Gerry Turner Believes ‘Fate Played a Hand’ in His Decision to Move to Charleston with Theresa Nist (Exclusive)
Golden Bachelor Gerry lives in Indiana and Theresa hails from New Jersey, but after getting engaged, they decided to start their future together down South
Jim Wright
Gerry Turner and Theresa NistFrom The Bachelor Mansion to a sprawling Southern dream home!
After getting engaged on Thursday’s Golden Bachelor finale, Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist tell PEOPLE they plan to start their lives together in Charleston, South Carolina.
“One of the things that I think fate played a hand in is the possibility of where we might wind up living,” Gerry says. “For the last couple of years, when my family gets together, I've talked about moving to South Carolina, and it's an idea I've toyed with. And then in conversation with Theresa, a private moment, she's saying, ‘Well, yeah, my son lives near Charleston in South Carolina.’”
Gerry currently lives in Indiana and Theresa hails from New Jersey, but that conversation made it easy for the couple to decide where they should reside.
Jim Wright
“And all of a sudden it's like, there's a big problem that is gone,” Gerry says. “The issue of compromising on where to live and how to reconcile families and all of that is, it's no longer an issue.”
The reality stars hope their families will visit often. “We want to have a house that's so inviting that everyone would want to come,” Theresa, 70, says. “Maybe a pool so they all want to come and have fun.”
Lucky for Gerry and Theresa, their kids have already bonded.
“Our daughters, they're like sisters now,” the father of two says.
Theresa agrees. “My daughter says, ‘Thank you for giving me two more sisters,’” the financial services professional says. “She has a sister-in-law already but now, two more sisters.”
John Fleenor/disney
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist on 'The Golden Bachelor' finaleAfter his hometown date with Theresa’s family, Gerry saw her family as his own.
“I looked at Jen and it was like, ‘This could be my own daughter,’” Gerry says of his fiancée’s daughter. “ I literally was having those thoughts because she was so kind and she was so sensitive to the situation, to her mom and to me. The whole dynamic just worked.”
Theresa and Gerry plan to bring their families together to celebrate Hanukkah this month. “We'll have a holiday dinner together with everyone,” Gerry says.
As they’ve continued getting to know each other over phone calls and text messages these last few months, Gerry and Theresa learned they share similar views on one very important — albeit unromantic — facet of combining their lives.
“Financially, we're the same,” Gerry says. “The way we handle money is the same.”
Theresa clarifies that that means the pair consider themselves “somewhat frugal.”
While Gerry and Theresa look forward to moving in together, they don’t have an exact plan for when that will happen.
“We've had conversations and we've narrowed it down to a time window, but that's always in flux,” the retired restaurateur says. “We have two homes to sell. We have other events that we're going to have to deal with and so forth.”
One major event: their live, televised wedding that will air on ABC in January.
“When you're in your 20s and you put something off for a year, it's a very small percentage of your life,” Gerry says. “In your 70s, the clock ticks faster. And I'm 100% certain I found the right girl for me. So it's like, why not?”
Gerry can’t wait for his future to unfold, but Theresa keeps him grounded.
“Fortunately, Theresa is the more patient, I think, of the two of us,” he says. “Me, I'm like, ‘Come on, let's go, it's time to go have fun. Life's a wasting. Let's go.’”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The Golden Wedding will air Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
