Gayle King loves every opportunity she gets to gush about her kids. It's only right that the proud mom was the first to share some exciting news with the world.
Gayle's daughter, health and wellness marketer Kirby Bumpus, has tied the knot. Kirby and Virgil Miller got married in a ceremony at dear friend Oprah Winfrey's Santa Barbara home in December.
Though she was excited to share the experience, Gayle had to respect Kirby's wishes not to share the news immediately. On February 1, Gayle announced her daughter's marriage on CBS This Morning.
Gayle and Kirby also talked about the wedding with O, The Oprah Magazine, sharing so many details from the special day.
In February 2019, Gayle King got to share the exciting news that her daughter got engaged. Kirby Bumpus agreed to marry Virgil Miller, and Gayle was excited to help the couple plan for the big day. They were well into the swing of planning when March 2020 hit, and everything changed.
Kirby and Virgil live on the West Coast, while Gayle is based in the East. The couple still wanted to get married in 2020, so they had to rethink the entire experience. The couple ended up saying their "I dos" at longtime family friend Oprah Winfrey's Santa Barbara home.
With Kirby's blessing, Gayle was able to share photos with O, The Oprah Magazine readers.
"It wasn't the wedding we planned, but it was absolutely perfect," Gayle said. They also weren't anticipating a professionally photographed event, but fate had other plans for the six-person gathering.
As Gayle explained, photographer Joe Pugliese happened to be around.
"Joe doesn't normally do weddings, but Oprah just so happened to be shooting something on her property that got canceled at the last minute, so we lucked out and had a professional photographer who followed all pandemic protocol. I'm so glad we have those memories, because the photos are stunning," Gayle noted.
While they were able to have a photographer, there were a lot of adaptations that needed to be made. Kirby's brother, Gayle's son Will, got ordained to marry the couple to minimize the number of people there. Kirby had dress fittings conducted over Zoom.
"Nobody knows Kirby the way her brother does, so for him to do the ceremony felt meant to be," Gayle noted.
Gayle admitted there were some parts of the day that were hard for her to miss. She couldn't be in the house with Kirby as she got ready. She didn't get to hug her on her wedding day.
Following the ceremony, the family celebrated some elements of a reception. There were "socially distant hors d'oeuvres and cake, and socially distant dancing." While it wasn't what she imagined, Gayle was thrilled to see her daughter so happy and to welcome a new member to the family.
"My son, Will, says, 'We call ourselves a tripod, and that day with Virgil, we became a perfect square,'" Gayle said.
"Kirby really is so happy, and nothing beats when your children are happy."
