17th June, 2000 -
Marriage
"I want all my friends and family to be there, so I'll probably be traditional: I won't jet off and do it in private: It'll be up to my bride. I'll go along with whatever type of wedding she wants."
- Kevin
"She's very shy, so I've tried to shelter her from the spotlight as much as possible."
- Kevin
Kevin Richardson goes from Backstreet Boy to married man, tying the knot with longtime squeeze Kristin Willits.
Are you sitting down, BSB fans?
Kevin Richardson is officially off the market.
Kevin takes a bride
OK, maybe we got it wrong about A.J. (and please stop emailing us). But It's official: Kevin Richardson is a married man. Fans of one tall, dark-haired, and steel-eyed Estill County Backstreet Boy must have felt a psychic twinge this weekend, as the group's Kevin Richardson has felt the marriage bug bite, and on Saturday, June 17, he did something about it. According to MTV News, Much to the heartache of his millions of fans, the Backstreet Boy with the best facial hair in rock has taken an important step into manhood by tying the knot with his long-time girlfriend, actress/dancer Kristin Willits this past weekend at the Cathedral Domain in Lexington, Ky. The other Backstreet Boys were in attendance.
"They're two good people," Kevin's brother Tim Richardson told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "Remove all the glamour, and he's a Backstreet Boy -- that they're in the entertainment industry -- they're just two people who love each other," Richardson announced his engagement to Willits earlier this year on Valentine's Day. The same day, his cousin and bandmate Littrell said he was engaged to actress Leighanne Wallace to MTV News earlier this year. However, there's no word yet on when Littrell will travel down the aisle.
"We've been through a lot together, but she knew me when I was a Ninja Turtle," Richardson told MTV in February. "I met her in the cafeteria at Walt Disney World. We were both working there. She was a dancer. She's been on Broadway, done lots of things. Being in the business, she definitely has an appreciation for it. You need somebody that can understand a lot."
Richardson must have been waiting until the time was right. He has been stepping out with Willits for eight years, and their relationship has weathered the attention of devoted fans.
Next up is Brian Littrell, who announced his engagement in February to actress Leighanne Wallace. Brian, however, did not say when the happy day would be. Kevin, also Brian's cousin, told MTV a date had been set but declined to discuss the matter further.
As for A.J., VH1.com is still deluged with emails explaining that he is not marrying Amanda Latona. A.J.'s mother and other Backstreeters have also denied the story, initially reported in the New York Post.
Before the Backstreet Boys, the 11 million-selling album Millennium, and the legions of teenage fans' screaming, Kevin Richardson was just a guy in a Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle suit. On a break from his gig at Orlando's Disney-MGM Studios theme park in 1992, he met Kristin Willits, a dancer with the park's Beauty and the Beast show, in the employee cafeteria. "It's great he became what he is," Willits's mom, Susan Patton, 55, said in February. "But we know him when he was a Ninja Turtle."
Now, she knows him as a son-in-law. On June 17, outside Lexington, Ky., Richardson's hometown, the oldest Backstreet Boy, 28, wed Willits, 29, and now an aspiring actress, in a private ceremony for close family and friends. "It was a beautiful wedding," says the bride's father, John Willits, 56, a chiropractor divorced from Patton. "It was unique."
And inspiring. After years of living separate lives on the road, the couple made it to the alter-Richardson with the Boys, Willits at various theme parks, and as a backup dancer with Cher. "They stuck it out for each other," said Kristin's sister Tina Huet, 34. "I'm glad they were able to make it." After asking her father's permission, the singer proposed last December (Richardson's bandmate and cousin Brian Littrell, 25, got engaged a few days later).
"They were made for each other," said John Willits. "They're both old-fashioned, big-hearted. They've both done very well."
"He's a super-nice guy and made my daughter very happy," said Susan Patton of Richardson.
Richardson had been dating Willits, a dancer, for "seven years, off and on," he told MTV in February.
Fans who took the news of Richardson's and Littrell's engagements hard were coming to grips with yesterday's new announcement.
"Really?!?" said Clare Boyd, 13, a freshman at Lafayette. "Oh, every time I think about that, I want to cry."
Why?
"Because I was going to marry Brian. ..."
But Kevin's the one who got married.
"I know, but I was gonna marry Brian, and then if Brian didn't work out, I was gonna marry Kevin," she said, only partly joking. "But I guess Nick's still single, so. ..."
Calming herself down ("I just get all fluttery when I think about this"), Boyd came to this conclusion: "Well, I'm happy for him, I guess. ... I think all the girls are disappointed, but the true fans are going to be happy for him."
Nonetheless, Through the grapevine, she has heard "that Kristin Willits is nice."
Kevin's brother, Tim Richardson, can verify that love, not career, is essential to these two.
"You want them to have a solid, committed marriage. That's the most important thing to them right now," he said. "Because when all the fame is gone, they will have each other."
