Maria Bello Explains Why She and Dominique Crenn Are 'Finally' Getting Married After a 5-Year Engagement (Exclusive)

"My biggest commitment is to my son, but now this new commitment is a conscious walking into the second half of life with someone who's really rad," says Bello of Crenn

Maria Bello is ready to wed!

The actress, producer and writer, 56, tells PEOPLE exclusively she and her longtime partner, Dominique Crenn, are gearing up to make things official this spring.

“We're such horrible planners, I have to say, both of us. Plus we're working all over the world,” Bello says. “But finally we have the wedding planner, we have the date, we have the location. And our save the date says, ‘Yep, we're finally doing it.’”

Bello and Crenn — a breast cancer survivor who first received her diagnosis shortly after the couple fell in love — got engaged in 2019.

“Dom and I have been through the three C's: cancer, covid and now commitment. I've never been married. Even to my son's dad. I've never taken that step,” says Bello, who shares son Jackson, 22, with Dan McDermott. “And that's an exciting thing too in the second half of my life, deciding who I want to be with, choosing the person that I want to be with.”

The guest list for the event is “medium size,” according to Bello, and more than anything, she’s simply looking forward to this next chapter.

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“You get together [when you’re young], you're crazy about each other, it’s passionate, sex. And suddenly by the time you're 50, you're like, ‘Let's watch Netflix and chill and what's for dinner, honey?’" says Bello of having "different commitments at different times" in life.

“My biggest commitment is to my son, but now this new commitment is a conscious walking into the second half of life with someone who's really f---ing rad.”

Related: Maria Bello Says a Midlife Crisis Is 'Actually a Gift to Us': 'Step Back and Reevaluate' (Exclusive)

Crenn, 58, is a celebrated French chef, and Bello moved with her to Paris so that Crenn could open a restaurant there called Golden Poppy.

Crenn was also the first female chef in America to earn three Michelin stars for her restaurant in San Francisco, Atelier Crenn.

Though the couple still visit France, Bello is back working and spending time in Los Angeles, and in January she's nominated at the 75th Emmys for her role in the Netflix hit series Beef.

As for the first person she told about her big award nod?

"I'm in the visa office here [in L.A.], the French Embassy, and I got a text from my producer saying, 'Congratulations.' And I said, 'For what?' She said, 'You were just nominated for an Emmy.' And I looked up at the woman at the counter and I said, 'Holy s--t. I was just nominated for an Emmy.' And she's like, 'Good for you.' She could've cared less," recalls Bello with a laugh.

The Emmy nomination is Bello's first in her nearly 30-year career. She's also up for a Critics Choice Award.

"To have a show recognized and honored to be a part of that great group, it's a really great feeling," she says, "but it's not a feeling anymore of having to prove myself. It's a feeling of celebrating the journey."

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