Inside Carlos And Alexa PenaVega's Relationship
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Carlos and Alexa PenaVega's love story may be even cuter than those of the Hallmark movies they've starred in together (if that's even possible). It seems as though the Big Time Rush band member and "Spy Kids" star have always been destined to be together. The minute they met, there was a spark. "We were just friends first, and I think that's key," Carlos told Southern Living.
From their friendship stemmed a marriage centered in faith, and the PenaVegas have since been focused on sharing their story as spouses and as parents — the ups, the downs, and all the in-betweens — with the world. "I feel like in any marriage, communication is key, and we are learning every single day how to better our communication, how to lift each other up and build a great foundation," Alexa told The War Cry, and fans have gotten a front row seat to their relationship ever since the two tied the knot in 2014.
While we may know a whole lot about these two actors from their social media, there are a few things that fans still may not know about their love story. Here's a look inside the PenaVegas' relationship.
Carlos and Alexa PenaVega met in a Bible study group
It was all the way back in 2012 when Carlos and Alexa PenaVega laid eyes on each other for the very first time.
That year, a friend of Alexa's had invited her to join the Bible study group he would host each week at his house. The young actress hadn't gotten a chance to make it over because of her busy work schedule — until one very special night when her life would completely change. "It just so happened to be the night Carlos showed up as well," she explained to The War Cry.
Crazy enough, Carlos wasn't there for exactly the right reasons. "I was actually there because I had been invited by an ex-girlfriend and I was thinking, 'Well, maybe if I show up to this thing, we could rekindle our relationship,'" he admitted. However, he ended up quickly falling for Alexa instead, and their shared faith became an important factor in their relationship. After the two began dating, they even went on to form their own Bible study group in their home, according to People.
Carlos knew Alexa was The One on their first date
When Alexa first began dating, she had a long list of deal breakers when it came to boys. "It was literally Carlos to a T," she told Southern Living. In fact, she once admitted to People that she had sworn off dating actors altogether. Because of that, it took him quite a while to convince her to go out with him.
When they eventually did go on their first date, the day didn't seem to have an end in sight. The pair spent two hours eating frozen yogurt together before deciding they should continue their date at a nearby trampoline park. From there, they hit up a friend's birthday party and ended the day at Santa Monica Pier where they played arcade games until 1:00 in the morning. "I had such a great time, I was looking at her car, and I was like, 'I'm going to marry this woman,'" Carlos later admitted on their YouTube channel.
Funny enough, Alexa had completely different thoughts on their first date. "I didn't think it was a date," she admitted. "I thought we were just hanging out as friends." Luckily, it obviously all worked out in the end.
Alexa often hung around the set of Big Time Rush
Many fans know Carlos PenaVega from the boy band Big Time Rush. They even had their own television show of the same name on Nickelodeon that ran for four seasons — and Alexa PenaVega spent a lot of time hanging around the set during the final season, too. "We shot at Paramount Studios and Alexa would come by almost every day and just hang out," Carlos said during an interview with The War Cry. "She likes to be on set though, it's like a second home for her."
In fact, fans can see Alexa appear in the last two episodes of the series. She plays the woman Carlos falls in love with (sound familiar?), and they even end up locking lips onscreen. "I have to warn you: it's not easy dating a spy," the former "Spy Kids" star tells him in the finale. These two have certainly made their relationship look like the ultimate adventure ever since the show ended.
Carlos designed Alexa's engagement ring
According to Southern Living, Carlos and Alexa PenaVega dated for less than seven months before he popped the big question in 2013. The two were aboard a cruise ship along with the other members of Big Time Rush when it happened. "[I proposed] at a big dinner," Carlos explained to J-14. When it came time for that moment, he even offered Alexa an engagement ring that he designed himself — and he also got the band involved (his boy band, that is). "Logan helped me out, James gave me some courage, and Kendall brought the tears," he said.
Fans were freaking out about their engagement, but they were even more surprised to see Alexa not wearing her special ring years later in 2017. In fact, so many fans expressed their concern that the actor took to Instagram to explain the situation. "I was worried I would scratch [our son] Ocean while wearing it or lose the ring during one of our adventures," she wrote. "So we just opted not to wear them for a little while." Instead, a friend of theirs created thin bands for the two as a temporary replacement. Today, Alexa has been seen wearing the band alongside her custom rock.
