Inside The Chainsmokers Singer Drew Taggart's 'Romantic' Proposal to Model Marianne Fonseca, 'Intimate' Wedding Plans (Exclusive)
"I don’t want it to feel like 'work' to get married. I want to enjoy it and feel vulnerable with our closest loved ones," the bride-to-be tells PEOPLE
Drew Taggart, the lead singer of The Chainsmokers, proposed to model Marianne Fonseca on Dec. 1 at Italian restaurant Giorgio Baldi in Los Angeles in a "romantic" surprise
Ivanka Trump helped orchestrate the engagement dinner, which was attended by 35 of the couple's closest friends and family
Now, Taggart and Fonseca are starting to plan their "small, intimate" wedding
The Chainsmokers' Andrew "Drew" Taggart and his fiancée are opening up about their "romantic" engagement and sharing details about their future wedding!
The lead singer, 34, announced his engagement to Brazilian supermodel and founder of GENTE Beauty Marianne Fonseca via a joint post on Instagram on Tuesday, Dec. 3. "HELL YEA!! 💍," he captioned a slideshow of moments from their intimate engagement dinner celebration.
Fonseca, also 34, reveals that the romantic proposal actually took place two days prior on Sunday, Dec. 1, at Giorgio Baldi, a luxurious Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. She believed she was heading to a casual girls' dinner with her friend Ivanka Trump, who orchestrated the outing as a diversion. Upon arrival, Fonseca was stunned to find her boyfriend waiting for her amid a sea of roses.
"The first thing I asked when I opened the door of the restaurant and saw him instead of the girls was, 'What are you doing here?' " Fonseca exclusively tells PEOPLE. "We were both laughing the whole time, and he said, 'Do you know what this is?' And I said, 'Maybe,' haha. It was so cute!"
Taggart got down on one knee and proposed with a five-carat elongated cushion-cut diamond with diamonds on the band. He bought the sparkling ring in September.
Although about 35 of the couple's closest friends and family would join them at dinner, the proposal was just the two of them.
"Nobody was there at the time of the proposal because Drew knew I wanted the moment to be just between us," Fonseca says. "Afterward, everyone arrived, and I already had the ring on. Some people already knew, and others didn’t — it was so special seeing how happy everyone was for us!"
The pair, who made headlines in May 2023 after they were spotted holding hands in Miami, had "always talked about being married and had the same goals for the relationship." But it wasn't until this past summer that Taggart started planning his surprise proposal, only letting a select few people in on it.
"He really wanted it to be romantic; he had said that to me many times," Fonseca says. "The place was dark and cozy, with red flowers everywhere. We both love Italian food and have had our best dates in Italian restaurants. He got down on one knee and said he was the happiest man in the world with me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me."
The couple met at an Oscars party in March 2023 at talent manager Guy Oseary's house. The two had already crossed paths before, with them both living in Los Angeles and running in the same circles, but they had never really spoken.
At the party, Fonseca approached her future fiancé at the bar.
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"We were both getting a drink at the bar, and I said 'hi' to him," she recalls. "We started a conversation that lasted the rest of the night — and a couple of drinks later. That’s what inspired his song 'Summertime Friends' — it’s about when we met in the back of the bar."
She continues: "We ended up having a really meaningful conversation about life, goals, worldviews, and more. He asked for my number, and I gave it to him. The rest is history! We started dating quickly and always knew we wanted to be together forever."
Fonseca would later star in the music video for "Summertime Friends," which is about their friendship that turned romantic.
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Since getting engaged, Taggart and Fonseca have received congratulations from celebrity friends including Alex Pall, Hailey Bieber, Brooks Nader, Diplo, Calvin Harris and Paris Hilton.
Now, the soon-to-be bride and groom are wedding planning and say they envision having an "intimate" ceremony.
"We’re planning to keep it really small," Fonseca says. "I want it to feel very intimate, with just the people we truly love. I don’t want it to feel like 'work' to get married. I want to enjoy it and feel vulnerable with our closest loved ones."
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