Kim Coles’ Wedding Dress: See Exclusive Photos and Get All the Scoop!

Living Single‘s Kim Coles was just fine, well, living single, when she met her now-husband Reggie Mckiver. A former SWAT cop, he was assigned to be her security escort at a natural hair expo, and they were enjoying each other’s company, but they felt something special when Mckiver (who also owns a health food store) took her hand to read her energy and ended up holding it “a little big longer than he should have.” That fateful meeting all led to this: a sweet, intimate wedding in the Dominican Republic.

Linda Piechota

“[My heart] was open just enough for Reggie to come though and I’m so glad he did,” Coles tells PEOPLE. “I’m 53 and Reggie is 41 but I’m not a cougar. I can’t run that fast. I’m a meerkat or a prairie dog. It’s about the right energy. It wasn’t like I was trolling for younger men. It’s about energy. We’re ageless. Just two people on the same plane.”

After a long-distance courtship, Mckiver surprised her by proposing without a ring at an Olive Garden (“I didn’t have a stitch of makeup on!” Coles says, while Mckiver jokes, “I was just going to ask for the eggplant parmesan!”). But in a stroke of luck, he found his mom’s long-missing engagement ring at his sister’s house to give to Coles, and the wedding planning was set into motion.

The couple called their closest friends and family and asked if they’d be able to join them in the Dominican Republic for a super-small wedding, which ended up getting significantly bigger when Coles announced at a comedy gig that she’d be getting married that week. (“Me with my big mouth announced I was getting married! People asked where and I was like, you cant come, it’s a private wedding. We had to move the wedding from one beach to a whole other beach, but all the people from the tour showed up — 45 people in their bathing suits and towels — but they were very respectful.”)

RELATED PHOTOS: See tons of other fabulous celebrity wedding gowns!

Linda Piechota

Coles selected her dress, a strapless tulle number with mermaid hem, from a store called Della Curva that makes gowns “for the curvy bride.” And Coles was a low-maintenance bride as well.

“It was light and breezy and perfect for the beach. It was something I could zhuzz up … that wasn’t over the top,” she says. “I knew I was going to be carrying it thousands of miles away, and I knew I didn’t want to carry it in a separate garment bag. I folded that dress and put it in my suitcase and then just hung it up and in the humidity it steamed itself!”

And the rest of her look stayed true to her low-key vibe. “The belt that I wore was a scarf that I have had for years,” she says “Same with the earrings. The shoes were some $10 silver glitter thongs from Target. I didn’t need any red-bottom shoes if I was going to be walking on the beach! The bracelets I already owned. It was pretty, lovely and simple. Not overdone. I didn’t stress about the dress. It just all fell into place. It was just easy — just like the relationship has been. Aside from the fact that I don’t know how to cook. But he does!”

Linda Piechota

Though this wedding was small, the couple has a second wedding coming up August 21 that will be planned by David Tutera. “It couldn’t be any better,” she says. “Now we’ll have bridesmaids and groomsmen. It’ll be a whole other thing. We got to have our own private thing and now we get to have the big extravaganza.”

Do you love her dress? How about her DIY accessories? Share your thoughts below!

— Alex Apatoff, reporting by Patrick Gomez
Follow @nicefunalex

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