Don Lemon and Tim Malone tied the knot on Saturday in a sentimental ceremony full of family traditions.
The former CNN anchor recently became the headlines as his professional life led him to host his own streaming program, The Don Lemon Show. On the big day, April 6, the spotlight focused on celebrating their love out loud and combining families.
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Typically unbothered Lemon mastered keeping cool in a crisis from his years of covering breaking news. However, he revealed to PEOPLE that he “secretly worried” about the wedding. Fortunately, Malone took the reins on all the details, from the star-studded guest list of 140 to incorporating several meaningful moments from both of their backgrounds.
Don & Tim Tie The Knot With A Chic Traditional Ceremony
With Lemon’s Baptist family and Malone’s Catholic family, the journalist “wanted to get married in a church” and “have a religious service.” They tied the knot in midtown Manhattan at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Lemon’s friend Linda Thomas-Greenfield, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, officiated the ceremony.
The lovebirds entered the church as “What A Wonderful World” played. They exchanged traditional vows in addition to personal ones each wrote from the heart, which Lemon revealed made him nervous.
Malone’s two sisters led a “big Irish blessing” in honor of his Irish family. The grooms’ mothers also joined them to light a unity candle. The couple ended with a tradition from the 58-year-old’s Black American heritage by jumping the broom. They exited the church to the song, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.”
The grooms both looked dapper in custom drip by Suit Supply. Mark Lash designed the wedding rings they exchanged at the altar.
For the proud fur fathers, it wouldn’t be a family affair without their rescue dogs Boomer, Barkley, and Gus.
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Famous faces on the guest list included Clive Davis, Tamron Hall, Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, Sunny Hostin, Sex and the City and Emily in Paris creator Darren Star.
The music continued after the newlyweds said “I do.” Paying homage to Lemon’s Baton Rouge roots, the Gotham Kings band led a New Orleans-style second line march from the church to Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar.
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Read more about how Don Lemon & Tim Malone first met and what marriage means to Don as a Black gay man after the flip!
Don Lemon & Tim Malone’s Wedding Returns To Where Their Love First Started
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Photos documenting the couple’s lives together decorated the walls of the reception. The special menu included the Polo Bar’s famous bone-in ribeye, chicken-under-a-brick, petit fours, salmon, Dover sole, salmon, and cauliflower steak.
The venue wasn’t just any luxe location, it was a return to where it all began.
“We had our first date at the Polo Bar. It was election night in 2016. We had gone to a viewing party downtown,” Malone recalled.
“So, that night we went to this party at Cipriani. They put these plywood pieces on the table to make them bigger. And when Tim sat down, he hit the edge, and flipped the entire table. All the glassware, all the candles, everything went flying. And I was like, ‘Alright, well that’s our first date right there,'” Lemon continued.
Instead, they redeemed the night at Polo Bar where they watched the surreal presidential election results unfold.
“Tim and I looked at each other and I said to him, ‘I don’t want to be alone tonight.’ It was so weird. We went back to my apartment in Harlem and then he never left,” Lemon explained.
What Getting Married Means To Don Lemon As A Black Gay Man: “I Never Thought It Could Happen”
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For Lemon, his wedding day was more than a dream come true. As a Black gay 58-year-old man, getting married was beyond his wildest dreams for most of his life.
“I never thought that I would get married,” Lemon says. “I mean, maybe Tim’s generation, he’s 18 years younger than me. So for him maybe it was more of a possibility,” he said.
“The legal part of it is a big deal because I didn’t think it could happen. And for so many years of my growing up and hiding things, I never thought it could happen legally. But when you consider all the rights that people are trying to take away, I wanted to make sure that we get this done right.”
The newlyweds got their wedding done beautifully. Congratulations to Don Lemon and Tim Malone!
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