Brianna Keilar is CNN’s senior political correspondent. She’s smart, knowledgeable and a reliable newscaster. She recently got married to a man named Fernando Lujan. We know a lot about Brianna Keilar, but what do we know about Brianna Keilar’s husband? From Fernando Lujan’s age, career, and life, to his wedding to Brianna Keilar, we will cover it all. Hopefully, by the time you’re done reading this, you will know everything that you need to know about Fernando Lujan.
Fernando Lujan’s Life and Career in Brief
Up until he began his relationship with Keilar, Lujan was not a person in the public eye, so details about his life before Keilar are scarce. But here’s what we do know: Fernando Lujan is approximately 40 years old and has been in the military most of his adult life. Specifically, Lujan is in the army and in recent years, was part of a special forces unit. While not many of his operations are public knowledge, we do know that Lujan served in Afghanistan on multiple occasions. Most recently as director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the White House’s National Security Council and it is during that position, he met Brianna Keilar.
The Correspondent and the Solider
Brianna Keilar and Fernando Lujan met in the way many couples do, at happy hour at a bar. At the time, Keilar and Lujan were both posted in Washington D.C. in their respective jobs. From that point on, the two would see each other around the Washington area. Keilar remembers seeing Lujan at a Taylor Swift concert (she’s quick to point out that he was chaperoning his nieces) and at White House dinners. Ironically, most of the time, she tried to hook Lujan with her friends and he kept turning the offers down. It would be three years after they met before he finally asked Keilar out herself. According to the couple, it was one really good date at one of Keilar’s favorite restaurants, Little Serow and that was that they’ve been together ever since.
Wedding Bells
Fernando Lujan first conspired his proposal with Keilar’s mother but her untimely death put those first plans on hold. But once the period of grieving was over, he enacted another plan and proposed on July 4, 2016. Lujan was even hands-on with the ring designer in India to help create a Ceylon sapphire ring for Keilar.
The wedding itself was a small affair with approximately 80 people on the guest list. Most of the guests were family and friends with a few notable faces like Keilar’s co-worker at CNN, Wolf Blitzer. The wedding took place at the Gallery at City Center in Las Vegas with the reception at the Mandarin Oriental. The bride wore white and Lujan wore his military dress uniform. As an interesting side note, one of the friends who Keilar tried to hook Lujan up with served as one of her bridesmaids! Keeping with the couple’s sense of humor, the bridal party was brought into the reception by a mariachi band and an Elvis impersonator entertained the crowd during the party.
Deployed Again
Recently, Keilar wrote a very interesting piece about being married to Lujan and dealing with the fact that some of their marriage will be spent apart. Fernando Lujan was in an office job when they first met and for a majority of their relationship but now he’s been redeployed as part of a special forces unit. It’s a situation Keilar knows that she’s not alone in this as many military families go through something similar. Here’s hoping that there her story has a happy ending and Lujan returns home safe.
