What Joanna And Chip Gaines' Wedding Was Really Like

Superstar home renovation show duo Chip and Joanna Gaines put the 'ship in shiplap. The couple has built an empire that includes the HGTV series "Fixer Upper," the Hearth & Hand collection for Target, multiple bestselling books, shops, and the Magnolia Network. 

Joanna, a designer with a knack for creating "farmhouse chic" spaces, and Chip, a skilled contractor, have transformed countless homes in their hometown of Waco, Texas. Viewers have been charmed by their aesthetic, which features bright interiors, barn-inspired features, and plenty of shiplap. But the Gaineses' long-lasting love story may very well be the biggest reason why audiences across the nation remain loyal fans. Watch any episode or find any picture of the two and it's easy to see why — from their witty banter to the way they look at each other — the two really are meant to be.

While the couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in May of 2023, their fairytale romance first began in 2001. After two years of dating, the future celebrities got married on May 31, 2003, in a ceremony that was just as charming as their on-screen home transformations. Everything that happened on that special day marked the start of not only their love, but a partnership that would redefine the landscape of home renovation.

According to Joanna Gaines, her engagement came entirely as a surprise. As she recounted in "The Magnolia Story," Chip Gaines had originally invited her to go to a private concert in Archer City, Texas. However, instead of going to the venue, Chip detoured into a small shopping center. After parking behind one of the shops and getting out, Chip was on one knee in front of her. "I was in total shock — even more so than I was on my dad's driveway basketball court when Chip first said, 'I love you,'" Joanna wrote. 

Although Chip didn't have a ring in his hand, he did have another surprise: the opportunity for Joanna to design her own at a jewelry store. With help from Chip's mom, Joanna was able to create something truly special. She eventually decided on a classic round-shaped diamond and a band with a vintage look. 

Twelve years later, the jeweler — who happened to be a family friend — offered to upgrade the engagement ring per Chip's request. However, Joanna turned down the offer, stating that the original diamond was more than enough. "I felt bad that Billy wasn't going to make the big sale he was hoping for that day, but I don't want to ever replace that diamond or that ring," she wrote. "To me, my ring is part of our story." As far as she's concerned, the ring she designed the night of her engagement is the right ring.

Chip and Joanna Gaines got married at the Earle-Harrison House, a historic mansion and arboretum in Waco, Texas. Of course, "Fixer Upper" fans know Waco as the backdrop of the Gaineses' TV shows, but it also happens to be where the relationship began. 

Both Chip and Joanna attended Baylor University, which is located in Waco, but they never crossed paths at the school. Their love story wouldn't officially start until Chip brought his car to a Waco tire shop owned by Joanna's father. "Her dad made the mistake of putting a pic of the family behind the counter at his [automotive] shop," Chip recalled to PopSugar. "I knew I'd marry her one day just by the picture on the wall." He'd have to make a few more visits to the shop before he finally had a chance to meet Joanna.

Nowadays, Chip and Joanna own their own properties in Waco that have become wedding venues. As blogger Rachel Teodoro shared, when one couple tied the knot at Magnolia Market at the Silos, Chip and Joanna even surprised them with a generous gift card that could be used at their stores. Talk about a full-circle moment for Mr. and Mrs. Gaines.

When their wedding reception finally wound down, Joanna Gaines was thrilled. Now, that's not to say she didn't enjoy the big day, but she was eager to finally try the food that'd been served at the event. As many brides and grooms know, it can be tough to find time during the reception to actually sit down and eat a meal. "I just remember, when we got there, I saw how good the food looked and I asked my mom, 'No matter what, will you just put some food in a container and put it in the car?'" she shared with People. 

As the reception went on, Joanna continued to look forward to the moment she would get to unwind with Chip Gaines and dig into the food. When the moment finally arrived, it did not disappoint. After the couple said their final goodbyes, the limo door closed behind them and the real party began. "It will always be my favorite memory — when that limo door shut and we just ate like kids with our hands," she dished. "It was Beef Wellington, mashed potatoes and two different kinds of cake." Talk about ending an already magical day on a high note. 

