Lara Sophia 
Wedding bells will soon be ringing for Jim Edmonds and Kortnie O’Connor.
The Real Housewives of Orange County alum and his fiancée tease their plans for their dream wedding in Italy.
The couple got engaged in August 2021, a little more than a year after they went public with their romance.
Now the couple tells PEOPLE that they will get married in a “very small” ceremony on Sept. 25 at Villa D’Este in Lake Como, Italy.
“As I’m sure everyone knows, this isn’t Jim’s first time around. So we just wanted to make it about enjoying everybody — all of our close friends and family. An adventure for everybody to enjoy, not another wedding in the church,” Kortnie explains.
“I planned it in Italy for that reason,” she continues. “Jim’s never been there. I thought it might be an experience for his kids and just to celebrate our relationship and let everybody enjoy it as well. So that was the focus, as well as Lake Como is a really beautiful destination.”
Lee Petra Grebenau is designing Kortnie’s wedding dress. The bride-to-be admits she’s “just doing everything on the fly,” adding that “It’s a challenge, but it’s really fun. So I’m excited.”
As for why the couple picked Italy, Kortnie says Jim told her they could get married “wherever” she wanted.
“Italy was the first thought, actually. And it all started coming together. It just seemed like it was meant to be,” Kortnie adds.
Jim and Kortnie say they capped their wedding guest list to 30 “tight friends and family.” The former MLB player adds that he wants all his kids, including his three youngest children with ex-wife Meghan King involved in his and Kortnie’s big day.
“We want them to enjoy our day, our special day, our relationship, and then the area,” he says. “Like [Kortnie] said, I’ve never been there, and I thought it was pretty special that if we can get all there and comfortable and let them see stuff that they’ve never seen — I’ve never seen — I think that’s a big deal. My dad always instilled, ‘Hey, when you travel, pay attention and look around, and buy a shirt.’ When I worked, playing baseball, I never got a chance to really do too much of that.”
After saying I do, the couple reveals they plan to move to a more secluded location.
“I think that we’ve been looking maybe to moving more towards Tennessee a little bit to look for a farm. Either that or somewhere out away from everyone,” Jim reveals, noting that he’d like to get “off the beaten path for at least [a] portion of the time and not being in the mainstream.”
Kortnie, on the other hand, thinks having “a little more privacy” would be great for them.
As for expanding their family, the couple says they’ve “talked about everything,” from having a child to adopting a baby.
Jim says, “Everything is open and on the table right now for us. We’re having such a good time; there’s really no pull back on anything.”
