Nico Santos and Zeke Smith tied the knot in front of numerous friends and family members in a Palm Springs ceremony and reception.
Santos, 44, best known for playing Mateo in NBC’s Superstore, and Smith, 35, a two-time contestant on CBS’ Survivor, exchanged vows at the Parker Hotel this weekend, via People.
Smith proposed to Santos during the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards, which came four years after they had both first met at the 2018 GLAAD Media Awards.
Smith revealed that they both considered themselves ‘married’ before, but, in having the ceremony, ‘it’s about becoming a family. We’re in it forever.’
‘For us, we’ve been together for almost six years. We own a home together, have a joint bank account. We’re each other’s emergency contacts. By all sorts of usual metrics we are married,’ Smith said before the wedding.
Tying the knot: Nico Santos and Zeke Smith tied the knot in front of numerous friends and family members in a Palm Springs ceremony and reception
Vows: Santos, 44, best known for playing Mateo in NBC’s Superstore, and Smith, 35, a two-time contestant on CBS’ Survivor, exchanged vows at the Parker Hotel this weekend, via People
‘But actually having the ceremony, making it legal, it’s about becoming a family. We’re in it forever. Through thick and thin and easy and hard. We’re going to be the person that’s there for the other one,’ he added.
Santos added, ‘Weddings and getting married, I never thought this would be part of my life,’ with Smith continuing that marriage, ‘wasn’t a reality for us until less than 10 years ago.’
‘It wasn’t something really, once we understood ourselves to be queer, we thought was part of our timeline,’ Smith said.
‘But now that we’ve done all this planning and the meaning and the significance of the day is dawning upon us, I’m just really excited,’ Smith continued.
The couple teamed up with wedding planner Nicole Gillis and Cobra Lily Florals to help execute their wedding vision.
‘We come from very different places,’ the couple said in a joint statement, with Santos hailing from Manila, Philippines, and Smith from Edmond, Oklahoma.
‘And yet, despite our vastly different upbringings and life stories, we’ve found a home within each other,’ the couple added.
Their wedding outfits included natural woven design aesthetics from Filipino culture with leather, fringes and Western movie posters to reflect Smith’s upbringing.
Legal: ‘But actually having the ceremony, making it legal, it’s about becoming a family. We’re in it forever. Through thick and thin and easy and hard. We’re going to be the person that’s there for the other one,’ he added
Reality: Santos added, ‘Weddings and getting married, I never thought this would be part of my life,’ with Smith continuing that marriage, ‘wasn’t a reality for us until less than 10 years ago’
Queer: ‘It wasn’t something really, once we understood ourselves to be queer, we thought was part of our timeline,’ Smith said
Wedding outfits: Their wedding outfits included natural woven design aesthetics from Filipino culture with leather, fringes and Western movie posters to reflect Smith’s upbringing
The couple added they didn’t know that their wedding was booked during Palm Springs’ Pride Weekend, but they took it as a good sign.
‘It’s a big gay wedding. A lot of our guests are queer as well, so we thought let’s just stick to the date and have it during Pride weekend. So it’ll be extra gay,’ Santos said.
The wedding weekend kicked off with a Cheeky Tiki Kiki Party at the Gene Autry suite on Friday at The Parker, with the ceremony on Saturday.
Santos’ Superstore co-star Mark McKinney officiated the wedding, with guests including Superstore creator Justin Spitzer and co-stars Ben Feldman, Colton Dunn, Nichole Sakura, Ike Barinholtz, Kaliko Kauahi, Irene White and Lauren Ash.
Survivor contestants Hannah Shapiro and Bret LaBelle were also in attendance at the wedding.
