'Love Is Blind' Season 1 Alum Jessica Batten Gets Married!

Jessica Batten is a married woman! The "Love Is Blind" season 1 alum and her fiancé Benjamin McGrath, a California based foot and ankle surgeon, recently eloped after getting engaged in September 2021. Batten, 38, and McGrath, 36, were joined by just four guests at the intimate ceremony at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. And while it wasn't the wedding the couple originally planned to have, they shared that "several personal factors" led them to the small ceremony with the intent of a larger ceremony in August 2024.

Batten revealed to Brides how the two met. "It all started initially via a Netflix reality television appearance and an Instagram DM. We met for the first time in Venice the night before L.A. shut down for COVID. It was truly love at first sight - funny enough," she explained. "We decided to meet for a bike ride the next day. 15 miles later, we had a good feeling that we had something special." The two continued to get to know each other via phone calls and Facetime while in isolation.

They grew closer and closer, and McGrath popped the question in September 2021. "Ben rented out a vineyard for a surprise engagement and evening party with friends," she recalls. "He was tucked into the grapevines with a big surprise in hand."

The couple planned to have a large wedding and celebration but needed to adjust those plans. "Our planning process was all over the place based on several personal factors. Bless our wedding planners for hanging with us. We both went through COVID following the engagement and we had to move residence shortly thereafter," they said. "This unexpectedly pushed us out in the planning process. Once we started diving in after the beginning of the year, we realized there were more complexities than we planned for."

They tried to make it work for a larger celebration with friends and family in 2022 but they needed more time, so they decided to elope and then have a bigger celebration at a later date. "Amidst COVID and with family health and logistics with travel, we found ourselves between a rock and a hard place in trying to plan the wedding in 2022. We tried to make it all work. We considered pushing our date or moving the location to Chicago," they explained. "Ultimately, we decided that we needed more time to pull off the massive celebration we thought was worthy for our family and friends. Considering the timing we are looking for in terms of family planning, we came to the conclusion that we would elope in 2022 and make big plans for a celebration down the road."

The couple decided to say their vows at the Santa Barbara Courthouse with two couples as their guests. "A classic landmark in our favorite city; the city where we fell in love," the couple said. "As we started to plan our elopement, the courthouse became an obvious choice. We found the only date available in August."

While McGrath's two children weren't present for the whole thing, the couple found a way to involve them with a wedding picnic. "Our elopement was a bite-sized version of a vision that we have planned for our 2024 celebration that will be worthy of our dear family and friends," they said.