You know her best as the Olympic figure skater who in 1998 became the youngest athlete to ever win the gold in the Winter Olympics at just 15. Now, rather than planning for the next Winter Games, Tara Lipinski is planning her wedding, but as she tells Bustle over the phone she still has a lot to do before walking down the aisle and tying the knot with her fiancé Todd Kapostasy. Thankfully, Lipinski says her BFF Johnny Weir will be a huge part of her big day.
"Johnny will definitely be involved in the entire process," Lipinski says. "Yes, I can say that. It was great that he was able to fly in for the engagement party. I couldn't have imagined it without him."
On Saturday, May 21, Lipinski held her engagement party in Los Angeles with help from celebrity wedding planner Mindy Weiss and Wedding Paper Divas. Lipinski says the party turned out amazing. And her favorite part? Her beautiful dress designed by Mark Zunino.
I was like, "I don't know if I want to wear a tight dress or a princess dress," and [Mark] was like, "Don't worry, we'll do both." So, I had the detachable skirt, which was really, really fun. To have a custom couture made gown was insane. Obviously, with Johnny, I kept sending pictures along the way and he was just so excited to see it and Todd loved it, so that was a really fun part.
Seeing how much Weir loved her engagement party dress, I can only imagine how he'll feel about Lipinski's wedding dress. Actually, while chatting with Bustle, the former figure skater was trying on wedding dresses for the first time. "As I speak to you, I'm sitting in one for the very first time," she says laughing. "It is so much fun. I feel like I will never want to pick one. I just want to keep doing this."
When it comes to planning her wedding... well, the planning hasn't really begun, but Lipinski hopes she and Kapostasy will be able to get a lot of it done before she heads to Rio as a correspondent at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Since Weir is going to be part of the entire process, I'm sure he can lend a helping hand. "He's pretty good at just supporting and he's like, 'What do you want me to wear?'" she says of her friend. "I think that will be a fun process for the both of us to do together."
The two have a friendship that is something many people long for and one that surely seems like it will stand the test of time. They first worked together in 2010 and as Lipinski says, "We hit it off right off the bat." The 33-year-old Olympian says it was one of "those immediate connections." That said, they didn't see each other again until 2014, but the time gap didn't affect their bond whatsoever. As she explains,
I didn't see him for four years and the moment we started commentating together it just was one of those very fast friendships. I think it's very rare you'll be able to work with someone and also be best friends with someone. To have that, there's really nothing more special — to be able to trust someone so much and know that they have my back 100 percent.
What makes Lipinski and Weir's friendship even more special is that they truly know one another inside and out. Basically, they are the epitome of BFFs.
Pretty much now that we work together so much and spend so much time together, we've become so close. He knows everything about me and I know everything about him. We don't even have to speak anymore, I just know by a look. I just think, for me, I'm grateful and feel really blessed that he popped into my life. It's just icing on the cake that I get to work with him.
I can only imagine the two are going to become even closer as they plan her upcoming wedding.
Images: John & Joseph Photography for Wedding Paper Divas
