Sorrentino wrote in a photo of the two with Pesce wearing an engagement ring.

In a new interview with PEOPLE, the two revealed their timeline for the wedding and beyond.

“We’re definitely planning,” Pesce said. “We don’t have a date yet — I think we need to see how this timing pans out for the rest of the year. But we’ve been ready for this, so we’re definitely not looking for a long engagement.”

Sorrentino hinted the wedding could tie in to a second season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.

“I would have to say in the next couple of months, we’re planning to do the wedding along with season 2 — God willing,” he said.

As for where, the two are aiming for a destination wedding with a reception back in New Jersey.

“Mike and I have always, always wanted to do a destination wedding with our close family and friends,” Pesce said. “Our dream was always to go to the motherland and get married in Italy and have it be an experience with the people closest to us — our immediate family, his closest friends from the cast.”

“I think we’re going to try to do the best of both worlds and hopefully we’ll be able to do that with family and friends, and then we’ll be able to have a big reception and celebration in New Jersey — you know, Italian-American style, with the whole family and every acquaintance to celebrate,” she added.

But as for what comes afterward, the two indicated they both want plenty of kids as they each came from big families.

“We are hoping to probably get that going within the next year or so, hopefully,” Pesce said. “We are both one of four kids, so I think we definitely think the more the merrier, but it gets expensive!” she adds. “So we’ll have to see. Definitely more than one.”

“But one at a time, for sure,” Sorrentino interjected.

The reality star revealed on a recent episode of Family Vacation the two met in college more than 10 years ago after the original run of Jersey Shore, and have been together ever since.

“She was the only real relationship I ever had, and I kind of craved that substance of something real,” he said, revealing that she helped him through a relapse of his sobriety and remains sober as a show of solidarity.

“That really meant a lot to me,” he added. “At any particular time, she could have been like, I don’t need to stay here and help him fix himself, I’m gonna go and find somebody who’s already a finished product, so to speak.”