Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young on Deciding to Film 'The Big I Do' Wedding Special (Exclusive)

By Stephanie Downs

In late October, Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young officially said "I do." Now, fans will get to see how their nuptials came together in the new HGTV special, Tarek & Heather: The Big I Do, which premieres on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. (The special will also be available to stream on discovery+). In advance of the premiere, both El Moussa and Young took time to chat with PopCulture.com about their decision to film The Big I Do and what they're most excited for fans to see. 

Earlier this year, PopCulture.com got to chat with Young and El Moussa about their wedding plans. At the time, they weren't sure that they wanted to have their wedding filmed. Of course, they later made the decision to have cameras around to capture their big day and fans will get to see the special event for themselves. While they did mull over the decision quite a bit, they both explained that they wanted to give back to the fans that were eagerly awaiting updates about their wedding festivities.

"Honestly, at first, we were adamant about not filming the wedding," El Moussa said. "And, of course, Heather and I were posting on social media. We're talking about the wedding. We're talking about the parties. And all of our friends, followers, and fans, they were all very, very curious. So we kind of felt like we owed it to our audience to share our special day with them. And that's the truth." Even though there were cameras around for everything leading up to their wedding, they made sure that their focus was squarely on their commitment and not the filming process.  

The Flipping 101 star said that it "was very important to us was to make sure it didn't feel like we were filming, which it didn't. So, it was a real organic wedding. Real tears, real emotion. We didn't even know the cameras were there." Young added, "The cameras were just following our journey. We weren't filming a show. They were following our real life, our real love story, and our real wedding. We're not fake, we're putting our love out there."

Now that they have filmed their wedding for The Big I Do, they're looking forward to showing the world some of the special moments from their nuptials. Both El Moussa and Young recalled some particular moments that they got to share with their family members that they'll remember forever. For the Selling Sunset star, she'll always treasure the moment that she shared with her father when he walked her down the aisle. 

Young said that she and her father got to "spend a little moment" with him beforehand and that they shared "laughs and hugs and anxiety and all the feelings." She continued to reflect on the moment, "We just stood there [at the top of the aisle] for a moment, took it all in. I got to look at Tarek and wave to him, blow him kisses. And then, my dad and I looked at each other and we said, 'OK, let's do this.'" Young also said that her and El Moussa's vows as well as the vows that they shared with the HGTV personality's two children, Taylor and Braydon, "were really special moments." As for El Moussa, he recalled how emotional he got when he walked his daughter down the aisle during the ceremony, saying, "I walked my mom down the aisle. Everything was fine. And I went around again to walk Taylor down the aisle. And the second I just got near her, I just started bawling. I just started crying. And that was a real special moment for me."

Young and El Moussa are overjoyed to get to share their big day with their fans, special moments and all. Mainly, they're just excited that viewers will get to see their love in action firsthand. "I'm most excited for them to see our real love. We've been together for two and a half years. We've been inseparable," El Moussa said. "Every now and then, we'll get some comments about how it's fake or it's not real or for [the] camera and we just laugh at that stuff. You can't deny chemistry. And I think anyone that watches that show is going to see the real chemistry we have between each other."

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