Why Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay Isn't Televising Her Wedding: 'What We Have Is More Real'

Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo‘s wedding countdown is on!

This month, the Bachelorette star and her fiancé will be tying the knot in a destination wedding. But although the couple fell in love and got engaged on national television, they won’t be saying their “I dos” in front of cameras.

“I think our season was really the first time where you realize a wedding isn’t always guaranteed,” Lindsay, 34, told PEOPLE of her Bachelorette relationship with Abasolo. “I even thought, the next step was you get engaged and you’re offered this TV wedding.”

“So when you come off the show and you’re in that TV mode — I wanted a TV wedding. I 100 percent did,” she admitted. “Then, as we got to know each other in the real world and things became normalized, and then I started hearing horror stories about these TV weddings, I am very thankful that we don’t have one and that we’re doing it on our own.”

She added: “I also think that it shows to the world or Bachelor Nation that what we have is more real.”

Lindsay offered Abasolo her last rose on The Bachelorette season 13 finale, when the Texas native made history as the first black Bachelorette in the Bachelor franchise.

Two years later, the couple, who live together in Miami, is getting ready for their upcoming nuptials and will marry in a private, destination wedding this month.

“We don’t need TV. We don’t need to get paid. We don’t buy a network, we’re doing this because this is what we want to do. I think it has more meaning,” Lindsay said of her and Abasolo’s decision to skip out on the TV opportunity.

And to kick off the festivities in honor of their big day, the pair recently showcased their love and registry at The Knot‘s Registry House in Southhampton, New York.

The poolside pre-wedding event, which was equipped with Lindsay and Abasolo’s top registry items, was also attended by the bride’s wedding planner, Michael Russo.

“It’s exciting to see when the bride and groom go through the registry, they’re like, ‘Oh, we don’t need anything,’ but then once they actually start going through it, they’re like, ‘Oh, we need this and this and this,’ so it’s pretty funny to see all of their selects when you didn’t think you would have that many,” he said, noting how the couple’s registry reflects their aesthetic with items such as monogrammed robes, dining decor and doormats, along with other household items like the coveted Dyson Cord-Free Vacuum.

Lindsay even mentioned how one of her registry selections — the Vitamix Explorian E310 Blender — can potentially help her prep when she enters motherhood in the future.

“We like smoothies and we like to juice, but the Vitamix takes things to a whole other level, and then as I just learned, a lot of mothers puree food with the Vitamix, so I do want kids,” she shared. “That’s in the very near future, you know? God willing, everything works out okay, so this is just another thing we can use for that as well.”

The reality star also joked that while she isn’t the best cook, she is working on improving her kitchen skills by placing some cooking hardware on her registry.

“I don’t cook. This is not a secret,” she admitted, explaining that there is a full pot and pan set on her registry. “We don’t even have a pot and pan set. It’s ridiculous. It’s like they always disappear. I don’t know why.”

With their registry partnership, Lindsay and Abasolo also chose to participate in The Knot Gifts Back, where the wedding site will donate up to three percent from each registry gift purchased to the Alzheimer’s Association — a cause the bride is personally connected to.

“I chose the Alzheimer’s Association because my family, specifically the women in my family, have been very affected by Alzheimer’s and what people don’t realize is, it’s not just the person going through it, it’s the caretakers and it’s very, very tough,” she explained. “Even talking about it earlier today, somebody came up to me afterward, and they were like, ‘Thank you for sharing your story.’ ”

In addition to The Knot’s Southhampton soiree, the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. celebrated their impending wedding in June with a romantic engagement photo shoot in New York City. The pre-wedding photos came just weeks after they picked out wedding bands together during a trip to visit jeweler Neil Lane, who also designed Lindsay’s 3-carat engagement ring.

“I knew which ring I wanted the second Neil took out the display,” Abasolo told PEOPLE. “It just stuck out right away and I immediately went with my gut. On the other hand, Rachel wanted to try on every ring in the store!”