SHE thought she’d knocked it out of the park in a unique, eye-catching black wedding dress for her big day.
So imagine Ashleigh’s surprise when she was bombarded with messages from friends saying they’d spotted the exact same dress on a bride on Married at First Sight UK.
The dress wasn’t traditional, but looked stunning on Maeve[/caption]
However, her groom Joe wasn’t sure what to make of her colour choice[/caption]
The bride in question is 29-year-old single mum Maeve, who made a showstopping entrance to her wedding when she arrived on a horse.
She explained in the episode that she chose black to signify the “death” of her single life, but groom Joe, 31, wasn’t too sure what to make of the billowing black gown.
“I thought you wear black for a funeral, not a wedding,” he remarked.
Ashleigh took to her TikTok page to reflect on Maeve wearing the same dress as her, as she shared snaps from the show and also of her own wedding.
“When #mafsuk steals your wedding dress!” she wrote over the top of her video.
And Maeve was among those commenting on the video, as she wrote: “Great minds thinks alike – you look absolutely incredible!
“Thank you so do you!” Ashleigh replied.
“Unsure how you wore it riding a horse lol!”
“Sweetheart with a great difficulty,” Maeve admitted.
“The amount of time I almost fell off cause the weight of the dress would go to one side … then so would I!”
“Didn’t look like it to me!” Ashleigh replied.
“I still can’t believe it – it’s such an unusual dress!”
Speaking to Fabulous, Ashleigh said that when someone from her work told her that they’d seen Maeve in the dress on MAFS, she “didn’t think much of it” as she was “certain it wasn’t the same”.
Then her dad’s wife sent her pictures of Maeve on the show, leaving her “shocked”.
“To be honest I was annoyed at first,” she said.
“We only got married in February this year so to see that dress as unusual as it is on the TV I was a little gutted.
“But I’m now amused by it!”
Mafs couples that have stood the test of time
Loved-up Tayah Victoria and Adam Aveling of series six fame had the first Mafs baby.
The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other on the programme and quickly found their feet in the outside world, moving into Adam’s Doncaster home.
Just 18 months after meeting, the couple welcomed their daughter Beau.
Season five couple Michelle Walder and Owen Jenkins also managed to make their marriage work away from the cameras and had their first child in December.
Teacher Michelle, 29, has no regrets about taking part in the experiment. She told us: “I just feel very lucky and thankful that it has worked out – and excited for everything to come.”
Michelle and Owen were both sick of dating apps when they applied in 2019.
Owen recalled: “I had been out for some drinks with a friend after work.
“While he was out for a cigarette I was scrolling on Instagram waiting for him to come back in.
“The MAFS advert was the last thing I saw, and I joked, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if I signed up?’
“A few beers later when I was back at home I sent in the application, and the rest is history.”
Another couple to make Mafs UK history is Zoe Clifton and Jenna Robinson.
Despite a slight rocky start, where they clashed over Jenna’s vegan lifestyle, the show’s first same sex pairing are still going strong.
They even have a successful podcast together called Life With a Pod.
Jenna shed light on being involved in the show earlier this year when she told us: “We’re not legally married, and I never felt like we were. I definitely feel the process makes you take the relationship a lot more seriously and having the help of the experts… if you can survive that process it sets a firm foundation for a long-lasting relationship.”
The exchange between Ashleigh and Maeve after the episode aired also saw the outspoken Newcastle bride tell her that the dress “looked better” on her.
Ashleigh knew from the beginning of her wedding dress hunt that she didn’t want to wear white – in fact, she didn’t want a wedding dress at all.
She tried on a pink dress first off, but when she put on the black dress – the second she’d tried on – she knew she’d found the one.
And everyone loved the gown – even her nan, who burst into tears when she went with her to a fitting.
“I think it helped that everyone knew I wasn’t going to be in white, so they expected a little different but every one loved it,” Ashleigh said.
“Even the groom!”
She and Maeve have had a conversation in the comments section, with the MAFS star even saying the gown looked better on Ashleigh[/caption]
It remains to be seen how Maeve & Joe’s relationship develops on the Channel 4 show[/caption]