One of the many elements that made the Earle-Harrison House the perfect wedding venue was the bounty of beautiful white roses in the estate's gardens. As Joanna Gaines noted in "The Magnolia Story," just about every part of the venue was covered in flowers, including grand arbors that they pictured their guests walking under on the big day.

Joanna and Chip Gaines figured there was no need to shell out an exorbitant amount of money on flowers, given the property's lush gardens and foliage. However, fate had another plan for the bride and groom. Right before the wedding, the roses had been pruned. Rather than accept the new rose-less backdrop, Joanna knew it was time to get creative (and ask her parents for extra cash). "We bought hundreds of white roses and stuck them in bunches all over the arbors and barren bushes, doing our best to fill in a million holes and make it look like the real roses were there," she wrote.

It all worked out, and though she didn't get the flourishing rosebushes she thought she would that day, it was more than good enough for Joanna. 

Chip and Joanna Gaines' wedding had a special furry friend in attendance: Chip's dog, Shiner. As Joanna shared in "The Magnolia Story," Shiner was an important part of Chip's life, and it was pretty much a given that he'd be a part of the festivities. This was one of several nontraditional elements that made the day all the more special. Joanna joked, "Shiner would've been Chip's best man if he could have stood at the end of that aisle and held those rings." Even though Shiner didn't end up being the ring bearer or get a chance to give a heartfelt toast at the reception, he still had a VIP-worthy seat under a tree during the ceremony. 

Chip and Joanna would go on to adopt two more rescue dogs, Maggie and Blue, to join Shiner and grow their family. Even after having children, the couple never stopped including more animals in their pack — in addition to all the farm animals — including two English Mastiffs and a cat.

While Chip and Joanna Gaines were, as Chip put it in "The Magnolia Story," "literally from different universes," their wedding day was full of "funny coincidences."

For starters, both Chip and Joanna invited immediate family members to be important members of their wedding party: Joanna's sisters were her maid and matron of honor, while Chip's dad took on the role of best man. There was also a set of twins in the bridal party and a set of twins among the groomsmen. Reflecting on the "funny coincidences" that popped during their wedding, Chip wrote in "The Magnolia Story," "Jo had twins in her wedding party, and I had twins in mine. I mean, what are the chances of that?" What's more, they got to witness their nearest and dearest connect at the event, which was the cherry on top of the magical day. "The fact that our friends got along so well and that we both put our family first were just more signs to me that Chip and I weren't all that different where it counted," Joanna wrote. 

Jessica Thompson, one of the twins in the wedding, would later play another big role in Chip and Joanna's lives. After opening the first ever Magnolia shop, Joanna recalled in "The Magnolia Story," she became overwhelmed trying to run a small business while also tending to a newborn son. Luckily, Jessica was available to help at the register and take some work off of Joanna's plate.

Chip and Joanna Gaines weren't the only destined couple at their wedding. Joanna wrote in "The Magnolia Story" that there seemed to be a "ripple effect" with Joanna's younger sister, Mary Kay "Mikey" McCall, who was her maid of honor. She ended up bringing her future husband, David McCall, as her wedding date. As far as Joanna's concerned, fate ensured the new couple caught the bouquet and garter at the reception. 

Joanna Gaines is the middle child of three daughters. As the TV star recalled in "The Magnolia Story," when Chip asked her out for the first time, she wasted no time in telling her siblings. However, she couldn't quite tell her sisters what he looked like because his face happened to be obscured by the hat he was wearing when they met. 

To this day, Joanna is close with her two sisters, and she's even worked with one on a few cool projects. Joanna and younger sister Mikey teamed up to launch Ferny's, a retro-inspired plant shop in Waco, Texas, as part of the Magnolia Market. In 2022, the sister duo premiered "The Retro Plant Shop with Mikey and Jo," a show all about McCall's business journey and love for vintage plants, on Magnolia Network.

