Coronation Street actress Alexandra Mardell married actor Joe Parker in an intimate ceremony last month.
The soap star tied the knot with Joe on Sunday, March 19 at The Tithe Barn in Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire, in front of 90 guests. The couple kept their ceremony private and asked attendees not to use their mobile phones as they kept their nuptials lowkey.
Almost one month after tying the knot, the couple shared the details about their big day with OK! magazine. Alexandra and Joe, both 29, said 'I do' in front of her Corrie co-stars Sair Khan and Charlotte Jordan, who play Alya and Daisy on the ITV soap.
Speaking of the event, Alexandra said: “We just wanted it to be private for friends and family, we asked politely for people not to use phones during the ceremony and to keep any pictures offline. Everyone said that they really enjoyed being present. It was just about us all being there on the day and it was lovely."
She continued: “There’s always that one auntie that tells everyone or posts it all over Facebook because they’re excited, but we just asked everyone to pass the word around and that if they didn’t mind, to wait until we’d posted pictures. Everyone has stood by that – and now we’re so excited to share them!”
The couple selected the date for their big day over two years ago, after noticing there had been heatwaves in the area in the years beforehand. The soap star gushed: "It was gorgeous – the scenery was stunning.
"The weather was great, considering it was snowing a few days before. We’d booked the wedding date two years prior because that weekend had been a heatwave for the past two years.
She added: "And then on the week of our wedding, it was snowing! I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we going to do?’ But luckily it was dry."
The couple stayed in separate hotels the night before the ceremony and even exchanged sweet gifts before walking down the aisle. Alexandra bought Joe a tie clip with their wedding date inscribed while Joe bought Alexandra a statue of the Child of Prague, which is said to help encourage good weather on your wedding day.
The former soap actress revealed: "My family are Irish and told me there’s an old tale about having the Child of Prague and if you put it outside, lying upside down, before the wedding, then it’ll be sunny on your wedding day.
"I sent a picture to my cousin the night before and I was like, ‘Look what I’ve got! I’ve put it outside, upside down.’ And then she said to me that it didn’t actually need to be upside down, but anyway, it worked!"
The couple didn't have any pre-wedding jitters, but ahead of the ceremony Joe became "worried" after his hotel was hit by a power cut. He explained: "I woke up in the morning and was going to go down for breakfast, and then all the lights went off! My first thought was, ‘I just hope the venue isn’t down as well!’ One of my groomsmen got us all some bacon sandwiches."
The actress' dad, Michael, tragically died in 2016 from a disease of the heart muscle. But, he was remembered on the big day. Alexandra said: "We had a blanket made out of Dad’s shirts and set up on a chair throughout the ceremony. It felt like we had him with us".
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