Braunwyn Windham-Burke is gearing up for her wedding to fiancée Jennifer Spinner – and no one will be left off the guest list.
“Yes, Sean will be invited,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly of the Real Housewives of Orange County alum’s plans to invite her ex-husband, Sean Burke, to the nuptials, which will take place “over three days on a lake at a farm retreat in Tennessee,” where she and Spinner currently reside.
The theme of the ceremony, which is being planned by Spinner’s sister, Nikki, will be a “queer hoedown, complete with drag queen performers and gay country music stars,” the insider notes to Us, adding, “There will be ATV rides, cotton candy machines and BBQ and guests will sleep in bunkbeds and lodging set up on the farm.”
“Braunwyn and Jennifer are excited to celebrate their love, especially in the south where so much divisiveness about queerness has been occurring,” the source continues. “They’re looking forward to celebrating not only themselves but the LGBTQ+ community.”
Windham-Burke, 45, who came out as a lesbian in late 2020, got engaged to Spinner earlier this month. “Today is one year since I met the love of my life,” Spinner wrote via Instagram on July 15. “Today is also the day that @braunwynwindhamburke asked me to marry her and, of course, I said ‘hell yes.’” The couple later told Extra that they’ve already settled on a wedding date: October 19, 2024.
“They’ve been doing a lot of traveling in the south and spending a lot of time meeting people with differing views and ideas and trying to come to a commonplace,” the insider tells Us of the duo settling into their new Southern digs. “And so much has been an acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. They want to normalize queerness and they love a good party.”
While Windham-Burke may currently be on cloud nine with her fiancée, she recently made headlines regarding her divorce from Burke, 56, which is not yet finalized. The twosome tied the knot in 2000 and went on to welcome seven kids: Bella, 22, Rowan, 21, Jacob, 18, twins Caden and Curren, 10, Koa, 8, and Hazel, 5. They called it quits in 2020 and Us confirmed in October 2022 that Windham-Burke filed for divorce after 23 years of marriage. The former reality TV star cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their split.
On Friday, July 26, Windham-Burke filed documents to withhold $11,000 per month from Burke’s salary. Per a previous court-ordered stipulation, Burke owes his ex $6,000 per month in child support and $5,000 per month in spousal support.
“At the end of the day, Braunwyn is simply asking for what the court ordered to be followed, which is currently not happening on Sean’s end,” a second insider exclusively told Us earlier this week. “Sean is not providing the full monetary amount that has been ordered by the court.”
According to court docs obtained by Us, Burke is currently employed at a company called Economic Transfer Strategies. In an earlier filing, Windham-Burke claimed that her estranged husband “stopped providing any support” for her and their four minor children.
“I have relied on [Sean] for all financial security since I was 20 years old,” Windham-Burke wrote in December 2022 court docs, claiming that she couldn’t offer “basic living expenses [or] expenses for our children” at the time. “I have relied on [Sean] to make all financial decisions for 23 years, and I have effectively been kept in the dark regarding the true extent of our business interests and assets.”
In April 2022, the exes agreed that Burke would pay $11,000 per month to Windham-Burke beginning on May 1. The decision specified that Burke’s $5,000 spousal support payments would last “until the death of either party, the remarriage of the Petitioner or further order of court.”