A bell for his belle, Bell. Stepping out at the L.A. premiere of his new film This is Where I Leave You on September 15, Dax Shepard revealed a touching (and very appropriate) tattoo tribute to his wife, Kristen Bell – a small black and gray image of an old-fashioned bell on his left-hand ring finger, with the letters K, D and L for Kristen, Dax and their 17-month-old daughter, Lincoln. Dax and Kristen, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child, appeared very much in love as they cuddled up on the red carpet one month before celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary, and Dax’s brand-new bell finger tattoo was on display for all to admire.
It was way back in 2009 that Dax and Kristen became engaged, but the notoriously private pair extended their engagement to three years for a reason that they held very close to their hearts. Because they didn’t like the idea of enjoying a rite that wasn’t extended to some of their friends, Dax and Kristen very memorably refused to tie the knot until gay marriage became legal in California. Just a few months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, the couple was married in a “no frills” ceremony at the Beverly Hills County Clerk’s Office, and spent just $142 on the wedding – including the gas it took to drive there.
According to reports, Dax and Kristen only planned to obtain a marriage license at the clerk’s office, but took advantage of a court employee’s offer to marry them in a nearby courtroom that same day. According to Dax, “It was just Kristen and I at this lonely courthouse so they brought us this cake afterwards.” Apparently the cake read “The World’s Worst Wedding,” but the couple didn’t mind. “How many people can say they threw ‘The World’s Worst Wedding?’” Dax joked.
World’s worst wedding aside, when Dax sat down with Ellen DeGeneres for an exclusive interview on September 18, he explained the meaning behind his bell finger tattoo: “I don’t like wearing jewelry, but I felt obliged to warn all the men that I’m taken,” he said. “So, I thought a tattoo would be fitting. And her last name conveniently is an object I could tattoo. And there’s little letters in there.”
Some people may have wondered in the past why Dax doesn’t wear a wedding ring to commemorate his marriage to Kristen, though the actor told Jimmy Kimmel two weeks after his wedding, “I don’t yet have a ring. I am going to follow your course, because you got your ring at Costco.” No matter that Dax doesn’t sport a ring though; this very permanent tribute to his lovely wife is far more personal, don’t you think?
