Tennis Star Serena Williams Marries Alexis Ohanian

Williams, 36, and new husband Alexis Ohanian, 34, have tied to knot after announcing their engagement in December 2016, sources tell PEOPLE. The ceremony comes just 11 weeks after the couple welcomed their baby girl, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., on Sept. 1 — almost two years after they began dating in 2015.

Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, and Williams, one of the greatest tennis stars on the planet, wed at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans in front of a slew of celebrity guests, including Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, Eva Longoria and husband José Bastón, and fellow tennis star Caroline Wozniacki with her new fiancé, NBA player David Lee.

The nuptials happened a day after the couple took part in a star-studded rehearsal dinner at celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse‘s restaurant Meril Wednesday night. Longoria, supermodel Selita Ebanks, Colton Haynes and Cynthia Erivo were among the guests at the glitzy dinner.

Rumblings of a Big Easy wedding started in October, when reports surfaced that the two had taken a brief trip to New Orleans to scope out potential venues (with their Yorkshire Terrier, Chip, in tow).

On Thursday, crews were seen tending to chic floral arrangements and making other preparations under white tents.

Earlier this month, the tennis legend celebrated her upcoming marriage with an ultra-swanky girls’ weekend in New York City alongside sister Venus Williams, close friends La La Anthony, Ciara and other pals.

Hosted at the opulent Baccarat Hotel & Residences, the luxurious weekend included five-star spa treatments, trapeze’ing, tea brunches, and dancing out on the town.

The nuptials also come shortly after Williams made her first red carpet appearance following baby Alexis’s birth — at the Glamour Women of the Year awards in New York City on Nov. 13. The new mom wore Versace as she presented pal Gigi Hadid with the Supernova Award.
Shortly before the wedding, Williams’ longtime coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, wished the pair a “very happy wedding” on Instagram.




Since they went public with their engagement in December, the couple hasn’t been shy about showing their love on social media. But Ohanian first hinted at their special connection at the 2015 U.S. Open, when he was there to cheer on Williams, sharing an Instagram photo captioned: “Come at the queen, you best not miss. #USOpen.”

Williams, who has 23 singles titles to date, announced the engagement with a poem. Naturally, she posted it on Reddit.

“I came home. A little late. Someone had a bag packed for me. And a carriage waited. Destination: Rome,” Williams wrote under her personal account.

“To escort me to my very own ‘charming.’ Back to where our stars first collided. And now it was full circle. At the same table we first met by chance,” she wrote. “But by choice. Down on knee. He said 4 words. And I said yes.”

Ohanian commented on the post, along with hundreds of other Reddit users, writing, “And you made me the happiest man on the planet.”

Later, the Reddit co-founder, who has a mixed Armenian-American and German heritage, tweeted out a post of appreciation to those who congratulated them on the news of their engagement. “Thank you all for the kind words. Especially from all my Armenian brothers and sisters debating when they can claim Serena as Armenian,” he wrote.

Source: PEOPLE