Everyone’s favorite The Bachelorette couple (just mine?), Trista and Ryan Sutter revealed the secrets to their TV-perfect marriage in an exclusive interview with Women's Health.
The pair is as smiley as ever, but they’re not afraid to get real about the work they've put into their relationship either, crediting a marriage counseling app with helping keep their magic alive.
To refresh your memory (there have been 23 seasons of the mega-popular show, after all), Trista was the first-ever Bachelorette in 2002, coming off of the very first season of The Bachelor as Alex Michel’s runner-up. She fell in love with hunky firefighter Ryan and married him the following year.
Fifteen years and two kids later, they’re still going strong—and now they're spilling how.
1. Never stop making your partner a priority.
"You need to put the time and effort into your relationship just as much as you put time and effort into everything else," says Trista. That could be something as simple as writing a cute Valentine's Day poem to your sweetheart, like the Sutters did.
"Roses are red 🌹 / Denim is blue 👖/ You’re my angel on earth 😇/ And I’ll always choose you 🎯/ Happy Valentine’s Day, babe!!" Trista wrote on Instagram today.
Ryan was ready with the perfectly poetic comeback: "Roses can be white. But white denim is risky. Can’t wait to get home so we can get Frisky!!! 😉😜"
2. You don’t need a "problem" to benefit from professional counseling.
"We just found out about a [marriage counseling] app called Lasting. We partnered with them to spread the word about getting the help you need before you might even need it," says Trista.
Watch another couple from "The Bachelor" test their marriage capability:
3. Proactively avoid the rut.
"We keep things exciting by trying to take advantage of any moment that doesn't involve our children," says Trista. According to the OG bachelorette's Instagram, the Sutters shake things up by traveling together, playing winter sports, and of course, making the occasional television appearance...
"You keep things exciting by keeping things exciting," adds Ryan. “When we have an opportunity to do something, we do it. You have to try. We just try."
4. Keep the romance alive.
"The most romantic thing Ryan has done for me is write a poem to me on the show and then turn it into a song recorded by Brad Paisley," Trista recalls. "He surprised me with that as our first dance on our wedding night." (And that's how you stay together for 15 years, y'all.)
