Jennifer Gates wedding: Everything you need to know about her fiancé Nayel Nassar and their upcoming nuptials

Jennifer Gates, the eldest child of Bill and Melinda Gates, will soon be married to her fiancé Nayel Nassar, with the pair set to exchange vows this weekend.

The couple, who announced their engagement in January 2020, are reportedly hosting their wedding on Saturday at Gates’ 24-acre horse farm in Westchester County, New York, which she received as a gift from her parents in 2018.

From the pair’s relationship to wedding details, this is what you need to know about Gates, 25, and Nassar, 30.

Similarly to his fianceé, Nassar, who was born in Chicago but raised in Kuwait, was born to wealthy parents, according to People, which notes that his family reportedly runs an architecture and design firm.

However, an avid equestrian himself, like his soon-to-be bride, Nassar competes professionally for Egypt, his parents’ homeland, with the 30-year-old recently representing the country in the Tokyo Olympics.

According to his Global Champions League biography, Nassar, who competes in show jumping, began riding at age five and was jumping by age 10.

Gates is an accomplished equestrian as well, and has also competed at a professional level throughout her life. However, while she loves the sport, she told Horse Network that she has “always felt that I wanted to do something else as a primary career,” which is why she is currently pursuing a medical degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

The couple reportedly met while at Stanford University, where Gates received a degree in human biology in 2018, while Nassar, who is fluent in Arabic, French, and English, according to his biography, received a degree in economics in 2013.

In 2017, the year the couple began dating, they visited Nassar’s family and friends in Kuwait, with the professional athlete expressing his joy at being able to bring Gates to his home.

“Memorable times in Kuwait last week with family and old friends. Got to bring Jenn home and give her a glimpse of my childhood,” he wrote on Instagram at the time. “It meant the world to me.”

Gates and Nassar became engaged in January 2020 during a ski trip, with the 25-year-old medical student sharing the news on her Instagram.

“Nayel Nassar, you are one of a kind. Absolutely swept me off my feet this past weekend, surprising me in the most meaningful location over one of our many shared passions. I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives learning, growing, laughing and loving together. Yes a million times over,” she captioned a photo of the pair sitting in the snow.

In a separate post celebrating the engagement shared to his own Instagram, Nassar described himself as “the luckiest (and happiest) man in the world right about now”.

What do we know about the upcoming wedding?

The wedding is likely to be extravagant, as Gates’ parents Bill and Melinda, who recently announced the end of their own marriage after 27 years, are both billionaires, with Forbes noting that the Microsoft co-founder’s net worth is $132.6bn, while his former wife has a net worth of $5.8bn.

Melinda hosted her daughter’s bridal shower in September 2021, which took place at the family’s home in Washington.

According to The New York Post, ahead of Saturday’s festivities, Gates’ horse farm is being transformed into a wedding venue, with the outlet reporting that “massive, raised pavilions with floor-to-ceiling glass windows” have been erected on the home’s lawn along with “what appears to be a large, semi-circular stage”.