Hundreds of fans showed up to their wedding
Four months after their engagement, in January 2014, Carlos and Alexa PenaVega tied the knot in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. "We are so blessed to have been able to spend this special day with the people we love the most," the couple told Us Weekly. The PenaVegas were surrounded by everyone important to them. On the beach were their friends and family, nine bridesmaids, nine groomsmen — oh, and nearly 300 adoring fans.
Let's face it: it's sort of impossible to keep your wedding hush-hush when you're a celebrity. Even though the PenaVega's private beach wedding wasn't all that private, it was a special day that these two will certainly never forget. "Thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated with us," Carlos later wrote in an anniversary post on Instagram, and he didn't leave anyone out either. "Even the 300 fans who watched from the beach in Mexico," he added.
Here's why the PenaVegas invented their own last name
Many women traditionally take their husband's last name when they get married. However, Carlos Pena and Alexa Vega had something else entirely in mind after they tied the knot. "We were literally at the county office in Ventura signing all the paperwork and the woman was like, 'Whose last name?'" Carlos explained to People. When the two started to really talk about it, these newlyweds wanted to make a special name for themselves — something only their little family would be able to share. It was then that they decided to break tradition and combine their last names instead. (Also, you have to admit: PenaVega just has a nice ring to it — pun intended.)
If there's anything these two have learned about themselves after growing up in show business, it's that their lives have been anything but normal, so why should their last name be normal? "We've never done things in the conventional way," Alexa said, and their fans love them for it.
Carlos and Alexa PenaVega live the island life
Hollywood is the movie capital of the world, so it would make sense for actors to make themselves at home there. However, after years of making it big in show business, Carlos and Alexa PenaVega decided that the big city just wasn't for them anymore. "When we were living in California, there was never actually a break. The industry happens 24/7," Alexa explained to People. "And we thought, we need a place to go and reconnect and that needs to be our home." So in 2017, the two moved themselves to Hawaii.
The biggest inspiration for their move was their oldest son, Ocean. Carlos and Alexa were the first of their friends to become parents and needed a group of people that they would be able to connect with. The couple also was eager to surround themselves with a tight-knit community in which they could raise their kids.
Luckily, as soon as the three of them made it to the island of Maui, it instantly felt like home. "I've never been in one place for more than three or four months," Alexa said. "I didn't know how badly we needed as a family to set our roots."
They announced their third pregnancy in one of Carlos' music videos
In December 2020, Big Time Rush had some big news. On Christmas Eve, they re-recorded and rereleased their 2010 holiday song, called "Beautiful Christmas." Of course, their fans were excited to see a new single and music video from the former Nickelodeon stars. Fans even got to see how each of them spent the holiday in quarantine. However, everybody did a double-take around a minute and twenty seconds into the music video when they saw Alexa PenaVega debut her belly with black marker written on it. It was there that she and Carlos announced they were expecting a third baby in 2021.
In the video, their sons Ocean and Kingston can be seen giving their mom's belly a sweet kiss as they patiently wait for their sister to arrive. It seemed as though the little one couldn't wait either. Nearly a month before her due date, baby Rio was brought into the world in May 2021.
Now the newest PenaVega can watch again and again how excited her family was to be expecting her. "If you haven't watched the video you should," Alexa wrote on Instagram. "So glad we got to announce baby number three in this video!!!"
Carlos and Alexa PenaVega want to have more children
Carlos and Alexa PenaVega have always been open about their lives as parents online — from their birth stories to their gender reveals and everything in between. As of now, there are five members of the PenaVega family. However, Carlos and Alexa have plans to expand even further — or, at least, "Whatever God has in store for us!" as Alexa wrote in an Instagram story.
Having a big family is a familiar experience for both of these actors. Carlos grew up along with three siblings of his own, while Alexa has six brothers and sisters. It seems to run in the family, too. "My abuelita had 12 kids (no twins)," Alexa said. While these two don't seem to have a set number of children in mind for themselves, it's safe to say that there will most likely be more than three little PenaVegas in their future.
Carlos' song Lost in Love was written about Alexa
Carlos PenaVega's band, Big Time Rush, has had some big hits over the years. Even his wife Alexa is a huge fan of his work. Yet, there's one song in particular that's very special to her. "It's 'Lost in Love,'" she revealed during an interview with The War Cry. "Because as we were both falling in love with one another, Carlos wrote that song." Though the two had yet to exchange the "L" word with each other when it was written, listening to that song was what made Alexa realize that their feelings for each other were mutual.
