Backstreet Boy Marries Sweetheart

Source: People Magazine (Sep 18, 2000)

Soon after they were engaged last Christmas, Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell and his future bride, actress Leighanne Wallace, pledged to wed the old-fashioned way -- without a prenup. "We don't need one," Littrell told PEOPLE. "I felt I was married the moment I met Leighanne. We believe in marriage, and this will be our only one."

On Sept. 2, in a 35-minute ceremony attended by 298 friends and relatives at the Peachtree Christian Church in Atlanta, Littrell, 25, and Wallace, 31, vowed to make good on that promise. A throng of fans outside the church craned for a glimpse of arriving bandmates A.J. McLean, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson, as Littrell became the second of the quintet to graduate from Backstreet Boy to married man (his cousin Richardson, 28, wed in June). "They look so happy and so in love," bridesmaid Kim Berg says of the couple, who met at a 1997 video shoot. "Seeing them makes you never want to settle for anything less."

"She has given him balance in his life," Littrell's friend Jordan Keller says of the couple. The festivities began Aug. 30 with a coed "panty shower" that endowed Littrell and Wallace with piles of his-and-hers underwear. Two nights later the couple hosted a rehearsal dinner at their sprawling home outside Atlanta before checking into separate suites at the Four Seasons Hotel. "Here was the most relaxed person you could imagine," Berg says of Wallace. "I had to have a Valium, but she knew everything would be fine." -colored beaded gown by Vera Wang (who also ), hid the dress in "a secret closet [of their home] so Brian " says Berg. It worked. "He was breathless when he saw her come down the ."
On Sept. 2, in a 35-minute ceremony attended by 298 friends and relatives at Wallace, who wore a champagne-colored beaded gown by Vera Wang (who also designed her six attendants' gowns), hid the dress in "a secret closet [of their home] so Brian would be surprised," says Berg. It worked. "He was breathless when he saw her come down the aisle."
At the reception, guests danced to a swing band and feasted on bourbon-roasted ham and sweet-potato biscuits. Littrell serenaded his wife with a song ("You Are") written specially for the occasion. "There were a lot of teary eyes," says wedding planner Michele Arwood. "It was a very moving moment." Littrell and Wallace, who will appear together in an upcoming indie film, Olive Juice (due next year), are sure they can keep that moment going. Upon leaving the reception, guests received photos of the newlyweds printed with the inscription "And they lived happily ever after."