It’s the most wonderful time of the year — for a proposal! The holiday season delivers a feeling of magic and wonder, offering the perfect backdrop for stars to pop the question or marry their significant others.
“When you know, you know, and we knew right away — like, very quickly,” Joe Manganiello told Haute Living in 2015 when recalling how he proposed to now-wife Sofia Vergara on Christmas Eve 2014. The couple, who began dating six months before their engagement, were on vacation in Hawaii when the True Blood alum asked the former Modern Family actress to marry him.
“We had this big bay window [that I opened] and the sun was going down pink over the mountains and over the bay, and I had this ring,” Manganiello explained. “I had looked at every ring in the world, and this is the ring that I wanted. I had a whole speech prepared in Spanish. I proposed to her on one knee in Spanish with the sun going down. It was awesome.”
Matthew McConaughey’s proposal to wife Camila Alves on Christmas Day 2011 was just as memorable, if not a little nerve-racking.
“I remember hitting the knee, looking into her eyes, and … I remember her face. I remember this smile coming up from her feet. I remember her having to catch her breath,” the Oscar winner told Esquire five years later. “And she didn’t say yes right away. And then the whole family was going, ‘Jesus, she’s gonna say no.’”
Fortunately, not only did Alves accept, but the two wed one year one year after their engagement. They share three children: Levi, born in 2008, Vida, born in 2010, and Livingston, born in 2012.
Despite the festivity and romance of the holidays, some stars’ Christmastime marriages did not end up working out.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman tied the knot on Christmas Eve 1990 at a ski resort in Colorado. The Eyes Wide Shut stars adopted daughter Isabella, born in 1992, and son Connor, born in 1995, but their relationship wasn’t meant to be. The actors ultimately split in 2001, with the Big Little Lies alum later reflecting on what went wrong.
“I was willing to give up everything,” Kidman told Vanity Fair in 2002 about her marriage to Cruise. “I now see that as part of me. I’m willing to do that — I do it when I do a movie too. I’m willing to go, ‘Yeah, bring it on, consume me, intoxicate me.’ I want to feel alive — I want to reel, basically. I was reeling with Tom and I loved it and I would have walked to the end of the earth. That meant giving up a lot of things that were very important to me.”
Keep scrolling to see more stars who got engaged or married on Christmas.
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Celeb Couples Who Got Engaged or Married on Christmas: Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara, Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves and More
It’s the most wonderful time of the year — for a proposal! The holiday season delivers a feeling of magic and wonder, offering the perfect backdrop for stars to pop the question or marry their significant others.
“When you know, you know, and we knew right away — like, very quickly,” Joe Manganiello told Haute Living in 2015 when recalling how he proposed to now-wife Sofia Vergara on Christmas Eve 2014. The couple, who began dating six months before their engagement, were on vacation in Hawaii when the True Blood alum asked the former Modern Family actress to marry him.
“We had this big bay window [that I opened] and the sun was going down pink over the mountains and over the bay, and I had this ring,” Manganiello explained. “I had looked at every ring in the world, and this is the ring that I wanted. I had a whole speech prepared in Spanish. I proposed to her on one knee in Spanish with the sun going down. It was awesome.”
Matthew McConaughey’s proposal to wife Camila Alves on Christmas Day 2011 was just as memorable, if not a little nerve-racking.
“I remember hitting the knee, looking into her eyes, and … I remember her face. I remember this smile coming up from her feet. I remember her having to catch her breath,” the Oscar winner told Esquire five years later. “And she didn’t say yes right away. And then the whole family was going, ‘Jesus, she’s gonna say no.'”
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Fortunately, not only did Alves accept, but the two wed one year one year after their engagement. They share three children: Levi, born in 2008, Vida, born in 2010, and Livingston, born in 2012.
Despite the festivity and romance of the holidays, some stars’ Christmastime marriages did not end up working out.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman tied the knot on Christmas Eve 1990 at a ski resort in Colorado. The Eyes Wide Shut stars adopted daughter Isabella, born in 1992, and son Connor, born in 1995, but their relationship wasn’t meant to be. The actors ultimately split in 2001, with the Big Little Lies alum later reflecting on what went wrong.
