Married at First Sight couple wed after Covid delay

A couple who were due to appear on a reality TV show where strangers get married within minutes of meeting each other have finally tied the knot, four years on.

Ally and Paul Todd, based in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, were set to meet on Channel 4's Married at First Sight in March 2020.

But their wedding was cancelled two days before the event due to Covid rules. Four years later, and the couple finally wed on 8 June.

“We’re so thankful to the experts. I’m a bit of a hopeless romantic- I always wanted my dream guy and I got him," Mrs Todd told BBC Radio Bristol's John Darvall.

The Channel 4 series is a bold social experiment where single people, matched by experts, marry total strangers whom they meet for the very first time at the altar.

Spanning eight seasons, the show has seen many successful couples come together on our screens to tackle marriage in the real world.

Few couples boast a truer testament to love at first sight as Mr and Mrs Todd.

Having cancelled the season two days before their wedding, the producers arranged a Skype call so they could put a face to the name they had heard so much about during the six-week build up.

“I knew there was a person connected with that name, I started to have feelings for this word, ‘Ally’," said Mr Todd.

"I was constantly wondering what she was up to. When Covid was passing its way through Europe towards us, I was worried about her, wondering what she’s thinking about it all."

Meanwhile, Mrs Todd said she went into the virtual meeting "extremely hopeful".

"I didn’t even let my mind think it wasn’t going to work," she said.

"The experts kept saying to me ‘he’s everything you’ve asked for and more’. I’m meeting my perfect match, my husband."

Unwilling to let their once-in-a-lifetime romance slip away, the pair moved in together to spend lockdown building a relationship with "no distractions".

“Coming together with this lovely new romance, and having that quality time together every single day made our connection grow faster," she said.

In 2021, the couple welcomed their daughter into the world and started a family of their own, after years of struggling with "unsuccessful" and "toxic" relationships.

Mrs Todd said: "When the experts asked what I wanted, I said ‘positive, a go-getter, kind and romantic’. But my Paul actually is a lot more than that."

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