Bachelor in Paradise’s Spencer and Jess on Future After Engagement (Exclusive)

Warning: this story contains spoilers from the Sept. 2 finale of Bachelor in Paradise.

Jess Edwards and Spencer Conley are looking forward to spending the rest of their lives together!

After going through a rollercoaster of emotions leading up to the season 10 finale of Bachelor in Paradise, Jess and Spencer were the only couple who left Costa Rica engaged.

In an interview with PEOPLE, they reflect on the romantic proposal and share how they knew they were ready to become fiancées.

“We had had a really long conversation the night before, and I got the chance to speak with my family, which was a huge weight lifted off my shoulder,” Jess reveals. “They were kind of like, ‘If this is where your heart is leading you, we say go for it. We say, take the leap.’ And that was the cherry on top. That’s what I needed to hear.”

In the days prior, Jess opened up to Spencer about her concerns over the fast pace of their relationship.

While she worried that might put a strain on their connection, she says it actually showed her just how much they cared about each other.

“I think that with a new relationship and taking a leap like that, you obviously have all these things from your past that are still trying to haunt you, and you have to ignore it and you have to just look at what’s in front of you,” Jess explains.

“I think that he also created such a safe place for me,” she continues. “There was no pressure from him. He was like, ‘The ball is in your court. I’m 100% ready to do this, but I want you to feel 100% ready.’ And him leaving it up to me and not putting the pressure on it was so nice because I was just like, ‘Okay, well either way I’m going to have him. I’m going to have this amazing relationship.’ And it just solidified that I was making the right decision in picking him as my person.”

For Spencer, seeing how much Jess valued her future marriage brought him comfort as well. 

“Seeing the gravity at which she was considering the potential of a proposal is the biggest green flag for me,” he says. “I’ve had a failed engagement. I don’t want another. I don’t want to disappoint her and her family. She’s the only child of her dad, and she made it very, very apparent to me that it’s very important to her that she only gets engaged once. So, I had things I was wrestling with too.”

Jess admits that she woke up on that last day “hopeful that an engagement was coming,” but all that mattered to her was getting to continue her relationship with Spencer.

When they were thrown one “final test” by host Jesse Palmer — who explained that in a franchise-first twist, the final four were going to have the option of taking home $250,000 in cash or leaving with their partner — Jess says she didn’t think twice.

“It was an easy decision to choose love,” she says. “I think that finding your person, and finding your soulmate and the love of your life is more than money could ever buy.”

They ultimately “passed” that test and picked a random envelope that had $190,000 in it.

In the time since, they’ve traveled between San Diego, where Jess lives, and Spencer’s home in Dallas.

“It’s given us an opportunity to just focus on our relationship and spend so much time together and build something so strong,” Spencer gushes.

They also reveal that they have some big plans in store — Jess is moving to Dallas at the beginning of 2026.

“I’m super excited,” she shares. “We also talked about San Diego or somewhere else, but I think it just makes the most sense for our future for me to come here.”

As for a wedding, they say that is still a few steps ahead.

“We’ve talked about it,” Jess explains. ”The thing about us is we don’t like to put super strict timelines on things. So I think right now we’re looking at, let’s see where we are this time next year and go from there. And if we feel like this time next year we want to start planning a wedding, then so be it. If we feel like we want to start planning it earlier, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“We haven’t even been on a date,” Spencer quips. “I would love to be able to go on a morning walk or go on a date, go to a movie. So I think we’re just really focused on whatever’s next and right now that’s next up for us, and then we’ll take it from there.”

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Season 10 of Bachelor in Paradise is available to stream on Hulu.