Jillian Harris | Jillian Harris and Ed Swiderski | Jillian and Ed Still Together | Bachelorette’s Jillian & Ed Discussing 2010 Wedding

They didn’t think it could happen to them, but The Bachelorette’s Jillian Harris and Chicago computer software consultant Ed Swiderski have now become “the people we used to make fun of that are engaged and want to get married and are in love,” Harris says.

More than ten million people witnessed Swiderski’s seaside proposal to Harris on The Bachelorette season finale Monday night.

The “extremely happy” couple, who sat down to talk to PEOPLE in its latest issue about getting engaged on TV and their future plans, say they can’t believe how normal their relationship is, despite having met on ABC’s reality dating show.

“It feels more normal than any relationship I’ve ever had,” Harris says. “It’s very strange how it’s such a contradiction to have something so normal come from something that’s so manic.”

In the months following their engagement, which was filmed on May 24 in Hawaii, the couple have had to keep their relationship under wraps so as not to give away the outcome of the show. In that time, Harris says they have enjoyed getting into a groove and are talking about a 2010 wedding.

“When we’re together it’s very real,” she says. “We make dinner, we drink in the hot tub, we watch movies, we fall asleep in front of the TV.”

The two biggest things that Swiderski has come to love are about his new fiancée are “how important family is to her — and her cooking,” he says. “She never cooked for us [on the show] and now we have these five star meals.” –Monica Rizzo

For more on their budding relationship, pick up a copy of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday



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