Selena Gomez’s grandfather walked her down the aisle, her father was not invited

When we talked about Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s weekend wedding in Santa Barbara, I didn’t talk much about the guest list, mostly because I think wedding stories should be about the bride! But we already discussed Selena’s excellent wedding gown and her more low-key wedding photos, released on social media. So let’s talk about the guests! According to many reports, Taylor flew to Santa Barbara last-minute to attend her friend’s wedding. Taylor went solo – Travis was preparing for his Sunday football game, so he wasn’t there. According to People Mag, both Taylor and Ed Sheeran made speeches at the reception. So did Blanco’s parents and Selena’s mother and stepfather. For some reason, I did not realize that Selena is still estranged from her biological father. Well, she didn’t invite her bio dad to her wedding, and Selena’s maternal grandfather walked her down the aisle.

Over the weekend, Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco said “I do” in an intimate ceremony held in Santa Barbara, California. For the event, the bride and groom wore Ralph Lauren, the photos were snapped by Petra Collins, and the guest list included close friends like Taylor Swift, Paris Hilton, and Gomez’s Only Murders in the Building costars Steve Martin and Martin Short.

Despite it being a very private affair, fans got a glimpse of the nuptials through photos shared on social media, and thanks to a new post from Gomez’s mom, Mandy Teefey, it’s just been revealed who walked the bride down the aisle.

On Sunday, Teefey shared a celebratory post that included one of the happy couple’s wedding photos, over which she typed: “Sunday kind of love.” In her caption, the Wondermind CEO gushed: “What a perfect celebration for the most kick ass couple I know! The evening couldn’t have been more beautiful and perfect! Absolutely flawless! All my love to my beautiful daughter @selenagomez and to the greatest son in law @itsbennyblanco!!!”

It was at the end of the caption that Teefey confirmed a specific detail, adding: “It was a fairytale come true and it was beyond heartwarming watching my father walk her down the aisle!!! XO.”

Back in April, during a talk on the Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware podcast with Blanco, Gomez teased that her maternal grandfather, David Michael Cornett, might have a special role in the ceremony. “I am looking to have a special dance with my papa,” she said. “He never got a chance to walk my mom down the aisle because—good for my mom—she decided to go to Vegas and was like, ‘Wooo.’”

Due to her mom’s elopement, Gomez thought this could be the perfect opportunity to let her grandfather escort a loved one down the aisle. “It’s very cute that they did that, but I wanted to give my grandfather the opportunity to have that,” she added. Gomez has a stepfather, Brian Teefay, who has been married to her mother since 2006. She is not as close to her biological father, Ricardo Joel Gomez.

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

This is a good option if your father isn’t around for your wedding. I don’t have an issue with Selena not inviting her dad or asking her grandpa to walk her down the aisle. I imagine her stepfather probably would have been open to doing it as well. Something else I like is that it didn’t feel like Selena went bonkers planning the wedding. She and Benny hired a wedding planner and the whole thing had the feel of something planned over the course of a couple of months. She just did whatever made her feel comfortable, which included not inviting her dad.

Photos courtesy of Selena’s Instagram, Avalon Red.