The Backstreet Boys' Kevin Richardson, named "Sexiest Pop Star" by "People" magazine last November 28, closed the deal on his eight-year relationship and married his fiancée Kristin Willits, 29, on Saturday, June 17, 2000. It was NOT in a church. Instead, their outside union took place outside Estill County in Kevin's hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, in Lee County, Kentucky, on top of a mountain, just outside of a church camp (which had once belonged to Kevin's late father, Jerald Richardson) - Cathedral Domain. The small, private ceremony was held at Estill County Cathedral Domain, outside on a cliff by the church. The event was kept secret and had zero turnouts from the paparazzi. No helicopters even circled the area attempting to grab that exclusive front page pic. Tim Richardson confirmed Wednesday that it was a "beautiful, simple ceremony," free of paparazzi and circling helicopters. However, rain reports that day didn't damper the guests' spirits or the happy couple. The other guys did not stand for Kevin, however. Instead, Both of Richardson's brothers had memorable roles on Kevin's wedding day: Kevin and his best men, one of them being Kevin's brother, Jerald Richardson Jr., was his best man, and his other brother, Tim, Tim Richardson performed the ceremony service for them (Tim is a priest.). This wedding was huge, massive, unique, and one of the most beautiful. There was an old-fashioned Romeo-and-Juliet-type theme, and Kevin and Kristin dressed the wedding party accordingly. Jill (last name unknown) was one of Two of Kristin's friends who acted as her bridesmaids in her simple yet elegant wedding. It looked like Robin Hood and Lady [Marian] married in a forest. Richardson's cousin and fellow Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell, who announced his engagement earlier this year, was among the estimated 150 to 200 guests. It was an affair for mostly Only close friends and relatives, along with Kevin's fellow Backstreet Boys Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, and AJ McLean, who attended their wedding ceremony service.
The ceremony started a half-hour late because Nick was LATE, and in shorts, as he missed his flight and charter a private single prop engine plane and the airport had lost his luggage! Kristin was wearing a lovely, simple, yet elegant beige gown, and all the girls were barefoot, walking down on her way to the altar. The aisle was a trail of red rose petals. Her hair was in with a small braid of hair and pretty flowers in her hair. All the men in the wedding party, including the groom, wore Versace suits and Gucci sandals, which can be seen in the pictures from that day. Kristin's twin nephews were the ring-bearers, and her 1.5-year-old niece was the flower girl. Being so young, she needed help getting down the aisle from her daddy.
The couple met while employed at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. According to the other BSB members, the wedding was very emotional for Kevin; he cried a lot. He and the boys were supposed to sing an acapella song at the wedding but could not complete the task due to Kevin's tears and emotions. Howie has revealed that Kevin bawled his eyes out at his wedding earlier this month. To further Kev's embarrassment, Howie added that the band, all of whom attended the touching ceremony, would have performed an acapella number had it not been for the choked-up state of the groom. 'Kevin was crying too much,' explained Howie, 'He's a very emotional guy,' before deciding to get in on the 'new man act' by adding, 'All of us were very emotional there. He's like a brother.' Kevin cried throughout the ceremony, including exchanging vows—also, an actress from One Life To Live read and talked about real love. At the reception, the couple hired 3 Jazz musicians for entertainment.
Their wedding song was "Faithfully" by Journey. AJ and Kevin had a deep, emotional conversation at the reception.
Then, after the wedding reception, the newlyweds hopped on a plane to take off for a romantic/private honeymoon in Italy, having just under two weeks together before Kevin had to go to the studio. So, they rented a sailboat and sailed up the Italian coast, stopping in places such as the Capri Islands, where they spent part of the first night of their honeymoon at Anema E. Core Club in Capri. They danced to a local band before entertaining the locals themselves - Kevin played the bongos and sang. In contrast, Kristin danced away on the dance floor & at the Dolce and Gabbana fashion show in Milan, Milan, etc. After that, they disappear and reportedly spend the next three days behind locked doors. "We went on a honeymoon. We went to Italy, and I ate a lot of pasta and olives, and I gained about ten pounds...," Kevin said about their honeymoon. Then, on August 25, they had a private party to celebrate their wedding (in California). Kevin said throughout the ceremony that he could feel his dad's presence everywhere. The newlywed couple is expected to have a more public celebration later this year in Los Angeles.
» The Richardson's wedding took place on June 17, 2000, at 6:21 p.m.
» The invitations to the wedding were created and printed with a childhood drawing of the campgrounds Kevin made himself
» Kristin was wearing a lovely beige wedding gown
» She walked on red rose petals in her bare feet on her way to the altar to a misty-eyed Kevin
» Kristin's twin nephews were the ring-bearers
» "Her (at the time) 1-and-a-half-year-old niece (Brad & Kristen Willits's daughter) was the flower girl - being so young, she needed some help getting down the aisle from her daddy."
» Tim Richardson, Kevin's brother, and a minister married the couple before a crowd of 200 guests
» Jerald Jr. (Kevin's brother) was the best man
» It did rain during the ceremony but didn't appear to dampen their happiness
» The men wore suits with Versace sandals
» There were 65,000 worth of flowers, most of which were white roses
» Kristin & Kevin danced to Journey's "Faithfully" as the crowd gathered around at the reception
» Andre Csillag took pictures at the wedding, but they are for his family only
"Their love was not the only celebrated that day as another couple danced to Backstreet Boys music, along with their young relatives, Kevin and Kristin (along with bandmates AJ and Howie) made an appearance at the reception for photos and autographs, just because they knew the young girls were fans."
» They went on a romantic/private honeymoon to Capri, Italy & went to the Anema E Core club in Capri (June 17, 2000), the Dolce and Gabbana fashion show in Milan (June 26, 2000), and the Versace fashion show (June 26, 2000) also in Milan
» On August 25, they had a private party to celebrate their wedding (in Los Angeles, California)
"Our wedding day was the easiest, most low-stress day of my life," says Richardson, who married his wife, Kristin, in June 2000. How exactly was everything so seamless in retrospect? "Because I had never been more certain about anything in my life," he remarks.
