Surprise! Turns out reality TV’s Gabriela Windey and comedian Robby Hoffman took a cue from the universe in January, getting married in Las Vegas after evacuating with their cat during the devastating firestorms in Los Angeles County.
What a difference a fancy hotel room can make?
Fleeing smoke, ash and flames with one of Hoffman’s grandpa’s paintings and Windey’s podcasting equipment in hand, the two drove to Sin City the morning of Jan. 7, they told Cosmopolitan in a joint interview published Wednesday. They had struck out on hotel availability in Palm Springs, but Las Vegas could accommodate them.
“We got to Vegas at 7:30 in the morning, and they gave us the penthouse suite,” Hoffman told the magazine, adding, “It looked like a wedding suite. Gabby turned to me and she went, ‘Should we get married?’”
But the final decision to walk down the aisle didn’t happen in that moment.
The couple had gone public in August 2023, before Windey, 34, started her Season 3 stint on the hit Peacock competition show “Traitors” and after she wrapped her stints as a hopeful on three of the shows in the “Bachelor” franchise — she didn’t exactly qualify yet for “Golden Bachelor” — and was the runner-up, behind Charli D’Amelio, on Season 31 of “Dancing With the Stars.” (That was the “DWTS” season that went streaming-only on Disney+.)
Hoffman told Cosmo she had been “proposing” since the very beginning of their relationship. A few days into the evacuation, the 35-year-old moved up plans she had to propose formally in a few months. Windey said yes as the two hung out together in the hotel bed in the morning, working a bespoke crossword puzzle that carried the message “Will you marry me Gabby?”
The wedding, which cost $799 all-in — thanks, Vegas — wound up happening that night, they said.
“I went into department stores and the first dress I saw on the mannequin was off-white lace, and I was like, ‘This is gonna be it,’” Windey said. “It was the only one they had in stock. It was a little tight and made my butt look huge, but it was perfect. Everything just fell into place so naturally. It felt so serendipitous and so precious and so meant to be.”
Their officiant wore red sneakers, Windey said. The wedding photographer was named Big Nate.
“Big Nate captured our essence. We walked down the aisle to ‘H-O-T T-O G-O,’ Chappell Roan. He was directing us the whole time. He’d tell Robby, ‘My man, move an inch this way. Now hit a pose.’ But Robby, she always has so much swagger that he was like, ‘You do you.’”
And then they were married. They’ve been together for about two years total, Windey said.
“On the way back, we had to pick up air purifiers with our cat,” Hoffman told Cosmo. “Our house survived and we were returning married to whatever the state of the neighborhood was. We got so lucky. We really didn’t know how our house would turn out. All we knew was we had each other and felt home in each other.”
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