Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Celebrate 28th Wedding Anniversary: Revisit Their Love Story

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have spent nearly three decades together as husband and wife.

On Wednesday, the stars celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary and commemorated the day they eloped in Las Vegas all those years ago with social media tributes to each other. On Live With Kelly and Mark, where they are both life partners and talk show partners, they kicked off the show by addressing the special occasion.

"I was in bed last night trying to do the math," Consuelos said. "My benchmark for like a long time is going through first grade to being a senior in high school. Twelve years is a long time, right? When you're a kid, like oh my gosh, that's a whole lifetime. That's like doing that twice plus like a PhD, right? Plus four years in college and a master's program."

"You have your PhD in being married," Ripa replied. "Should I call you Dr. Consuelos?"

Quipped Consuelos, "May be doing a house call later."

As for his goals for their future? Consuelos put it simply, "To continue what we've got going."

"And by that," he joked, "I mean getting all the kids off the payroll."

"We're so close," Ripa retorted. "We can taste it. We can taste the financial freedom... Not that we're not grateful for those three beautiful children that we love and adore."

The playful pair met in 1995 when they co-starred together on the popular soap opera All My Children, and eloped in Las Vegas on May 1, 1996. They share three kids: Michael, Lola and Joaquin.

Here's a look back at their lasting romance through the years, and their memorable wedding day.

1995

Consuelos joined the cast of All My Children in 1995 as Mateo Santos Jr. after Ripa had already been on the show as Hayley Vaughan for almost five years. The pair immediately fell for one another.

April 1996

Ripa previously revealed that they briefly broke up before tying the knot.

"We broke up and we got back together the day before we went off and eloped," she said during the debut episode of Betches' Comments by Celebs podcast in 2018. "Yeah, we eloped. We went to Vegas and got married."

The pair tied the knot on May 1, 1996.

"He popped the question the day before we got married, but that day, that very day that we got back together, we were at a taping of Regis and Kathie Lee," Ripa added. "It was their Mother’s Day special. They were pre-taping it, and one of the dreams of one of the mothers was to meet Mark and me. We were her favorite characters on All My Children. She wanted to meet us, and I think we drove out a new car or pushed out a new pool table or something. She got a present from her kids and we brought it out to her. It all is so connected."

In February 2019, Consuelos also dished about their breakup during his appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.

"We both had to meet and do an appearance on Live With Regis and Kathie Lee. We were pushing furniture for a 'Queen for the Day' Mother's Day special and when we were together she wouldn’t talk to me and that made me go crazy," he admitted. "So, I followed her in Central Park, and then we went back to my place, and we got married the next day."

"It wasn't a big breakup!" he added with a laugh.

Consuelos said he knew Ripa was the one "pretty early on."

"We would go out with groups of people from work and slowly each date would go that the groups started getting smaller and smaller until it was just us two," he shared. "I was shy, I wasn't very aggressive that way."

In May 2018, Ripa actually posted photos from their 1996 wedding on Instagram in honor of their 22nd wedding anniversary. In the priceless pics, Ripa is wearing a little black dress while Consuelos sports a suit, as they pose outside Chapel of the Bells wedding chapel in Las Vegas and cut the cake together.

"Feliz Aniversario lover! 22 years," she wrote. "You’re a human roller coaster that luckily I’m tall enough to ride. @instasuelos."

Meanwhile, Consuelos shared his own throwback pic from their honeymoon in Italy.

"5-1-96...happy 22nd anniversary Boo.. seems like yesterday to me," Consuelos wrote. "I'm sure it feels a lot longer to you...(honeymoon photo Capri, Italy ... we're still banned from that hotel... it was worth it)."

June 1997

The pair welcomed their first child, Michael Consuelos.

December 1997

Six months after Michael's birth, Ripa passed out while having sex with Consuelos, an incident she recounted in her memoir, Live Wire.

"Intimacy can be [difficult] for women, particularly after they have had a baby, and I am no different," Ripa told ET of the moment. "That was very, very difficult. Really what it portrays is that my husband --- and keep in mind he was 27 years old... gave me the support I needed before there was language about supporting post-natal women and what their bodies may be going through."

June 2001

The couple welcomed their daughter, Lola Consuelos. Ripa previously announced her pregnancy on Live With Regis and Kelly after a median relayed that she was expecting live on the air.

February 2003

Son Joaquin joined the crew as the final member of the Consuelos family in 2003. In 2022, Ripa shared a birthday tribute to her youngest son, declaring, "You will always be my newborn."

April 2019

Consuelos opened up about their long-lasting marriage and talked about their life together.

"I'm an incredibly slow learner, so I feel like I'm just getting it," he joked to Esquire. "Like, 'Oh, this is what you're supposed to do,' or, OK, sometimes 'yes' means 'no.'"

"I guess sometimes you see these public marriages end and you wonder, 'Really? You're going to quit now? It's just been a couple of years, maybe you should try to stick it out,'" he continued. "It's kind of great to have a life together with someone. Of course, I'm not supporting staying in a horrible marriage. I'm just saying, if you can, maybe wait until it calms down a little bit. Wait until the magic happens."

June 2019

Lola got quite the eyeful when she walked in on her parents having sex on Father's Day.

"So she opens the door … and we're like, 'Ah, close the door, knock! What are you doing?'" Consuelos recalled on Live.

