Joey Graziadei got engaged to Kelsey Anderson on Monday’s Bachelor finale, and, as he mentioned earlier in the season, Joey doesn’t want to rush to the altar.
“We want to promise our lives together, but we don’t want to rush it,” Joey, 28, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue in a joint interview with Kelsey, 25. “It’s time now to enjoy this. We have the rest of our lives to celebrate it. We’re going to take it day by day and just enjoy this time.”
Kelsey suspects she and Joey will stay engaged for two or three years. “I honestly don’t know what I want my wedding to look like,” she says. “I definitely want all my close friends and family there. I think I want a very timeless wedding, but where? Not sure. I guess we’re going to have to figure that out.”
The tennis pro points out that a longer engagement will give him and his fiancée more time to plan. “I’m sure more ideas will come out of that,” Joey says. “We have no interest in putting it off, we just don’t want to rush through it. We want it to be something that feels special together.” In the meantime, the couple wants to plan an engagement party this summer in New Orleans, where Kelsey lives. “I’m excited to celebrate our love and for everyone to meet Joey,” the junior project manager says.
After celebrating in New Orleans, Joey and Kelsey plan to bring their lives under one roof in New York City.
“I’ve always wanted to live there and Joey is supporting me in that,” Kelsey shares. “We’re young and I think now is the time to live in a tiny, cramped apartment together and experience it. Even if we hate it, at least we can say we did it.”
For more on The Bachelor, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.
Joey thinks “it’s going to be fun” living in the Big Apple.
“Anyone that knows me personally knows that beach, warm weather, all of that has been my vibe. I lived in Hawaii, but I’ve really come to love in New York from the time I spent there,” the Bachelor says. “It does have a different feel. I’ve never lived in a big city. My family lives in Philly area and I have close friends [there], so the idea of being close to them finally is going to be great. I think it is the right time to do it, so we’re excited.”
The newly engaged pair want to make the move to N.Y.C. by the end of the summer and “spend a year or two there,” according to Joey.
Although Kelsey and Joey don’t have plans to say “I do” just yet, she thinks the Philadelphia native will be “an amazing husband.”
“He’s going to be an amazing father,” Kelsey gushes. “Joey is very intentful with his words and his actions. He really grounds me. Through this whole experience, I saw so many qualities in him that just really struck me. A lot of those qualities were what my dad showed and I saw them in Joey, which my mom always told me, ‘You need to find somebody that has the same qualities as your dad,’ and I do feel like I found that.”
Joey feels like Kelsey balances him out.
“I have a tendency sometimes to take things too serious, to overthink things, to just kind of not be able to sometimes let it be what it’s going to be, and she does that with ease,” he says. “She just has this fun energy about her. No matter whoever she meets in the room, she makes them feel seen and special, and has this bright light about her. I’ve always said, ‘I can’t imagine how I wouldn’t enjoy life when I have her by my side.’“
Kelsey’s mom died in 2018 from breast cancer, but the reality star has felt her mother’s presence throughout her Bachelor journey. Kelsey considers butterflies a symbol of her mom, and one followed her and Joey around during her hometown date in New Orleans.
Kelsey recently encountered a butterfly with a broken wing after leaving work on a windy day. “I went down and I put my hand next to it and it crawled up my hand and it just wouldn’t leave. I drove back home with it on my hand,” she says. “Then I put it on a little flower by my house where it’s not so windy. That was really special to me and it made me so emotional, but happy emotions. I think that those are just signs of my mom.”
Since they couldn’t be together after filming wrapped in order to keep the show’s outcome a secret, Kelsey had to share the news with Joey via FaceTime.
“She sent me a text that day like, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God,’” Joey recalls. “I was like, ‘Oh, something’s wrong.’ And then all of a sudden I get this FaceTime and she’s like, ‘Look what it is.’ Just like a butterfly in her hand.”
Now, with the news of their engagement out in the world, Kelsey and Joey look forward to working through a list of activities they made together.
“We have a shared note and we both add to it,” Kelsey says. “There’s dance classes, pottery classes, grocery shopping — little things together and the big things. I’m just excited to do life together and just run to the store together.”
Joey can’t wait to travel and “see the world” with Kelsey, he says. “But then also just be a normal couple because we haven’t gotten a chance to do that yet, so a lot to look forward to.”
The Bachelor is streaming now on Hulu.
