Adam Rippon and Jussi-Pekka Kajaala totally flipped the script on a traditional wedding, from theirspontaneous ceremonyto the sweaters they wore to mark the occasion!
Rippon, 32, and Kajaala, 34, secretly tied the knot in a marriage service in Encino on Dec. 31, and made sure they wore outfits that left them feeling like themselves when saying “I do.”
“We did dress up, but nothing special. Like just nice stuff. We wanted to look like ourselves,” says Kajaala, a Finnish real estate broker, whom everyone calls JP.
Jussi-Pekka Kajaala (left) and Adam Rippon.courtesy Adam Rippon
Rippon adds: “It looks like a sweater. Easter Sunday mass looks like a sweater.”
Rather than get new wedding bands, the couple chose to use the rings they picked out together while in Finland beforegetting engaged in December 2020. “I wanted diamonds in it because I wanted it to glisten,” Rippon says of his, while Kajaala’s is “a thicker band that has a line carved in through the middle.”
“He did not want diamonds in his. This was the great divide,” Rippon says.
Adam Rippon and Jussi-Pekka Kajaala’s rings.Adam Rippon
Rippon and Kajaala always knew they wanted a low-key wedding and decided New Year’s Eve was a good time because “now we have a great meaning for that day.”
“We always wanted to do something simple and just the two of us,” says Rippon. “And so we were looking at different options of what we could do and so obviously when you do that, the next best thing that you can do is you reach out to [California marriage officiant] Maria and you ask Maria: ‘When is her next availability for a wedding?’ And she goes, ‘I have availability this week, but I also have something today.’ And so then I said, ‘Listen, Maria, we’re on our way.’ We’re going to be there for the one o’clock appointment in Encino, California, the happiest place on earth.' "
Despite their intimate ceremony, the couple does plan on throwing celebrations with their friends and family once the COVID-19 pandemic settles.
“Here and then one in Finland, eventually. Not like a wedding, but just friends over, family over,” says Kajaala. “Some good food. Drinks.”
In December 2020, the pair proposed to one another while Rippon was visiting Kajaala in the latter’s home country of Finland.
“I’m excitedto marry JPbecause he’s just the best,“Rippon told PEOPLEin a statement at the time. “He’s kind, he’s funny, and he’s just as beautiful on the inside as he is on the out (which is a lot). He’s my cheerleader and I’m his. I just love him a lot.”
“We didn’t have the chance to see each other for most of 2020,” Rippon shared, adding that they had talked about getting engaged prior to Rippon’s months-long stay in Finland from November 2020 to January 2021.
Rippon and Kajaala firststarted dating in 2017 after meeting on app Tinder.
source: people.com
