BEN & BRON, MARRIED AT LAST.

INSIDE TV’S WEDDING OF THE YEAR.

 Source: TV WEEK

Date: February 1-7th, 2003

All Saints’ Bron and Ben finally tie the knot, but will they live happily ever after?

 Her face glowing as she walks down the aisle, a beaming Bron Craig locks eyes with her soul mate and fiancé, Ben Markham.

Following a year of betrayal and pain, but ultimately joy, TV WEEK can rreveal that All Saints  favourite Bron will finally tie the knot with the man she has always loved. When the series returns to our screens this week, it couldn’t be in a more exciting fashion than with a fairytale wedding ceremony.

Looking absolutely stunning in an ethereal full-length ivory sequined gown, designed by top courier Alex Perry, Bron (Libby Tanner) is followed down the aisle by her two best friends in red bridesmaids’ dresses- Terri (Georgie Parker) and Rebecca (Natasha Beaumont).

Ben’s (Brian Vriends) closest mate and fellow ambulance officer Scott (Conrad Coleby) was the natural choice for his best man.

As with many screen nuptials, however their road to the altar has been far from smooth,

Their initial engagement was hastily called off when Bron confessed to a brief indiscretion that took place during a trip to the UK. A deeply hurt Ben then embarked on a fling with nurse Paula Morgan (Jenni Baird). However, as much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, his feelings for his ex-fiancée never abated.

It took a near death experience- when Ben was stabbed repeatedly by a crazed patient- to make the pair realise they simply couldn’t live without each other.

“When Ben was so badly injured, it was like Bron had been wounded as well. She knew she simply had to be with him,” says Libby. “Before then, she thought she was strong enough and didn’t need him in her life.”

Libby, whose real life partner (and the father of her baby daughter Edie) is none other than Brian Vriends himself, knows viewers have been waiting a long time for this event.

“The viewers love Paula, but they had to see Bron and Ben back together,” she smiles. “They’ve been building it for many years now.”

“both Ben and Bron have done the wrong thing by each other,, both loved each other too much and both mucked up. But they’re had to forgive. They’ve had to learn and grow with each other and they’ve done that beautifully.

“Bron attacks life and responds to things the way I do. Essentially, out energy is the same.”

But there’s more drama on the way to the altar when Ben’s buck’s night turns sour with he guys becoming embroiled in a nasty scuffle. Mitch (Erik Thomson), who’s drinking heavily again, ends up in emergency, which leads to his own fiancée Terri- re-living her father’s violence- to question whether he’s right for her.

And Ben starts wondering whether all this is a bad omen for his wedding.

‘I suppose, like all grooms, Ben is a bit nervous,’ says Brian. ‘This is something he's been wanting to do for a long time and now it’s actually happened, He’s worried things might go wrong.’

Bron, however couldn’t be calmer.

“Bron knows this is the right thing to do. She’s not much of a ‘Muriel,’” says Libby. “Ben is very nervous at the church- which is gorgeous, because he’s always been such a stately figure. he can’t believe it’s finally going to happen, after everything that they’ve been through.’

Libby believed that while Bron and Ben are different in many ways, they offset each other perfectly.

“they’re opposites,” she says. “he can be quite  straight-laced, whereas Bron is a bit wilder and a bit spontaneous. Together, they round each other out.”

Brian agrees: “Bron is the right one for Ben. There’s no question.”

When Bron’s estranged father shows up uninvited at the wedding, Ben’s fears of something going wrong seem to be coming true- even more so when a member of his close family collapses at the wedding reception.

“Poor old Bronnie!” exclaims Libby. ‘Everything has to happen on her wedding day.”