Bachelorette Alums Trista and Ryan Sutter Celebrate 21st Anniversary

Ryan Sutter and Trista Sutter are celebrating 21 years of wedded bliss.

“I struggle to find new words to describe how much I love you or new ways to express how much you mean to me,” Ryan, 50, wrote via Instagram on Friday, December 6, alongside a black-and-white selfie of him and wife Trista.

“It’s difficult to explain but so easy to feel. You make it so easy to feel so good, so happy, so much joy and gratitude and peace within,” the former NFL player continued. “Not much about life is easy anymore, not much except loving you…. And I do and I have and I will – for every second since I said I do…. #happyyanniversary mama. HIF. #love.”

Ryan was chosen by Trista as the winner of the inaugural season of The Bachelorette, which aired on ABC in 2003. Trista, for her part, celebrated her nuptials to Ryan on Friday as well, sharing a photo of the pair from their wedding via Instagram.

Related: Bachelorette’s Trista Sutter and Ryan Sutter’s Relationship Timeline

Many Bachelor Nation couples struggle to stick together after the show, but the original Bachelorette, Trista Sutter, seems to have found her happily ever after with husband Ryan Sutter. “I decided going in that I needed to give myself wholeheartedly to the experience in order for it to work,” Trista recalled to Us Weekly exclusively […]

“It was Dec. 6, 2003 and I didn’t think I could be any happier,” she wrote. “🤍 As I look back to that incredibly special day, I recognize that I was in fact, insanely happy. Definitely the happiest I had ever been. But throw a life woven together over 21 years with babies and fur babies, peaks and valleys, love and lots and lots of laughter — and I know a different happiness. A true, solid, faithful, happiness where I feel seen, known and deeply loved.”

She concluded, “I cherish them both. I cherish you, @ryansutter. Happy Anniversary, babe. HIF ❤️.”

Ryan and Trista tied the knot in 2003 during a three-part televised special. Now, the pair share two children: son Maxwell, 13, who they welcomed in 2007, and daughter Blakesley, 11, who they welcomed in 2009.

Trista has previously spoken about her and Ryan’s secret to a lasting marriage, telling Today in 2015, “It’s just like your job. You have to put in the time and effort and energy that you do into everything else in your life, and I feel like [Ryan and I] do that.”

Related: Bachelorette’s Ryan and Trista Sutter ‘Struggled’ Before 20th Anniversary

Two decades after finding love on the inaugural season of The Bachelorette, Ryan Sutter confessed to facing some highs and lows in his marriage to Trista Sutter. “They never said it would be easy but this year was easily one of the craziest, most challenging, most unpredictable years of the 20 we’ve now spent together,” […]

She added at the time, “We’ve had our bumps in the road, just like anyone else, but it’s really about staying focused on each other and dedicating time to each other.”

In 2020, Trista spoke about the experience of having a televised wedding, revealing on an episode of the “LadyGang” podcast that Bachelorette producers had planned certain storylines during her big day.

“I know that it has been going on since my season, but that’s TV,” she shared during the November 2020 interview. “That’s what they have to do. The editors need to know who these people are and be able to pull certain clips from their ITMs (in-the-moments). It’s a TV show, it’s always going to be a TV show. It’s getting [to be] more of a TV show, I feel like, compared to how it was back in the day.”