Hoda Kotb Shares the Special Role Her Daughters Will Have in Her Wedding

From House Beautiful

• Today co-host Hoda Kotb, 55, announced her engagement to her longtime boyfriend, Joel Schiffman, in late November.

• Kotb revealed that her daughters will play a special role in the wedding, and that they’re looking at Mexico as a possible destination.

• While an exact wedding date isn’t confirmed, Kotb has started planning the ceremony.

Hoda Kotb and Joel Schiffman are ready to tie the knot after announcing their engagement in November 2019. The Today with Hoda & Jenna star previously said that she wants to have her wedding "sooner rather than later," and she's already started planning the romantic affair.

In the midst of workshopping their guest list, Kotb guaranteed two adorable members of their wedding party: her daughters Haley Joy and Hope Catherine.

"I can't even believe I'm saying that sentence: Our kids being part of our wedding," she told E! News. "Haley's been asking me, 'What is it? What's going on?' She's like, 'Am I coming to the party?' And I say, 'Yes, you're coming.' They're going to walk. Joel and I will be there, and the rest of it is just icing."

Hoda, who adopted Haley, 3, with Schiffman, explained to both of her daughters that they are having a celebration. "We said to Haley, 'Mommy and Daddy love each other so we’re having a party,'" Hoda previously said on Today. "She’s gonna be in it. And Hope, too."

And who knows ... maybe there will be another Kotb-Schiffman child in attendance. The NBC anchor revealed that she and Schiffman are thinking of welcoming a third baby. "Joel and I have talked about expanding just because we feel like we feel like we have room and we have love and we have everything," she said. "Do everything you can while you're here. You get one ride."

As someone who has such a relaxed, optimistic approach to life, it should come as no surprise that Hoda Kotb is taking wedding planning one step at a time. Here's everything else she's shared about her wedding day, so far.

When is Kotb’s wedding—and where will it be?

Kotb wants her upcoming wedding to be intimate. "I think it’s going to be super simple, like no big deal," she recently told Ellen DeGeneres. "We’ll bring some friends. We’ll probably be on a beach somewhere."

Kotb announced her surprise engagement to Schiffman on Nov. 25. Although she hasn’t released her exact wedding date yet, we do know that the Mexican beach they got engaged on is high on the destination list. "We may go back to the place we were engaged in Mexico," she told People. "Lots of margaritas and Mexican food. Keep the tequila on tap!"

Hoda said they vacation there often, which is why it could be the perfect place. "Nothing we do is about bells and whistles in that way," she said. "So it always sort of meant something. Something special to our relationship, in Mexico."

And they want to tie the knot sooner rather than later. When her Today With Hoda & Jenna co-host Jenna Bush Hager asked how long they have to wait until the big day, Kotb said it will probably come “sooner rather than later, because we think, ‘Why are we waiting?'"

But Kotb ensures she's not making a big deal about the ceremony. "Whatever the opposite of bridezilla is, is me," she told People. "I couldn’t give two rips about that part of the story."

"All I want it to be is fun and happy and I just want everybody to feel easy breezy. No coordinated bridesmaids,” she told People. “Come as you are. That’s the theme of the rest of my life.” She wants everything to be as relaxed as her relationship feels. “It’s one of the most natural relationships I’ve ever been in,” she said. “I’m so happy, I really am.”

Who is Joel Schiffman?

Speaking of Schiffman, he's an absolute catch, and he and Kotb have the cutest love story.

Schiffman is a Manhattan-based financier who has a long, successful history in finance. Today he works as Head of U.S. Defined Contribution and Insurance Sales at Schroder Investment Management and has an estimated net worth of $19 million. Actually, Kotb and Schiffman met when their careers crossed paths in 2013.

It was one of those events they ask us to speak at and it was pouring rain and it was a bunch of Wall Street guys. I didn't even want to go," Hoda shared on Bethenny Frankel's former talk show Bethenny. "They asked me to sign some books and one guy is like, 'Can you sign it to my grandma?' And this guy walks up and he's like, 'I'll take a book.' And I was like, 'Who do you want me to write it to—your girlfriend, your wife, your aunt?' And he goes, 'Write it to me.'"

They began to see each other and their relationship grew. The couple went public in 2015 after The Daily Mail published photos of them together in Miami. They moved in together in 2016, and Kotb has gushed about their relationship since, saying Schiffman has all of the qualities that she wanted in a partner, like patience, kindness, and sincerity.

What does Kotb's engagement ring look like?

Schiffman is also a romantic, so we've learned. The financier pulled off one of the most incredible marriage proposals to date.

"We went to our usual vacation, and we ended up having a little dinner on the beach. We were done with the dinner—I was eating churros and licking the bottom bowl," she said on Today. "Then he said, 'I have something else to say,’ and said some beautiful things. Then he got down on one knee and said, ‘Will you be my wife?'"

On November 25, Kotb showed off her engagement ring to the Today cast when she made her announcement. "Whoa, I didn't even notice! When did you put that on! Was that on the whole time?" Craig Melvin asked of Hoda's gorgeous ring. Savannah Guthrie grabbed Kotb's hand to get a closer look at the ring. "Wow. Oh my gosh, that is beautiful! Joel!"

The Diamond Pro expert Ira Weissman said the ring resembles a five-carat Asscher cut diamond set in a blue sapphire halo. "A ring of this impeccable quality could easily retail for over $250,000," he told GoodHousekeeping.com.

What will her wedding dress look like?

Kotb told E! News that her mom and stylist, Samantha Kotb, chose the gown. "She's picked everything for me, and she said, 'Honey, I don't know, do you want me to pick your wedding dress?' And I said, 'Well, you picked the first one, so yes, please pick the second one!'" Kotb said, referencing her previous marriage to Burzis Kanga.

"But this one is, you know, it's gonna be fun," she said. "So my mom’s in charge, and I’m so happy."

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