The Bachelorette alum Luke Pell and girlfriend Amanda Mertz announced their engagement on social media Thursday.

The couple, who are visiting Italy, jointly posted a shot of Pell, 37, on one knee proposing to Mertz, 35, outside of the Colosseum in Rome.

They captioned the shot: ‘When in Rome… We are so thrilled to finally share the news, WE’RE ENGAGED!!’

The latest: The Bachelorette alum Luke Pell, 37, and girlfriend Amanda Mertz, 35, announced their engagement on social media Thursday. They were snapped in Lake Como, Italy last month

The latest: The Bachelorette alum Luke Pell, 37, and girlfriend Amanda Mertz, 35, announced their engagement on social media Thursday. They were snapped in Lake Como, Italy last month

The real estate professional, who appeared on The Bachelorette’s 12th season, had musicians, a florist and a photographer on hand to make for the magical moment, according to People

‘It feels like a long time coming,’ Pell told the outlet of the engagement. ‘There’s other points in my life which I thought I was much closer to it. And now, I’m finally there.’

Pell said he’s ‘really excited’ about the engagement as well as ‘excited about the next season of life.’

Pell and Mertz, a digital media host, met and started to date in 2018, and spent some time apart early on in 2020 before rekindling the relationship later in the year – which marked a point when Pell said they ‘really started looking at life together.’

The newly-engaged couple was seen at a luxury hotel in Italy last month

The newly-engaged couple was seen at a luxury hotel in Italy last month 

The pair was seen enjoying a vacation in The Bahamas in 2019

The pair was seen enjoying a vacation in The Bahamas in 2019 

He added: ‘Sometimes our frustrations or our other distractions in life – a career, or things and logistics of life – that don’t align. They push us away.

‘And then when you get some distance from somebody, you realize, “Wow, I mean, maybe there’s challenges to what we’re doing.” Maybe we’re not exactly the same person, but we have way more similarities than we have differences. There’s something to be said for that. And that’s what it was for us.’

Pell and Mertz have begun discussing the wedding process, according to the outlet, as the nuptials could come in Texas later this year or early next year.

‘We’ve talked about every type of wedding at this point,’ Pell said. ‘We started talking about a small destination wedding with friends and family and then, we’ve talked about big weddings as well.’

Pell told People that Texas ‘is a destination wedding for some people,’ and that ‘everybody wants to go visit Texas and wear a cowboy hat, and that type of thing.

‘So yeah, we’ve got my family ranch in Texas and my mom has been working on having a wedding venue there, actually, for a couple of years. So we’re excited about having it there.’

The duo, seen on a hiking excursion in Sedona, Arizona, have been together since 2018

The duo, seen on a hiking excursion in Sedona, Arizona, have been together since 2018 

The glamorous couple was seen relaxing on a boat in Capri, Italy

The glamorous couple was seen relaxing on a boat in Capri, Italy

Pell said he and Mertz intended on inviting many Bachelor Nation personalities.

‘There’s a lot of folks that live in Nashville and that we’re both friends with,’ he said. ‘And so those folks would be invited, for sure. We stayed close with them.

‘And then, some of the other ones I’ve stayed close with from my season, Chase McNary out in Scottsdale, where I would spend a lot of time for work … it’s going to be exciting to reunite with that family as well.’

Pell said ‘the best part’ of being engaged is that he and Mertz are ‘excited about just taking on life together.

‘You know, you’re on the same team and you really start to feel that as you’re committing and moving toward marriage and now being engaged. It’s a strange thing after you’ve spent so many years single and used to just solving life’s problems as an individual. And then, when you have somebody to help with that, it’s just a cool feeling.’



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Originally posted 2022-07-08 06:56:02.