Another thing that's mutual is their love for music. In fact, they've even debated releasing songs together, so we may get to hear more romantic tunes from the two of them soon. "But there is this silly fear," Alexa admitted. "Carlos is so good at singing that I just get so embarrassed. It's something that I have to work up to for sure, but I do love singing, and I do love worship music so you never know, it might happen."
They've written a book together
Carlos and Alexa PenaVega have lived out their very own fairy tale that fans have gotten to watch firsthand. In November 2021, they announced that we'd all get to read about it, too, in their memoir titled "What If Love is the Point?".
The book not only gives us all the details on their love story, but every thought they've had as they navigate life. "We want to talk about it all. We want to write about all the junk, the 'norms' in society that aren't good for us, how to navigate friendships, what it's like becoming a parent, and how we learned to draw healthy boundaries at work," the two said about their book. "But we mainly want to ask, 'What's the point? What's the point of all of this living?'"
While the book details their incredible love story and some of the best days of their lives, they don't avoid discussing the not-so-happy parts of their stories as well. Even while writing the book, "we laughed, we cried," Alexa admitted on Instagram. "This book was basically one big therapy session."
The PenaVegas competed against each other on Dancing With the Stars
In 2015, Carlos and Alexa PenaVega decided to do something completely new in their careers. That year, the two signed up to star on Season 21 of "Dancing with the Stars." While they were excited to tackle the television competition together, they also realized they would have to be competing against each other, too. It seems as though that wasn't such a bad thing, though. "Honestly, if we try to dance together, it's awful," Alexa admitted to Fox 11 Los Angeles, so while they would come home and tell each other all about their days, their dance practices happened separately.
When it came down to it, though, these two were more supportive of each other rather than competitive. When Alexa was eliminated during week nine of the show, her husband broke down in tears on live television, telling her that he wished it had been him instead.
In the end, the two learned a lot about themselves and their relationship over the course of the competition. They even got to show off some of their moves when they later co-starred in a Hallmark movie called "Enchanted Christmas." In the movie, "we took some of our skills from 'Dancing with the Stars,'" Alexa told KTLA 5.
Carlos and Alexa PenaVega will only take on projects together
Married couples live together, eat together, and sleep together. Carlos and Alexa PenaVega want to work together, too. "I love working with my husband," Alexa told TVLine. "We really know what each other's limits are and we can be way more playful. I think that there's something to be said that's really special about getting to work with your spouse." Luckily, they've gotten to star alongside each other quite a bit, too. Fans can see the PenaVegas in the films "Love at Sea," "Enchanted Christmas," and "Spare Parts." They've also starred in shows like "The Casagrandes" and "Picture Perfect Mysteries," and have appeared in various commercials together.
For the projects that Carlos and Alexa don't work on together, the other one is always nearby. "Our big thing is that we go everywhere together," Alexa explained to "Entertainment Tonight." "So if he's on a project, I won't take a project. If I'm on a project, he won't take one." Their kids always travel to set with them, too. In fact, their son Ocean even makes an appearance in their movie "Love at Sea."
Today, Carlos and Alexa have purposefully made a permanent place for themselves on the Hallmark Channel. "Hallmark has just been so accommodating with that and anytime there's an opportunity for us to work together, they bring it up," Alexa told Southern Living. "And if there isn't, they fly the whole family out and we're together anyway."
They may have their own reality show someday
Millions of fans follow Carlos and Alexa PenaVega as they open up their lives to us in multiple ways — on their YouTube channel LexLovesLos, their blog, weekly Q&As on Instagram, their podcast, and their memoir. At this point, it seems as though the world knows them very well — but would they ever want to have their own reality show? "It would just really depend on the circumstance," Alexa explained to "Entertainment Tonight."
Over the years, it's no surprise that these two stars have been approached again and again to have their own TV show. However, they're still waiting for the right opportunity. "Reality nowadays is not really reality. It's so contrived," Alexa said. Instead, the PenaVegas continue to be as open and honest as they can with their fans through the multiple outlets that they already have under their names. "I feel like we already kind of do one, but in our way and in our control," she added. With their millions of views today, it seems obvious that everybody wants to see more of the PenaVegas — us included!