'Bringing Up Bates' Star Warden Bates Marries Kaybrie Patterson in Surprise Ceremony
Bringing Up Bates'Warden Bates and Kaybrie Patterson are married!
Warden, 23, and Kaybrie, 19, announced on Thursday, May 28, that they married on May 5. The couple moved up the ceremony so that Patterson's father, who died on May 8 from colon cancer, could be there to walk his daughter down the aisle.
"Three years ago, my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, and for three years he fought hard," Kaybrie wrote on Instagram. "When we were recently told his liver was failing and treatment was no longer an option, our world changed. And yet, right in the middle of all that heartbreak, one of the happiest moments of my life happened. I got engaged to the love of my life, and we began planning our big wedding celebration for this September."
"As my dad continued to decline and we were faced with the reality of hospice care, I came face to face with something I had never allowed myself to imagine," she continued. "I could not picture a life where my dad was not the one to walk me down the aisle. So we decided to gather our immediate families and share a small, private ceremony together while we still could."
"On May 5th, my dad walked me down the aisle. It was simple, emotional and beautiful in a way I will spend the rest of my life trying to find words for," she added. "The next day he became unresponsive, and three days later he went home to be with the Lord."
Along with Kaybrie's father and mother, Warden's parents Gil and Kelly Jo Bates were present for the intimate ceremony.
Though the couple already married, Kaybrie confirmed she and Warden will still have a wedding celebration in September with the rest of their friends and family.
The Bateses first hard-launched their relationship on Instagram on March 17 before announcing their engagement on May 2.
Shortly after announcing the wedding news, Kaybrie confirmed on her Instagram Story that the dress she wore for the May nuptials will not be the same one she wears for the September ceremony.
Warden is best known for his family's upTV reality series, Bringing Up Bates, which documented his parents and their 19 children for 10 seasons from 2015 to 2021.
Congratulations to the happy couple!
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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 3:08 PM.