Turns out San Mateo's Dominic Briones was a winner after all. Two years after he was booted off CBS' reality TV show "Big Brother," Briones married Daniele Donato, a woman he met on the show.
The marriage took place in Huntington Beach on January 19, and it was anything but a routine wedding. Then again, neither was his proposal last August. He popped the question at the penguin exhibit at the St. Louis Zoo.
Briones, then 25, was the fourth person voted off the show in July of 2011 and said it was the most disappointing moment of his life up to then. He's not complaining now.
"I felt like I never had a real chance to play with people on my side," Briones said after he was evicted.
The bride and groom participated in a wedding more suited for the Sixties than the 2010s. Donato wore a dress that, she told the BHLDN website, symbolized her bohemian ways.
Posing for pictures after the ceremony around the Newland House Museum, Donato said "It's vintage but modern with little sequins in copper. I'm sort of a hippie girl. I saw the dress and immediately knew it was the one."
The dress was inspired by BHLDN, the Anthropologie wedding line.
Briones, who works as a model, wore purple Gap trousers with a checked purple and white shirt, cardigan and bow tie.
Briones waited at the altar as Donato walked toward him with the Beatles' classic "All You Need Is Love" accompanying her.
"We didn't want a traditional ceremony, because that's not exactly us," Donato said.
Guests included former Big Brother contestants and Amazing Race contestants.
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