Ashley Tisdale Reveals the Sweet Significance Behind Her Wedding Date

Christopher French and Ashley Tisdale

Corbin Gurkin Photography

By Andrea Billups

@princessmouse

09/24/2014 AT 12:00 PM EDT

Few brides choose Monday for a big wedding. But a giddy Ashley Tisdale said there were two reasons it made perfect sense for her own rustic and romantic nuptials to musician husband Christopher French.

Reason No. 1? She pulled off the ceremony as a big surprise for fans, letting them know via Instagram a day later.

"Was it to throw people off or was it bargain shopping?" Ryan Seacrest teased the newlywed, 29, as she joined his On Air radio show for the first time as a missus.

"The 8th was our anniversary, so I wanted to land on an 8th, and [thankfully] it landed on a Monday in September,” the Buzzy's star explained of the day's sweet significance.

Plus, she wanted to foil anyone who might spoil the moment.

"I figured out like, 'Oh, I don't think anybody would figure this one out,' and that was to protect the privacy of it," she shared.

Did her special day go off without a hitch?

"Yes," Tisdale told Seacrest. "It was very awesome."