What's Up Backstreet Bride?
Source: The Orlando Sentinel
They're going to the chapel and they're gonna get married.
You may want to know even more before your good, long cry exactly where and when the blessed event between Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell and his betrothed will take place.
Sorry. To quote the Boys, you may "Want It That Way" but that's "All I Have To Give" to you.
We've been sworn to secrecy about the exact locale of the September wedding by The Backstreet Bride herself, who doesn't wish to share the nitty-gritty on her impending nuptials.
Who can blame her?
Since falling for her pop star honey, actress Leighanne Wallace has seen her beloved Chihuahuas kidnapped, gotten swarmed by giggling groupies during a visit to Kmart, and has seen the price of a midsize wedding ka-ching to nearly half-a-million dollars.
"We don't want to spend a boatload of money- we could've bought a house for what you spend for one night," Wallace said over the phone from Los Angeles, where the Boys have polishing up their latest CD. "But as soon as they find out it's one of the Backstreet Boys, the price rushes up!" Some clueless guests also think they can invite Aunt Martha and all the young 'uns to the festivities.
"That's been a big, huge thing to deal with," Wallace said. "We sent out 200 invitations. We had to put on the RSVP 'invited guests only,' but we still get them back with six names on them."
The happy couple also have had to use aliases throughout the wedding process to thwart the tabloids, settled on an indoor reception for fear of buzzing helicopters, and were forced to evaluate the reception hall not for charm or size, but for security and escape routes.
"You think you'd look at how pretty the celings are, but we were looking at how many doors there were and which ones we could get out of."
Which is not to say that Wallace has an regrets about tying the knot with Littrell.
"He's honest; he's good; he's funny; he's everything I've ever wanted," she cooed. "And of course, he's beautiful."
He's also smart, proposing in an impromptu picnic in 32-degree weather at Wallace's mother's house last Christmas in Georgia.
"It was a total surprise," Wallace said. "He was taking me outside and I thought he bought me a car. It was, like, 32 degrees and he had a picnic laid out...It only lasted about 10 minutes. We had to get back inside."
Ten minutes was enough time for Wallace to say yes through chattering teeth and for Littrell to slip some more ice on her finger- a 3-carat canary yello diamond surrounded by another carat's worth of white, trillion-cut diamonds.
Wallace and Littrell met when she appeared as an extra on the set of the Boys' video for "As Long As You Love Me." The blond actress has small parts on films (Wild America, My Fellow Americans) and the lead in a small film, Oli ve Juice, shot in and around Orlando that does not yet have a release date, Wallace said.
The couple's post-marriage home base will be the Atlanta area, where Wallace grew up, and where the couple recetnly purchased a 46-acre spread, according to the Atlanta Constitution. No, they won't be settling in Orlando because- brace yourselves- Wallace said they're selling their home in the Windermere area.
There will be seven bridesmaids and a flower girl, wearing champagne gold dresses, and six groomsmen and one ring bearer, wearing tuxes by the Italian designer Brioni, who also suited up the groom. Vera Wang has made "the dress". None of the Boys will sing or be in the wedding; Wallace said she just wants them to have fun.
What about wedding gifts? Have the couple gotten anything cool from celebrities- has Elton John, like, sent some fab salt shakers?
"Actually, he did just send us these two Versace vases. They're beautiful," Wallace said.
Fans have also been busy unloading their allowances at Dillard's, Macy's, Pottery Barn and other stores where the lovebirds have registered.
But are fans really OK with Wallace stealing their man? Weren't they going to marry him?
"Out of all the mail I get, 98 percent is encouraging congratulations and uplifting positive e-mails, and the other 2 percent are 'I hate you! Die!' "
Except when they're swarming the couple, such as an incident in May when giggling girls surround then during a quick visit to a suburban Kmart.
"You feel like an animal in the zoo. Everybody's gawking at you, pointing and freaking out and crying. And it's not so much the girls anymore- it's the mothers...Most of the girls are shy, but the mothers march right up to you."
Then, in July, the couple's Chihuahuas, Tyk Thomas and Litty Leigh, were dognapped. Although police recovered the dogs unharmed a few days later, the event shook the couple.
"It was just a horrible, horrible feeling. Needless to say, they have not been out of our sight."
So does that mean we can expect the pups in the wedding party?
"We thought about it," Wallace said, "but our pastor looked down on that." Drat. The would've looked so cute in those little Brioni tuxes.
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