Dancing With The Stars professional Derek Hough has described his wedding to Hayley Erbert as a “fairytale”.
The dancer, 38, who is a former flame of UK singer Cheryl, tied the knot with his DWTS co-star in a redwood forest before a party at a cliffside estate in Carmel, California.
Hough’s best man was fellow DWTS professional Mark Ballas, who is the son of Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, while his dancer sister Julianne Hough served as a bridesmaid.
Hough told US magazine People: “It’s one of the most breathtaking places. It’s like a fairytale.
“When we were thinking about a location we asked ourselves, ‘What’s important to us?’
“Nature was the first thing. We want to be around trees and plants and Northern California kind of spoke out to us.
“We just want people to experience this place that we love, this nature, but also, it just feels incredibly romantic.”
Erbert, 28, added: “We’re in a redwood forest, but we got married right in front of this mother tree that’s surrounded by all these smaller trees.
“They drop all the seeds, and it plants kind of like an army of children to protect the mother. The symbolism of it was beautiful. We’re here, planting our seeds to grow our family.”
The couple got married in front of celebrity guests including Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto, Fresh Prince of Bel Air actor Alfonso Ribeiro and Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev.
Describing how meaningful marriage is to him, Hough said: “It’s so interesting what a small sort of piece of metal can do to your whole persona and your whole outlook on everything, where all of a sudden it’s sort of like, oh, I have this promise that I carry with me all the time.’
“And to want to be a man to live up to that promise daily for that person and for yourself and for others, it’s a powerful thing. It’s a beautiful thing.
“So for me, I’m excited to continue to aspire to be that man each and every day for her, for our animals and for our future family.”
The couple shared their first dance to Fall Into Me by Forest Blakk but resisted the chance to perform a choreographed routine.
Hough told People: “It’s so beautiful, but I’ll say this: I think everybody’s expecting us to do a performance and a dance whole thing.
“But that’s the thing — we perform, we go on stage, we dance, we do things. So for us, it feels more special for us to not perform. To be on the floor with each other, to listen to music and just be in the moment.”
