Forget October 3, Jonathan Bennett is celebrating a new special day in his life: his wedding day!
On Saturday, March 19, the Mean Girls actor officially tied the knot with his longtime partner Jaymes Vaughan in a romantic, beachside wedding held at the Unico Riviera Maya Hotel in Mexico, the couple confirmed on Instagram, captioning their announcement, "Mr & Mr Bennett Vaughan."
According to People, the pair, who began dating in 2017, skipped walking down the aisle and met one another at the altar instead—all set to the tune of the song that Vaughan wrote for Bennett as part of their November 2020 engagement.
"It was honestly a dream wedding! We kept having to stop and remind ourselves that we weren't on a movie set, but this was actually our real life," Bennett told E! News. "If you had told me this was one of my Hallmark movie sets, I would have believed it. It was that perfect."
Vaughan added, "I got to marry my best friend!"
The Celebrity Page host described their nuptials as a truly "emotional" experience for everyone involved.
"I don't think either of us realized just how overwhelming that moment would be until we were in it," he shared. "Seeing him crying only made me cry harder, and then our guests cry harder, and then we'd all start laughing, and then all back into crying."
When it came to planning their special day, both Bennett and Vaughan agreed that it was important for it to be an inclusive celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.
"As we were going through this process, we realized that our wedding is also more than just about us," Bennett told People. "It's about the entire community."
As a result, the couple encouraged their guests to express themselves through their fashion choices at the event. "You don't have to do dresses and tuxes," Bennett pointed out after wearing Express on the big day. "Anyone who wants to wear a tux, wear a tux, go for it."
The couple did request that the attendees wear white in remembrance of Bennett's mother, who passed away in 2012, and incorporated white roses, her favorite, into the floral arrangements.
Back in April 2021, Bennett and Vaughan told The Knot that they had decided to make their wedding "about the LGBTQ+ community" after they had been denied their dream wedding location by the hotel's owner because of their sexuality.
"The owner said he couldn't marry us because we're two men and it goes against his morals," Bennett recounted at the time. "That was a sucker punch to the gut. We decided in that moment that our wedding was bigger than us. It's our wedding, but it isn't just about us. It's about the LGBTQ+ community. We're really making a point to make this wedding very loud on purpose."
Through their ceremony, the newlyweds shared that they hoped to pave the way for other couples too.
"I want to make sure that through this whole process of our love and wedding, and building our family, that we are trailblazing for the LGBTQ+ community," Bennett added. "I want everyone to realize that they are never too much, and they're always enough. That's my mission in life. You're never too much. And you're always enough. You just being you is enough."