The Bachelor’s Hannah Ann Sluss Marries NFL Star Jake Funk in Intimate Italian Wedding Ceremony! (Exclusive)

Hannah Ann Sluss is married!

On Wednesday, June 26, the 27-year-old former Bachelor star married NFL player Jake Funk in an intimate ceremony in the picturesque Italian countryside.

The couple, who publicly announced their relationship in February 2022 and got engaged in January 2023, exchanged vows in a private ceremony at a twelfth-century castle nestled in Tuscany.

“We decided it would just be us and to really focus on the commitment and significance of marriage,” Sluss exclusively tells PEOPLE. “It’s easy to get caught up in all the glitz and glam.”

“So having our wedding just for us made the most sense and made it meaningful,” she adds.

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When choosing a destination, the newlyweds explained that they wanted to pick a place that they had visited before. Although Sluss had spent the past two summers in Italy attending cooking classes, she’d never been to Tuscany.

Now that they’ve said “I do,” the pair is diving straight into exploring Tuscany before a honeymoon in Switzerland then finally heading to Miami for a big reception party with friends and family in July.

“We are doing two in one, which made sense for us,” Funk, a running back for the Detroit Lions, says. “We could just knock both of those out and then not have to wait until after football season to have an actual honeymoon.”

“We plan to indulge in food and cooking classes and really start off our marriage by teaching him how to cook,” Sluss continues, adding that they also hosted a family celebration as a final send off before departing to Europe.

For the ceremony, Sluss embraced Italian culture by walking down the aisle to Italian music, as their photographer Janna Brown, captured the moment on camera.

For her walk down the aisle, she wore a custom dress from The Wedding Studio, a small boutique in Indiana, which she discovered through HGTV. The Nashville native purchased the dress while she was living in Indianapolis with Funk, while he was playing for the Indianapolis, Colts.

“It’s exactly what I wanted,” she says. “I felt it was simple enough, yet elegant and timeless.”

Funk opted for a classic tuxedo from The Gentleman’s Playbook and his KAY Jewelers wedding band, which the couple had engraved with their initials on the inside was a nod to Funk’s dad, who did the same thing for his mom on their wedding day.

“It was a way to honor his dad and continue that tradition,” Sluss says. “I thought it was really special because often there are many customizations for girls, but for a guy, this was a deep gesture.”

Reflecting on the planning process, Funk says Sluss took the lead and did a remarkable job.

“I think the main thing is just doing things at your own pace,” Sluss says. “For us, we really wanted our families to feel included and involved. So we had a celebration with just our family, and that was really great for us because at a lot of weddings I’ve been to, there’s so much happening all at once.”

She adds, “That’s been my biggest piece of advice: do whatever makes you and your husband feel your best and whatever will make you the most excited.”

Looking towards the future, the newlyweds are eager to return to Miami, proudly wearing their wedding bands, and celebrate with their family and friends as they embark on their life together.

“Our future is very unpredictable,” Sluss says. “We never know where we’re going to be living or what he’ll even be doing, so having a best friend to take on whatever life throws at you is what I’m most excited about.”

“Just celebrating us and the life that we want to build together from this point on,” Funk adds.