“I was willing to give up everything,” Kidman told Vanity Fair in 2002 about her marriage to Cruise. “I now see that as part of me. I’m willing to do that — I do it when I do a movie too. I’m willing to go, ‘Yeah, bring it on, consume me, intoxicate me.’ I want to feel alive — I want to reel, basically. I was reeling with Tom and I loved it and I would have walked to the end of the earth. That meant giving up a lot of things that were very important to me.”
Keep scrolling to see more stars who got engaged or married on Christmas.
Credit: Courtesy Sofia Vergara/Instagram
Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara
Manganiello popped the question on Christmas Eve 2014 while he and Vergara were on a romantic vacation in Hawaii.
“We had this big bay window [that I opened] and the sun was going down pink over the mountains and over the bay, and I had this ring,” the Magic Mike star recalled to Haute Living in 2015. “I had looked at every ring in the world, and this is the ring that I wanted. I had a whole speech prepared in Spanish. I proposed to her on one knee in Spanish with the sun going down. It was awesome.”
Credit: Mandatory Credit: Photo by Rob Latour/Shutterstock (12642053aq) Matthew McConaughey and Camilla Alves ‘Sing 2’ film premiere, Arrivals, The Greek Theater, Los Angeles, California, USA – 12 Dec 2021
Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves
“I remember hitting the knee, looking into her eyes, and … I remember her face,” the Wolf of Wall Street actor told Esquire in 2016 of his Christmas Eve 2011 proposal to Alves.
“I remember this smile coming up from her feet. I remember her having to catch her breath. And she didn’t say yes right away,” McConaughey noted. “And then the whole family was going, ‘Jesus, she’s gonna say no.'”
Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
Cruise and Kidman exchanged vows on Christmas Eve 1990. They split 11 years later.
Credit: Courtesy Shot by the Carters/Instagram
JoJo and Dexter Darden
“Forever with YOU? Sign me UP,” the “Leave (Get Out)” singer gushed on Christmas Day 2021 while announcing her engagement to Darden. “Celebrating Christmas a whole fiancé!!! the most thoughtful, creative, positive, handsome, strong, loving, uplifting human being asked me to marry him. so obviously I said YESSS!!!”
Credit: Courtesy of Angie Harmon/Instagram
Angie Harmon and Greg Vaughan
“Marry, Marry Christmas!! ❤️?? Wishing you the most wonderful holiday from our family to yours!” Harmon captioned a series of family photos from Christmas 2019, including a shot of the Days of Our Loves actor down on one knee.
Credit: Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
Jerry Seinfeld and Jessica Seinfeld
The couple tied the knot on Christmas Day 1999 after Jessica left her ex-husband, Eric Nederlander, for the comedian. The Seinfelds went on to welcome two sons and a daughter. They celebrated their 20-year anniversary in December 2019.
Credit: Bailey Hart/BaileyHartCreative
Jordan Kimball and Christina Creedon
Us Weekly broke the news that the Bachelor in Paradise alum popped the question to Creedon on Christmas Day 2020. They tied the knot two years later.
“Seeing her for the first time — we didn’t do a first look — and seeing her [walk down the aisle] in her dress, [I started crying],” the Bachelorette alum told Us about their wedding. “Ever since that moment, I’ve realized how important she is to me. I mean, to cry in front of lifelong friends and family and everything — I’ve never loved her as much as I do today.”
Credit: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Dan Reynolds and Aja Volkman
The Imagine Dragons singer re-proposed to Volkman on Christmas Day 2019 following a seven-month hiatus from their marriage. “The answer has always been yes,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. The pair — who share four children — announced their second separation in September 2022.
Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Nick Young and Keonna Green
“Merry Christmas…. @keonnanecole Said Yes ?!!!!!” the basketball star captioned an Instagram video of himself proposing to the Basketball Wives alum on Christmas Day 2019. The two have split and reunited multiple times over the years and share three children together.
(Young previously cheated on ex-fiancée Iggy Azalea with Green.)
