Old City girl Tara Durr catapulted onto the national scene when the producers picked her for “The Bachelor: Rome” in season six on the ABC Network. With beauty, personality, wit and charm Tara had all the right qualities to participate on the reality show. Eliminated the first night, Tara noted seeing the door didn’t bother her.
The show’s impetus pitted twenty-seven women against each other to win the affection of bachelor Prince Lorenzo Borghese, an Italian Cosmetic guru born in Milan. “I didn’t get one-on-one time with him because I wasn’t willing to be pushy to get it. It was just a competitive environment and something I wasn’t willing to be aggressive about. I have no regrets though because I made wonderful friends in the process,” said Tara.
“The girls even threw me a bachelorette party in Chicago and one of the girls from the show was even a bridesmaid in my wedding.” Tara continues to enjoy all of the camaraderie, traveling and success the show brought her. Her delicate personality did earn her many new friends. It was Jennifer Wilson who won Prince Lorenzo Borghese. Jennifer will be getting married this December but not to the handsome Prince. Tara will also be attending her wedding in a few weeks.
“I did travel internationally as a swimsuit model for the first year out of college,” said Tara. “I also had my real estate license at the time and the modeling money is what I used to buy my first house,” Durr said, her voice blossoming with pride. With a bachelors degree in advertising from the University of Florida she loves her profession and living in St. Augustine. Both her parents are teachers here in St. Johns County. Tara has been with the St. Augustine Beach branch of Watson Realty for the past seven years. The location and job provided her flexibility to jaunt around for “The Bachelor.”
Thirty year old John Presser, who was on season five of the “Bachelorette” is one of four boys from Indiana. A marketing specialist in the pharmaceutical field, John has relocated to St. John’s County. The couple first became acquainted on a private Facebook page for former “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” cast members. They then met face-to-face for the first time at a “Bachelor/ Bachelorette” reunion in Napa, California. commuting nearly weekly to see each other. “He was living in Norwalk, Connecticut when we first started dating,” said Tara. “It blossomed through a lot of travel and many phone calls,” she said. Perpetuating a solid long distance relationship, the couple got engaged in February and married on November 6th, 2010.
Their’s was the first ever wedding held on The Slammer & Squire Golf Course located in the heart of The World Golf Village. The perfect storybook reception followed for more than four-hundred guests, held in the beautiful ballroom of the Renaissance Resort, also located at The World Golf Village. The newlyweds had plans to depart for Thailand on a honeymoon, whirlwind tour of the country during the time of this interview.
Defore’s Cake Design baked the wedding cake and Tom Addison of Addison Fitzgerald Photography were among the many locals who contributed to Tara’s day. Having her wedding here at home and utilizing St. Augustine’s local vendors and resources was essential in Tara’s planning. “All of the planning and coordination feathered together the day of the wedding,” Tara said. “We tried to keep as much as possible local for the wedding. My flowers were the only thing that weren’t and they were from Park Avenue Florist & Gift Shop in Orange Park. I designed my wedding dress and it was custom made and was gifted to me from the designer,” the 29-year-old said.
More in-depth coverage of Tara and John’s St. Augustine wedding will appear in the January issue of Brides Magazine with all of the behind the scenes, her Simone Carvali dress details, Addison’s wedding pictures and those Jimmy Choo shoes she walked down the aisle in.
“I know our relationship is for real, and it will last,” said Tara. With plans to start a family in a year or two the celebrity couple have chosen to make their home here in the Nation’s Oldest City.