I’ve seen Say Yes to the Dress. I know wedding dress shopping is hard. So can I really blame Nikki Bella for marrying Artem Chigvintsev in the dress she bought back when she was planning to marry ex-fiancé John Cena? Well, whether I can or cannot is of no concern to the bride and groom themselves.
“I had the moment with that dress … when I saw it,” Bella told Us Weekly. “It was all something that I dreamed of.” She admitted that she went “back and forth” when deciding whether to wear the gown to marry Chigvintsev even though she was engaged to Cena when she bought it. “For me, it [reflects] how I stand as a strong woman, I was like wait, why should I not wear what I love? Because of my past? It just didn’t make sense to me.” This, to me, is feminism.
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Bella said she’d only change her mind if her new fiancé had a problem with it (fair), which he didn’t. “I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal for people to react how I reacted … I think [if there’s] an issue with it, they’re bringing some other energy into our happiness,” Chigvintsev said.
It’s possible that people are reacting to Bella’s upcycled wedding gown because of the history of the couple themselves. The pro-wrestler was engaged to Cena when she bought the dress, and also when she and Chigvintsev first met on Dancing With the Stars when they competed as dance partners. Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev didn’t officially get together until after Bella and Cena had split (per this People relationship timeline), but clearly something between them had sparked during all those steamy tangos.
Either way, it’s their party and they can do what they want to.
