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Tim Tebow marries model Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters in South Africa

Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Former football star and current Minor League Baseball player Tim Tebow began his week by marrying former Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters in South Africa.

Tebow and Nel-Peters married Monday at the La Paris Estate in Cape Town. The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner and his new wife -- a South Africa native -- posted photos from the event on social media. Tebow also posted videos to his Instagram story during the hours leading up to the ceremony.

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The couple became engaged in January 2019. They met at Night to Shine, an event sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. Night to Shine is a prom night experience for people with special needs ages 14 and older.

Nel-Peters, a model, and Tebow met when Night to Shine was staged in South Africa. Nel-Peters' sister Franje, 13, had special needs and died in 2019 after battling cerebellar agenesis. The neurological condition involves having an underdeveloped or undersized cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls movement.

"Her sister has special needs, so we invited them to Night to Shine in South Africa," Tebow told Today in 2019. "We kind of met and started talking through that and haven't stopped."

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Tebow and Nel-Peters went public with their relationship in 2018.

Tebow and Nel-Peters told People about 260 guests attended the wedding. Singer Harry Connick Jr. was one of the guests featured on Tebow's Instagram story.

The couple wrote their own vows. Guests used the hashtag #tyingthetebow on social media posts featuring the newlyweds.

Tebow, 32, is playing in the New York Mets' minor league system. He hit .163 with four home runs and 19 RBIs in 77 games last season for the Class-AAA Syracuse Mets. The Mets invited Tebow to 2020 spring training in January.

The former Florida Gators star spent three seasons in the NFL before failing to stay on the roster while with the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. Tebow last took an NFL regular-season snap in 2012.

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Nel-Peters, 24, was crowned Miss Universe in 2017.

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