Gabourey Sidibe is in the midst of wedding planning after her beau Brandon Frankel popped the question in 2020. The Empire actress made the exciting announcement on Instagram in November 2020 and now she is spilling the deets to Brides magazine about her upcoming wedding. "It cannot be a traditional wedding. Really, it can't be. I don't want anything done the 'traditional' way," she said. "Our relationship is very much on our terms and I want it to be fun, like a true party."
There will also be nothing traditional about her wedding dress. While the Precious star has drawn inspiration from Orange is the New Black actress Danielle Brooks’ wedding dress, who wore a white Christian Siriano gown, she won’t be wearing white.
"I'm super against tradition," she said. "I definitely don't need a white dress. My favorite look [from the Brides shoot] was the pink African print. Honestly, whatever I wear on the wedding day will probably be African print. It might have a little white, so it looks like a wedding dress, but it's definitely going to be colorful."
They are also a DIY couple and plan on taking some of the wedding responsibilities into their own hands with a little outside help.
"We like to outsource, but we're both very involved in everything we do. We're creative people and we're both pretty good at executing, so we'll have someone [helping], but we'll definitely be super involved," Brandon said.
Gabourey and Brandon made their relationship Instagram official in 2019 after meeting on the members-only dating app Raya. In the actress’ engagement announcement, she gave some insight into their humor and love for one another.
“The funniest man I’ve ever met. The sweetest human to exist,” she wrote. “@brandontour made up a song for when i put my bonnet on at night. The second I look a bit stressed and overwhelmed, he jumps into action to take over what he can for me. Every moment with him is a joy. He is the partner i thought I was too independent to need.”
She concluded her post by calling him “my partner, my best friend, my cats’ daddy, my mans, my heart, my fiancé!!!”
The couple plan to get married in spring 2023.
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Featured image by Rachel Luna/Getty Images