JOEL MADDEN & NICOLE RICHIE TO WED IN THE FALL?

Joel Madden and Nicole Richie will wed this autumn (10) at a luxurious spa resort in California, according to the latest reports.

Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden announced in February (10) that he had proposed in secret last year (09), and the couple has hired Mindy Weiss, the wedding planner responsible for Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz's nuptials, to mastermind their big day.

A source tells Star magazine, "Nicole is leaving the big details to her wedding planner... Nicole's dad, Lionel, offered his Beverly Hills mansion (for the ceremony), but she and Joel want it to be in Santa Barbara, at the Bacara Resort and Spa. She's already planning to spend the day before in a spa with her girlfriends."

And the creative socialite, who runs her own fashion range, is designing her own wedding dress.

The insider says, "She wants something loose and not too formal because her kids are going to be in the wedding. They're a handful!"

Joel Madden and Nicole Richie are parents to daughter Harlow, two, and son Sparrow, eight months.