Bachelor Alum Kelsey Anderson Talks Wedding Dress Shopping and Her Future Nuptials to Fiancé Joey Graziadei (Exclusive)

• During a conversation with PEOPLE amid her collaboration with David’s Bridal, Kelsey Anderson gives an update on wedding plans with fiancé Joey Graziadei. The couple hopes to get married in 2026 or 2027
• “I’m really excited to start planning it,” Anderson says of her wedding
• Trying on dresses within the David’s Bridal Spring 2025 Bridal Collection helped the bride-to-be figure out what wedding dress styles she likes before she officially starts shopping for her own gown

Kelsey Anderson is in her bridal era.

As the face of David’s Bridal‘s newest collection, which made its debut on Jan. 7, Anderson had the opportunity to try on many different silhouettes and styles of wedding dresses, which she exclusively tells PEOPLE helped give her ideas on what she will wear at her future wedding to fiancé Joey Graziadei.

“I’ve never tried on any wedding dress before, so this was really exciting and definitely put a lot of more thoughts into my mind because I didn’t realize how many different styles there are,” the bride-to-be says. “I think sometimes you have an idea in your head, then you go and try it on and it completely changes.”

The Spring 2025 Bridal Collection centers around the modern bride, craftsmanship and couture design. Created by David’s Bridal’s Head of Couture & Design, Viola Chan, and her team of in-house experts, the boutique-quality gowns are priced between $200 and $3,600. Every dress in the collection has a handmade element, with some requiring more than 20 hours of handwork to create. 

While playing dress-up, Anderson was most drawn to gowns with a sweetheart neckline. But she’s not set on any specific style for her big day yet.

“I think that I am going to pick whatever I feel most confident in,” she says.

Anderson tried on dresses from David’s Bridal about a month ago, but hasn’t officially gone wedding dress shopping. “But I’m really, really excited too,” she notes. Joining her in her search will be her closest friends from New Orleans, her sisters Taylor and Jordan, and Graziadei’s sisters Carly and Eleanor.

Her advice for other brides looking for the perfect wedding dress is simple: “listen to your gut” and “give some dresses chances.”

“Listen to that feeling that you have whenever you try on some of the dresses, and to try on a lot of dresses, because sometimes I think that dresses on the hanger look very different than what they look like on your body,” she says, noting that she disliked her engagement dress when she saw it on the hanger but fell in love with it once she tried it on.

Meanwhile, Graziadei — who proposed to Anderson during the season 28 finale of The Bachelor  — already knows he wants to wear a traditional tuxedo. 

“I think he wants a bow tie and just very simple, black and white,” Anderson says.

Although the couple do not have a wedding date or location set yet, they have a few ideas for their future nuptials.

“I’m really excited to start planning it. We are planning it in the next six months,” Anderson says.

She continues: “We’re not getting married this year, possibly next year or the following, because we got engaged so fast, we got engaged in two months. So we want to really take our time still getting to know each other and be really serious about the wedding, and we don’t want it to be a stressful thing. We want to be able to enjoy the process of picking out the things that matter most to us in our wedding.”

Graziadei might see Anderson before she walks down the aisle accompanied by her father and former The Golden Bachelorette contestant, Mark. Recently, the pair have talked about having a first look at their wedding.

“I’ve heard such good things about it just saying how the first look was that moment between them and their partner, and it was very special,” Anderson says. “And then they were also able to take pictures after, which was very convenient so that they could go straight to the reception after. Joey really loves that idea, and I’m definitely open to it.”

Either way, Graziadei will “definitely” get emotional when he sees his fiancée.

“Oh, I think he’s going to cry for sure, and I hope he cries, because I think that that’s always so special whenever there’s just a lot of emotions,” Anderson says. “I definitely think he’s going to be emotional.”

Especially because Graziadei won the latest season of Dancing with the Stars, Anderson will need a dress she can dance in. So, she’s considering getting a second dress for their reception.

“I think that I’m going to have to do a wardrobe change,” she says. “I also love the dramatics of a veil and things like that, so I think that I also am going to love just the idea of changing into a new dress.”

A second dress would also be helpful because the bride-to-be gets “very indecisive” when it comes to picking out her outfits.

“I can have two different vibes, one that maybe is a little bit more elegant and big and floofy whenever I’m walking down the aisle, and then something just easier to dance in and have a good time whenever I’m at the reception,” she rationalizes.

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She also wants her bridesmaids to feel special in their gowns, so she doesn’t “want to stick everyone in the same dress.”

“I think that I might do something where everyone’s similar but different, and everyone can feel confident in the style of dress that fits right for them,” she says. “I don’t want to put everyone in the same dress or force any of my bridesmaids to wear something that they don’t feel confident in.”

“I know that this day is about Joey and I also, it’s about our loved ones that have supported us in our relationship, and so I want all of my friends that are in our wedding to also feel beautiful,” she continues. “So that’s all I know is that I want them all to be able to pick their own dress.”

Another way the bride and groom want to honor their loved ones in their wedding is by paying tribute to Graziadei’s late grandmother and Anderson’s late mother. Anderson’s mother, Denise, died in 2018 after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I would love to do something that incorporates both of them in our special day because I feel like both of them shaped who we are and they have a big role in our life of why we are where we are now and how we got to here,” Anderson shares. “I was thinking maybe that could be within the flowers or little details in the wedding that just makes them feel like they’re there with us and close to us through it all.”