"She shuts the door and you hear, 'You just ruined my birthday and my life and I used to see in color and now everything is gray!'" Ripa chimed in.

The then-teenager later called out her parents during their Father's Day brunch, telling them they were "disgusting" and had "no chill."

"'You act like you're 20 but you’re not!'" Ripa recalled Lola hissing at them. Trying not to alert her father-in-law to the subject of the conversation, Ripa replied, "With respect, we weren't in the kitchen, we weren't in the hallway or your room."

April 2020

The two also opened up maintaining a healthy sex life after more than two decades of marriage when they joined SiriusXM Radio Andy's Bruce Bozzi for a special Quarantined With Bruce episode.

Clearly, the two still find one another incredibly attractive. They're also not afraid to embarrass their children with their flirty and sometimes NSFW social media comments to one another.

"I think we found each other at the right time in our lives," Ripa said. "We were really young -- not that that's the right time in somebody's life, but we were really pliable. We were pliable to each other."

"We learned each other well," she continued. "With that comes a certain level of comfort and confidence and experimentation. We had fun."

Meanwhile, Consuelos added, "You check off all the boxes for me."

May 2020

"Happy Anniversary to the love of my life, or at least half my life @instasuelos cheers to 24 years! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️," Ripa wrote on Instagram.

As for Consuelos, he shared a close-up photo of him embracing her from behind, with her wedding band on prominent display.

"Making a life, sharing a history, holding you close for 24 years," he wrote. "I love you @kellyripa."

May 2021

Ripa celebrated their milestone 25th wedding anniversary early with a throwback from when they took their three kids to the Chapel of the Bells wedding chapel back in 2009.

"When we took the kids to the scene of crime 13 years later," she wrote.

She also had a sense of humor about the dark, blurry photo, adding, "Also, this is why I take all the photos."

April 2021

The two spoke about their "almost old-fashioned marriage" during their appearance on the Double Date podcast.

"I've been able to raise my kids here in this city, in the nest, and he's always been willing to travel and go to a set and go off here and sometimes he's had to go live in another country to work on a set over there," Ripa explained. "What's funny is I think of us as such a progressive as a couple. I always think of us as politically progressive. Yet, when it comes to our own family and our marriage and our roles, I think of us as very traditional and almost old-fashioned in our roles."

September 2021

After Joaquin moved out and the couple were officially "empty nesters," Ripa opened up to ET about the best and worst parts of the new chapter in their lives.

"I will say the best part is there's no laundry in our house," joked the mom of three. "There's no dishes. There's like, nothing! Nothing! There's nothing."

"The worst part is... people would say to us, 'Oh, don't blink because they grow up before you know it, and they'll be out of the house.' And when you're in it, you're so tired, you're so like, bone-tired in your bones that you can't believe that's true," she described. "But we did. We blinked, unfortunately, and now they are grown adults."

"So, I think that's really the worst part is that we didn't slow down in real time to appreciate that aspect of them when they were small, because we were so busy protecting them and making sure they were turning into good people and getting things done on time," she continued.

May 2022

Honoring their 26th wedding anniversary, Consuelos declared that they had reached "penguin status," noting that penguins mate for life.

September 2022

Ripa released her memoir, Live Wire, and told ET that the book was a "love letter" to her husband.

"I think of this book really as a love letter to Mark. That’s why I dedicated the book to him, because he really has walked through most of my adult life with me," she said. "He really is such a great husband, he's a great father, he's a great guy, he's a great friend. That's the greatest thing he is, a great friend. That's the thing, if you have him as a friend, you've hit the jackpot."

February 2023

For Valentine's Day the pair once-again showered one another with online affection. Ripa shared a slideshow of throwback images, writing, "My forever Valentine ♥️ a few from the past 27, but it’s the last pic for me 💋😂."

And Consuelos added, "Happy Valentine’s Day to my fave♥️♥️♥️♥️love you forever @kellyripa."

Days after, it was announced that Consuelos would be joining Live as an official co-host.

"OK NOW we’re empty nesters. When your friends become work mates become family. ♥️ Congratulations @ryanseacrest on surviving six winters in NYC! I’m proud of you and am forever in your corner. And @instasuelos welcome home, or to the contractual obligation phase of our relationship," Ripa wrote.

Later that month, they returned to the Las Vegas chapel where they eloped, Chapel of the Bells, to help another couple get married. "It was really fascinating for us to watch this young couple," Ripa told ET. "They reminded us so much of us, you know? It was like looking back at a 28-year time warp."

May 2024

The couple commemorated their 28th wedding anniversary with social media posts dedicated to each other. "Forever thankful you decided to go on this crazy, beautiful ride with me," Consuelos captioned a photo of them riding a tandem bicycle. "Happy 28th anniversary. Love you @kellyripa."

RELATED CONTENT:

Mark Consuelos Confesses to Wife Kelly Ripa He Had a 'Passionate' Kiss With Another Woman in Public

Mark Consuelos Reveals to Wife Kelly Ripa He Kissed Another Woman

Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa Thought Him Hosting 'Live' Was 'Insane'

Cole Sprouse on Looking Up to Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa's Marriage

Why Mark Consuelos Is Enjoying a Break From Shirtless Scenes

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Enjoy 'Date Night' at the Oscars