Lauren Pounds and Nate Ruggles didn’t pursue love in traditional fashion.
And now Lauren Pounds and Nate Ruggles are hoping to buck tradition.
The couple, who played a major role on The Ultimatum Season 1, are still very much together.
They survived the premise of this unusual reality show, which takes a boyfriend and girlfriend… places them in a living arrangement with a member of the opposite sex for three weeks… and then asks them to decide whether they want to get engaged, leave solo or pursue things with their aforementioned trial partner.
For Lauren and Nate?
This set-up resulted in an engagement — which the Netflix personalities very much plan on seeing through to the altar, despite how few reality TV tandems actually make it in the long run.
“You know that you’ve found the one when you walk through a dumpster fire together and come out stronger than before.” wrote Pounds on Instagram yesterday.
“The version of us that was shown on The Ultimatum won’t sit well with everyone, and we’re slowly learning to be okay with that”
She continued as follows, including with this message the photo below:
“We left early because we decided that the experience was toxic for us, so we got punished for going against the grain.
“Lesson learned! So, if anyone has a problem with us doing what was best for our relationship, please project your misery elsewhere, not on our pages.”
As for her upcoming wedding?
“After we left the show, Nathan hit up a diamond broker and had my ring made,” Lauren wrote.
“About 6 weeks later, he took me to Zilker park (here in Austin) and got down on one knee all over again. He knew, as well as I did, that our tv engagement was NOT cute and needed a do-over.
“In October, we went on a road trip through Colorado to find a wedding venue. We love the outdoors and have always wanted a mountain wedding.
“We landed on our perfect venue and will be getting married on October 1st, 2022.”
Pounds concluded her post with a note about having children, and also with a note of gratitude.
As far as our decision on kids, it needs to be understood that I never said that I didn’t want children, I said that I was on the fence about them.
We worked through our obstacle off camera, and our decision to have 1 child was come to with love and careful consideration, not force or sacrifice.
I just turned 30 and have always said that 33 sounds like a good age to become a mom, so we’re holding off a little longer.
We have been together for 3 1/2 amazing years, filled with so much adventure and laughter, and I can’t imagine doing life with anyone else. Thank you to everyone who has been so loving and supportive throughout our journey.
Let’s let the good outweigh the bad, love always conquers.
Pounds and Ruggles previously clashed over the possibility of starting a family, hence why they went on The Ultimatum in the first place.
Lauren couldn’t be happier with the decision they made to appear on this program, too.
“I’m thankful for it because I think at the end of the day, it made us realize how much we want each other and want to make things work,” she told The Today Show after the reunion episode aired.