Rachel Uchitel is sparing no expense ahead of her upcoming wedding to Florida security CEO Dan Donovan.
Uchitel, 50, who shot to public attention over her relationship with Tiger Woods, told Daily Mail that her lavish nuptials will be a three-day affair held in the picturesque and affluent Palm Beach on New Year’s Eve.
However, putting together one of the biggest weddings of the year hasn’t been easy, with the Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel host revealing that she’s already fired two wedding planners ahead of the big day.
‘I am not bridezilla in the slightest, but I am a New Yorker at heart,’ she said.
‘People that have moved to Florida that have lived elsewhere will all echo the same thing, that the work ethic down here is much different than anywhere else – everyone’s a little bit slower,’ she continued.
Rachel Uchitel is sparing no expense ahead of her upcoming wedding to Florida security CEO Dan Donovan
The couple’s lavish nuptials will be a three-day affair held in Palm Beach on New Year’s Eve
‘And I have high standards. This is going to be my last wedding and I want it done right,’ added Uchitel, who has been married twice before.
‘I want it to be spectacular for the people that are flying here.’
Uchitel explained that the first two planners she worked with weren’t able to go above and beyond in the way that she needed them to.
‘These two wedding planners just didn’t get it and were kind of slow and didn’t match the level of sophistication [we were after], like coming up with gorgeous designs as opposed to just the standard stuff,’ she explained.
‘So I ended up getting rid of both of them and I decided then to just go with the top of the line because why not?’
Uchitel is now working with luxury wedding planner Danielle Elder from Classic Events NYC, as well as renowned event designer Lewis Miller.
Miller’s previous clients include everybody from Meghan Markle to fashion houses like Chanel and Ralph Lauren, ensuring that Uchitel and her fiance are in good hands.
Uchitel already has a number of ‘exquisite’ vendors on board, along with a slew of incredible activities planned for the guests.
Uchitel is working with luxury wedding planner Danielle Elder and renowned event designer Lewis Miller after firing her two previous planners when they didn’t perform to her standards
Guests at the wedding will be hosted at various locations, including Donovan’s boat and the 5-star luxury Palm Beach hotel The Breakers
‘It’s a three-day event where we’re hosting people from Monday night and we’ll doing events at some of the top hotels, like The Breakers,’ she said, referring to the luxury 5-star Palm Beach hotel.
‘We have a boat so we have our captain taking people out for two days on the boat, there’s just a bunch of fun things happening.’
Officiating the wedding is none other than acclaimed motivational speaker Tim Storey, who has been dubbed the ‘celebrity comeback coach’ due to his work with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Robert Downey Jr.
‘He’s a good friend of mine and he helped me out in my life in the last couple of years,’ she shared.
For her and Donovan’s wedding bands, the couple are working with New York-based celebrity jeweler Moshe Haimoff of The Watch King.
Uchitel already has a stunning 10.5 carat diamond engagement ring.
Donovan popped the question with the sparkler, which Uchitel’s 12-year-old daughter helped him pick out, at the Rosewood Miramar in Santa Barbara in March.
‘I love the ring so much. I sleep with it and I never take it off. I just love it,’ she gushed.
For her wedding dress, Uchitel confirmed that she’s found something ‘amazing’ from Russian bridal designer Oksana Mukha.
To look their best for the big day, Uchitel and Donovan have been getting regenerative stem cell treatments in Panama at the Auragens medical institute.
‘It’s the most incredible place,’ Uchitel gushed. ‘We’re going to make it part of our yearly wellness routine.’
Uchitel already has a stunning 10.5 carat diamond engagement ring and is getting her wedding band from celebrity jeweler Moshe Haimoff of The Watch King
‘I feel so lucky. He’s a wonderful man. He’s not only wonderful and kind, but he’s also successful,’ Uchitel said of fiance Dan Donovan
After having her rollercoaster love life plastered over the media for years, Uchitel says she’s finally found her ‘happily ever after’ with her business mogul fiance.
‘I feel so lucky. He’s a wonderful man. He’s not only wonderful and kind, but he’s also successful,’ she said.
‘He’s an alpha male without being a narcissist, without being an a**hole. He just has so many wonderful qualities,’ she continued.
‘He’s a CEO and founder of four different companies. Even though I’m an alpha female, nothing feels better than having an alpha male take care of you.’
The Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel host admitted that she almost gave up on finding ‘the one’ following the many highs and lows in her love life, which included tragically losing her first fiancé in the 9/11 terror attacks.
‘I didn’t think it would happen for me, especially over 40 and with a child, but the lesson in all of this is that everything happens when it’s supposed to happen,’ she said.
The couple met on a dating app but they only spoke on the phone at first and then enjoyed a platonic friendship before anything romantic happened.
‘I was 49 and I had just been through years of it not working and dating the wrong person, so I had kind of given up on it,’ Uchitel confessed.
‘We became friends and he got to know my daughter really well. He has a boat, so he’d just take my daughter’s friends and I and some of my friends out every weekend and we were just good buddies,’ she continued.
‘And then I realized with time that I really adored him as a person and I finally got to the point where I was like, “Oh my god, I don’t want to be without this person!” So he asked me out on a date and we’ve been dating ever since.’
Uchitel celebrated the engagement last week with an extravagant Bachelorette party in Nashville.
Uchitel already celebrated her upcoming nuptials by throwing an extravagant bachelorette party in Nashville
To look their best for the big day, Uchitel and Donovan have been getting regenerative stem cell treatments in Panama at the Auragens medical institute
After being dragged through the media for years over her affair with Woods, Uchitel said that she finally feels like she’s gained her credibility back through the success of her popular podcast, Miss Understood.
The podcast, which has topped the entertainment charts multiple times since its 2023 launch, sees the former news producer flexing her journalism skills by interviewing an array of misunderstood figures who have used her show to set the record straight.
Uchitel said that finding success on her own and reclaiming her narrative helped put her in the right frame of mind to find love again.
‘I feel very lucky that I found [Dan]. And the interesting thing is, because we first found each other four years ago, thank God we didn’t date back then,’ she reflected.
‘Because the timing wouldn’t have been right. I wasn’t in the space in my life that I am now. I was struggling to figure out my purpose in life, and now here I am with a top performing podcast and doing all these things where I feel very secure in my own skin.
‘I didn’t back then and I would’ve been looking for someone to save me and that was never the right mindset to be in to find your ever after.’
Uchitel became a household name in 2009 following her affair with Tiger Woods
Uchitel was previously engaged to James Andrew O’Grady, who tragically died during the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Before that engagement, she was married to Wall Street trader Steven Ehrenkranz for four months in 2004.
Her second marriage was with former football player Hahn and it lasted three years. The couple divorced in 2014 and they are now co-parenting their daughter, Wyatt Lily, amicably.
She notoriously had an affair with Woods in 2009 and actor David Boreanaz in 2010.
After her affair with Woods was exposed, the professional golfer admitted to cheating on his wife with more than 120 different women.
While Uchitel has now found her happy ending at last, Woods has also found love with Vanessa Trump.
Trump was famously married to Donald Trump’s son, Don Jr., from 2005 to 2018.
They shared two children together – daughter Kai Madison Trump, 17, and son Donald Trump III, 16.
