Why ‘Call Her Daddy’ Host Alex Cooper’s Dad Didn’t Walk Her Down the Aisle

Alex Cooper has never had a problem doing things her own way.

So when Cooper, 29, married Matt Kaplan in a lavish ceremony in Riviera Maya, Mexico over the weekend, she decided not to have her father walk her down the aisle.

As the “Call Her Daddy” host told Vogue in a piece published Wednesday, April 24, “At the beginning of wedding planning, I really rejected the concept of being walked down by a man to be handed to another man.”

Still, Cooper made it very clear that the decision was not an indictment on her father.

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“Although to clarify I have such an incredible relationship with my father and both of my parents — it wasn’t about that,” she explained. “To me personally, I just never loved that tradition. It’s old and antiquated. My mom also walked herself down the aisle, so in a sense, I guess we are creating our own tradition for the women in our family.”

While Cooper’s dad wasn’t directly involved in the ceremony, it was a different story for the couple’s dogs. Cooper and Kaplan’s two goldendoodles, Harry and Bruce, who Cooper calls “our children,” had major roles.

“They were the ring bearers,” Cooper said. “They each had one of our rings around their collar and when my brother asked for the rings, they had their own moment entering from the double doors and came running down the aisle. It was perfection.”

The wedding was officiated by Cooper’s brother, Grant, who Cooper said has been “instrumental throughout my life.” She gushed, “My brother did such an incredible job speaking so beautifully about our relationship.”

Cooper noted that she and Kaplan, 40, made the decision to keep their vows private from one another until the ceremony.

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“For our families and closest friends to hear us verbalize our feelings towards one another in the most intimate setting felt electric,” Cooper said. “As you will see in almost every photo, there were no dry eyes in sight. We will never forget that moment.”

Cooper and Kaplan — who are the cofounders and co-CEOs of Trending Media Company — got engaged in March 2023 after meeting on a Zoom call in July 2020.

The podcast host recalled of those early days, “We went on a few dinner dates in L.A. and sat in parking lots, pandemic-style, and there was no doubt in my mind after the first dinner that he would be the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with.”