Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos's Relationship Timeline, From Meeting on Set to Eloping

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are one of the rare celebrity couples to have withstood the test of time. They've been by each other’s sides for the better part of the last three decades, both personally and professionally. The former soap stars turned talk show co-hosts know a thing or two about marriage, and are happy to share their wisdom. On an episode of Live With Kelly and Ryan, Ripa and Consuelos shared their top tips for a happy romance, including lots of “love and sexy time.” 

After hitting it off on All My Children back in 1995 (but more on that below), the couple went on to have three kids of their own, celebrating dozens of milestones along the way. Here’s a look back at their relationship, and their journey from on-screen love interests to power couple.

March 26, 2015: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos first meet. 

Ripa first met Consuelos when the latter auditioned for “All My Children,” the soap opera on which she starred since 1990. Consuelos was trying out to play the love interest of Ripa’s character, Hayley Vaughan. The casting director had previously shown her a photo of him, and the rest is (pretty much history). "When I saw him, the photograph of him, I saw my entire future with him flash before [my eyes] — like I saw it," she said in 2018 while appearing on Lunch with Bruce. "And I don't believe in any of that and now I do because of that moment." 

Consuelos, however, had a different reaction following their screen test. In 2014, he told HuffPost Live, "I thought she was adorable, hot and sexy and all that stuff, but I was very focused — I didn't really think I had a chance with her, so I wasn't really focused on that.”

February 14, 1996: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos make their debut as a couple.

The dynamic duo entered a relationship shortly after Consuelos was cast on All My Children as Mateo Santos. By the time they made their public debut on the red carpet of the Soap Opera Digest Awards — which took place on Valentine’s Day — they had already been dating for a few months. However, the couple decided to keep their relationship under wraps: “People tend to think there'll be problems when you're dating your costar,” Consuelos later revealed.

April 1996: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos briefly break up.

Around two months following their aforementioned public debut as a couple, Ripa and Consuelos (very briefly) called it quits—in fact, they got married the following week! "Right before we got married, we broke up," she shared while appearing on the Comments by Celebs podcast. 

May 1, 1996: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos get married.

On the same Comments by Celebs podcast mentioned above, Ripa revealed, “We broke up and we got back together the day before we went off and eloped. Yeah, we eloped. We went to Vegas and got married." The couple has since explained that they decided to elope since they had two consecutive days off work and didn’t want to spend their time planning an elaborate wedding. “It was like, 'Let's go to Vegas and get married, and it'll be fun,' " Ripa recalled on an episode of Live in August 2022.  "It really is such an efficient way to get married. And it was fun. We were like, 'Now, this is gambling! Woohoo!'”

The two ultimately ended up tying the knot at Chapel of the Bells, which they picked at random. "We checked into the hotel and I remember going through the Yellow Pages, because they had Yellow Pages back then," he later told PEOPLE. "And I looked up 'Wedding Chapels' and the Chapel of the Bells had the biggest, biggest ad. It was one of the first ads, and it was right in the right position of the page."

June 2, 1997: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos welcome their first child.

Nearly 13 months after their Vegas elopement, Ripa gave birth to her and Consuelos’ first child, a son named Michael Joseph. Years later, Ripa revealed to PEOPLE that her firstborn “has the strongest moral compass of anyone I've ever known.” She continued, "He is just such a good and decent and thoroughly kind person." In 2020, Michale graduated from New York University, and Ripa commemorated the momentous occasion with a sweet Instagram Story.

June 16, 2001: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos welcome their second child.

A little over four years after welcoming their son, Michael, into the world, Ripa and Consuelos’ second child and only daughter, Lola Grace, made her debut. The couple initially planned on naming their new bundle of joy Sophie; however, on the ride to the hospital, “Copacabana,” the 1985 Barry Manilow hit, was playing on the radio. On a 2022 of Live, Ripa revealed to former cohost Ryan Seacrest, "I heard that [lyric], when he said, 'Her name was Lola,' and I said to Mark, 'Lola Consuelos would be a really cool name.' And he said, 'If she's a girl, let's name her Lola.' And that was it.”

February 24, 2003: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos welcome their third child.

Ripa and Consuelos’ youngest child, Joaquin Antonio, was born on February 24, 2003. Ripa called her former Live With Regis and Kelly co-host, the late Regis Philbin, straight from her hospital bed, to share the news. 

Unbeknownst to many, Ripa shared on a January 2022 episode of Live that “we wound up giving Joaquin Michael’s name” and that “Michael was supposed to be Joaquin.” She continued, “Michael was named after Mark’s two grandfathers who passed away right before he was born, so that’s how we came up with his name. Joaquin, we knew we were naming him Joaquin.”

2007: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos start a production company. 

Ripa and Consuelos continued to work together even after All My Children. In 2007, before going on to co-star on Live, the now-married couple launched a production company, Milojo. While the name may seem peculiar, it’s actually quite sweet and sentimental: Milojo is a combination of the first two letters of each of their three children’s names!

January 2010: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos return to “All My Children.” 

Ripa and Consuelos celebrated a full-circle moment in their relationship — and took a trip down memory lane — when they came back to All My Children in 2010. Both actors reprised their respective roles, Hayley Vaughan and Mateo Santos, as part of a two-episode arc. Cue the tears, people!

April 2016: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. 

To ring in their 20th wedding anniversary in April 2016, Ripa, Consuelos, and all three of their children embarked on a trip to Turks and Caicos. Upon returning home, Ripa, on Live shared a romantic snap of her in a white long dress — spoiler alert: it was her actual wedding gown! — with Consuelos by her side. At this point, she also shared that she had owned this dress for 25 years before tying the knot with Consuelos. She also added, “I didn't buy it as a wedding dress. I just bought it because it was really pretty, and I wanted to buy something from the Barney's Warehouse sale.” She even went on to describe the purchase as “the best $199 I ever spent in my life."

February 16, 2023: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are (officially!) “Live’ cohosts.

After Ryan Seacrest announced he was leaving Live with Kelly and Ryan, it was revealed that Consuelos, who had already guest-hosted the show a number of times, would permanently take over the reins. Seacrest was excited about the transition, sharing that “It's been a memorable ride and now I'm excited to pass the baton to Kelly's 'real' husband, Mark.” Executive producer Michael Gelman shared similar sentiments. "Having him [Consuelos] join the show is so special for us, and we're sure that viewers will feel the same,” he said in a statement. 

April 17, 2023: Mark Consuelos makes his debut alongside Kelly Ripa as the permanent co-host on “Live.” 

On April 17, 2023, the married couple hosted the first-ever episode of Live With Kelly and Mark. Ripa teased that her husband “would be "joining me today — and permanently until one of us dies." After, Consuelos thanked his wife and paid homage to his — and Ripa’s — All My Children characters, saying, “Thank you America, thank you — Hayley and Mateo forever."

February 28, 2024: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos visit the chapel where they eloped.

A few months shy of their 28th wedding anniversary, Ripa and Consuelos returned to the chapel where they first said “I do” over two decades earlier. They even took the time to recreate their original wedding photo! 

May 1, 2024: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary. 

Ripa commemorated her and Consuelos’ 28th wedding anniversary with a series of romantic snaps documenting their love story together on Instagram. Her caption was equally adorable: “Squeezing 28 years into 10 pics is not possible, but you get the idea. Happy anniversary to the love of my life @instasuelos ♥️ So grateful to you for all the dreams come true ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨” Consuelos posted a sweet Instagram post of his own, writing “Forever thankful you decided to go on this crazy, beautiful ride with me. Happy 28th anniversary. Love you @kellyripa”