A premarital spat! 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way stars Ariela Weinberg and Biniyam Shibre are in the process of wedding planning, but it sounds like things aren’t going quite as smoothly as they’d like.
“It remains to be seen,” Ariela, 30, told Us Weekly exclusively when asked whether the couple have chosen a date yet. “I’ll leave that one on a cliffhanger.”
The pair met in 2019 when the freelance writer was traveling the world and stayed in Ethiopia for two months. When she found out she was expecting the couple’s son Avi, now 19 months, she decided to stay in the country so that Biniyam, 32, would be present for the birth.
Ariela Weinberg and Biniyam Shibre. Courtesy Ariela Weinberg/Instagram; Courtesy Biniyam Shibre/Instagram
Now, though, the reality star and her fiancé are facing another difficulty — choosing a location for their big day.
“Bini is a party person,” the New Jersey native explained. “He likes a big wedding, a big party and he likes to go all out.”
Biniyam, however, doesn’t think of it that way — he just wants all of his family to be able to attend.
“It’s not about partying,” he told Us. “In my culture, if you have to do a wedding, you have to do a big wedding. Like, your mother’s side, your father’s side. … That’s how I grew up.”
The TLC personality is hoping to tie the knot in his native Ethiopia, but Ariela isn’t sure about how to make the logistics work. “I think it’d be hard to get the whole family shipped out to Ethiopia,” she said, adding that she really wants her family to be able to attend as well.
Still, Biniyam has his heart set on a ceremony in Africa. “I want to show her an Ethiopian wedding, what it looks like,” he told Us. “My father’s side is very funny. My mother says it’s a different culture [with] a wedding ceremony. I want to show her — for Avi, for Avi’s family.” He, too, would have difficulty arranging travel for his family to come if the wedding happens in the United States.
“I think maybe we’ve got to talk about this one, because that sounds like a lot,” Ariela joked.
No matter where the nuptials happen, though, they’ll have one very special guest in tow: Avi.
“He is the happiest kid I have ever met,” Ariela told Us last year. “[2020] has been the craziest year of my life and it is out there for all the world to see. Honestly, our story is just going to get even crazier. Since Avi was born there have been no dull moments. You will see how we navigate being parents, and how our relationship grows over time.”
Season 3 of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way premieres on TLC Sunday, August 29 at 8 p.m. ET, with each new episode available to stream early on Fridays on Discovery+.
With reporting by Mandie DeCamp