Modern Family Star Eric Stonestreet Opens Up About Ultra-Private Wedding
Eric Stonestreet, the beloved actor from the hit sitcom Modern Family, has shared intimate details about his secret wedding to longtime partner Lindsay Schweitzer last September. The ceremony was so private that none of his former co-stars from the award-winning show were in attendance, a decision Stonestreet recently explained was intentional to keep the event small and family-focused.
A Deliberate Choice for Privacy
During a candid conversation on the Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson podcast, Stonestreet revealed that he and Schweitzer exchanged vows on September 8, 2024, at their newly completed dream home in Kansas City, Missouri. The actor, who is 54 years old, emphasised that the wedding was strictly for family members only, which meant excluding close friends and colleagues from the Modern Family cast, including Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Sofia Vergara, and the podcast host himself, Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Stonestreet told Ferguson, who played his on-screen husband in the series that ran from 2009 to 2020, that he "didn’t want to offend anyone" but also wanted to maintain secrecy. He described the approach as giving a "non-invitation" to a select group of friends via phone calls before the wedding, explaining, "This is your non-invitation, but this is because we love you and we want you to know about it first." Most people, however, only learned about the nuptials after the fact through a pre-prepared text message sent immediately after the ceremony.
Surprising Family and Managing Expectations
The couple went to great lengths to keep their plans under wraps, even from their own family. Stonestreet recounted that the few relatives who attended did not know they were coming to a wedding; instead, they believed they were invited for a "first meal" in the couple's new home. This level of secrecy extended to Schweitzer's twin sons from a previous relationship, whom they informed only after the children returned home from school to avoid putting them in an awkward position.
"When they got home from school, we sat them down and just had a talk with them and told them... And they were just like, 'What?'" Stonestreet recalled, highlighting the surprise element. The actor, who has publicly shared his journey of losing 85 pounds with the help of the weight loss drug Mounjaro for his type 2 diabetes, announced the wedding on Instagram the day after the ceremony, sharing photos from their special day.
Reactions from Co-Stars and Personal Reflections
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who has been married to Justin Mikita since 2013, expressed understanding rather than hurt over not receiving an invitation. Upon seeing Stonestreet's social media reveal, Ferguson commented warmly, "Of all second marriages, this one is my favorite! I love you both! I'm so happy for you!!!!" On his podcast, Ferguson noted, "I mean, I only found out a few days before everyone else," and admitted he would have been "surprised" not to get a heads-up, though not necessarily offended.
Stonestreet and Schweitzer, a pediatric nurse, dated for five years before he proposed in 2021. The actor previously told People magazine, "We've been together for a long time, and I just knew I wasn’t going to find a better partner in life than Lindsay. So, it just made the most sense. And I'd taken my sweet old time." He added that friends often questioned why he waited so long, saying, "Everybody else - let me put it this way - that knows Lindsay was like, 'What are you waiting for?' So, it was time."
The proposal itself was a playful surprise, given Stonestreet's reputation as a prankster. Schweitzer initially thought it was a joke when he asked her to marry him, with her twin sons even helping to set up the moment by telling their mother that Stonestreet had something to ask her. Of course, she said yes, culminating in a wedding that, while private, marks a significant milestone in their relationship.
