OK! Magazine Australia — January 31, 2018

Watch Married at First Sight
Sun, 7pm, and Mon-Tue and
Thu, 7.30pm on Channel 9

You know how a wedding can

tend to soften up even the coldest of

hearts? Well, a filmed wedding is no

different – and there needs to be plenty

of tissues on set, ready to dry those tears!

‘Quite often, members of the production

team will tear up with emotion during the

vows and speeches,’ reveals a show insider.

Thepowerofloveisreal!

5

Not a dry eye

in the house

verage couple, planning the biggest

day of your life usually takes about a year.

ButMAFSnuptials happen a lot quicker.

‘Approximately four to six weeks of intense

planning goes into each wedding,’ says a show

insider. ‘However, insome cases, there have

been some that have been planned in less than

two weeks.’ Talk about a shotgun wedding!

Say cheese!
You can expect TV brides to be
even quirkier than everyday brides.
One woman’s odd request for her
special day? ‘We had one bride who
wanted a wedding cake made out
of cheese!’ tells a show insider.
Presumably there were tiers
of cheddar, brie and
camembert?

9

‘As the grooms don’t know

who they are marrying at this stage, we

leave it to the female members of the

production to choose the wedding rings,’

Tara explains. ‘Given they know who the

brides are, there’s more chance they’ll

like the ring chosen for them.’ This year,

more than 5000 people applied to be

on the show to receive their own ring!

7

Wedding plans

on fast-forward

Will you take

this ring?

Here comes

the bride...

...walking down the aisle in silence!

When the bride makes her big

entrance, there’s no traditional

wedding march being played. ‘This is

so we can clearly capture the bride

and groom’s reactions to seeing

each other for the first

time,’ Tara explains.

6

A real-life bridal duo

have a professional photographer and

a few others to capture those special

But for TV? Tara

kes [up to] 60

n crew. This

producers, floor

agers, assistants

unners.’ Wow!

10

It takes a

village...

GABRIELLE IS TERRIFIED TO TELL

HER HUBBY OF HER CONDITION

Getting married to a stranger on TV

is daunting. But for Gabrielle, who

suffers from alopecia – a condition

where hair is lost from some or

all areas of the body – she was

understandably on edge. The mum-

of-one, who first lost her hair at age 11,

is nervous to tell her story. ‘It’s always

hard to have “that conversation,”’

the 44-year-old model explains.

‘It’s a bit nerve-racking with any

man I’ve started a relationship with.

If a guy reacts really badly to the

news, then there’s my answer.’

Gabrielle’s hair grew back, only to

fall out again after a rough break-up.

‘Five years ago at the bitter end of

my last relationship, it all fell out really

quickly,’ she recalls. ‘I was engaged

and the end of that relationship was

a doozy. I’ve never been treated in

a way that was so hurtful, but it taught

me a lot about what I deserve.’

Gabrielle, who has a twin sister,

Kerrie, reveals her teen years were

hard to navigate at times. ‘When my

hair first fell out I looked

different with no hair,’

she reveals. ‘Other

students... thought

I had cancer, and

there were a few

mean boys.’

‘I felt different

and it was tough

having a twin

sister who was

known as the

prettiest girl

in the class,’

she adds.

‘The truth

about my

alopecia’

moments.B

spills, ‘It ta

productio

includesp

mana

andr

Tracey was clearly

happy with her

match Dean!

Gabrielle says

her 11-year-old

daughter River ‘is

really supportive’

There was

an instant

attraction

between Telv

and Sarah

TEXT BY ALI CROMARTY & NIKITA LEE