Hoda Kotb is opening up about her upcoming wedding to longtime love Joel Schiffman.
In a new interview with People magazine, the TODAY co-anchor mused about finding bliss in both marriage and motherhood at age 55.
“If someone had said to me when I was a little girl, ‘Hey Hoda, guess what your life is going to be like: When you’re 49 or 50, you’re going to meet the guy you’re going to fall in love with, and you’re going to have children at 55 and 56,’ I would have been like, ‘What?’ It just shows you, the perfect life for you, and this is for me, is exactly as it comes,” Hoda, 55, told the magazine.
“Everything may look out of order, and it kind of feels it a little bit, but it is all right on time,” she added.
As for the wedding ceremony, Hoda and Joel plan to keep things low-key — and fun.
“We may go back to the place we were engaged in Mexico. Lots of margaritas and Mexican food. Keep the tequila on tap! But, we haven’t thought about it too much, nothing we do is about bells and whistles in that way," she shared, adding, "If he said let’s do it right now, I would. All I want it to be is fun and happy and everybody to feel easy breezy."
“No coordinated bridesmaids, just come as you are,” said Hoda. “That’s the theme of the rest of my life.”
Hoda surprised viewers on Nov. 25 when she shared the joyous news that she and Joel, 61, would be tying the knot after six years together.
"I have to tell you something that a friend of mine, a friend of ours, asked me to let you guys in on a secret,'' Hoda said. "I'll give you her initials. Her initials are Hoda Kotb, and she's engaged."
Joel had proposed during dinner over the weekend while the two were on a tropical vacation.
"We ended up having a little dinner on the beach," she added. "And he was like, 'I have something else I would like to say,' and he said some beautiful things, and then he got down on one knee. Then he said, 'Would you be my wife?'''
The happy couple began dating in 2013 and have adopted two children together, daughters Haley Joy, 2, and Hope Catherine, the latter of whom joined their growing family in April.
Just this week, Hoda told viewers she and Joel planned to wed "sooner rather than later."
She also revealed they would make adorable Haley Joy and Hope Catherine a part of their wedding ceremony.
"We said to Haley, 'Mommy and Daddy love each other so we're having a party,''' Hoda said. "She's gonna be in it. And Hope, too."