When planning her dream wedding, Joanna Gaines didn't spend much time on her own attire. While many brides-to-be revel in the idea of going wedding dress shopping at a fancy boutique and trying on countless designer dresses, it was a different story for the future "Fixer Upper" star. As she recalled in "The Magnolia Story," "I went out shopping with my mom and found one off the rack for around five hundred dollars. Just a simple, white Cinderella-looking dress with a lace-up back—narrow at the waist and then flowing out through the skirt." It was just right for the occasion.

Chip Gaines had the same mindset as his fiancée, choosing to rent his tuxedo along with his groomsmen. As far as Chip and Joanna were concerned, their dream wedding did not have to be some over-the-top extravaganza, and they managed not to stress about living up to others' expectations. Joanna and Chip were only focused on their own happiness during wedding planning. As she says in "The Magnolia Story," Joanna chose to stick with her theme of a "classic, timeless look," which meant elegant black-and-white attire with red roses for the bridal party. Joanna knew that having white roses in the bushes at her wedding venue would complete her vision of sophisticated refinement.

As Joanna Gaines shared in "The Magnolia Story," her parents pitched in big time when she was ready to get hitched. "[T]hey'd said they were going to give us a certain amount of money as an up-front wedding gift," Joanna wrote of her mom and dad. "We could use that money for whatever we wanted — to throw a nicer wedding than we could afford on our own ... or to throw a simple wedding and use that money on a down payment for a home or a honeymoon or whatever we chose." Ultimately, the couple figured shelling out for a wedding was the way to go. What's more, Chip's parents also gave them a generous amount of money that they would spend on their honeymoon. 

In "The Magnolia Story," Joanna noted that her parents have always been supportive, and on top of that, have taught her "to use caution." Chip's parents, on the other hand, had a more relaxed approach to life. "They wouldn't even think about locking the doors," Chip wrote, adding that he regularly left his keys in his parked car. But thanks to their different upbringings, Chip and Joanna have learned a lot from one another over the years. "I would say, as we're getting older, I'm shifting and I'm more like Chip, and Chip is more like me," Joanna told People in 2023. Hopefully, she hasn't started leaving her keys in her car.

Many of the elements in Chip and Joanna Gaines' wedding seemed to be straight out of a fairytale. The dreamlike ceremony began with Joanna and her father's arrival, a vision straight from a storybook romance, as they arrived at the Earle-Harrison House in a horse-drawn carriage, a symbol of elegance. A trumpeter even played them in as if the bride was real-life royalty.

The ceremony itself became a symphony of love as the couple was serenaded by a duo who was backed by a string quartet. Joanna wore a tiara on top of the veil, elevating her bridal attire to that of a true princess. When taking wedding photos, the couple posed for a shot sitting in a similar white carriage, but this time a "Just Married" sign hung off of the back.

But the fairytale ending did not stop there. In a 2023 "Today" interview, the superstar couple chatted with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager about how much their lives have changed over the last two decades. In addition to being all the more in love and getting to watch their family grow, Chip and Joanna have seen their small-town business blossom into a juggernaut. "The idea that was in our hearts as a dream was just a small shop, doing some renovations in town," Joanna said. Five kids and a design empire later, and the couple sure seems to be enjoying their happily ever after. 

Once the wedding was over, Chip and Joanna Gaines embarked on a romantic honeymoon that started in New York City. In "The Magnolia Story," Joanna shared that she'd fallen in love with the vibrant metropolis while interning at CBS, noting that she always cherished the days she had a chance to explore the Big Apple. 

As Joanna recalled in "The Magnolia Story," she and her new husband "acted like rich kids" for two days at the Drake Hotel in Midtown. Once their stint at the historic hotel was up, their trip was far from over. The pair spent about two weeks driving around Upstate New York without any concrete plans. This led them to the enchanting Mohonk Mountain House in the Hudson Valley. To their surprise, the people at the front desk gave the honeymooners the penthouse suite at no extra charge.

From there, the couple continued driving through New England. Joanna remembered in "The Magnolia Story" that they took as many backroads as possible, choosing to stop at any place that looked old, vintage, or family-owned, which both of them loved. Joanna told People in 2018 that it was their favorite trip ever.