Ally Todd, 40, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset and her now-husband, Paul, 37, were matched by the experts and due to appear on the reality TV show in March 2020 – but their nuptials were cancelled due to the lockdown in the UK.
Paul, a train driver, was determined to meet the woman he had been paired with and, having only known her first name, he begged the producers for her details.
He then reached out to Ally, a medical insurance manager, and the pair quickly hit it off.
They got engaged in June 2021 and welcomed their daughter, Penelope, now four, in July 2021.
The pair finally wed in June 2024 – four years after their cancelled TV wedding.
They had Married at First Sight experts Paul C Brunson and Gen Gresset in attendance and Penelope as their flower girl.
Ally said: “I was secretly relieved when our series got cancelled – I’m glad we found our genuine love, as we were never interested in just being on TV.
“Paul [MAFS expert] said we were the most organic and genuine match that they have put together.
“Paul and I were made for each other.”
Ally and Paul were due to appear on the popular TV show Married at First Sight but had their wedding cancelled three days before it was due to take place – due to a strict lockdown coming into force in the UK.
Paul pressed the producers to let him know who Ally was and the couple met and fell for each other instantly after connecting over Skype.
They met up in person when restrictions eased and went from strength to strength – revealing they were pregnant in February 2021.
Paul popped the question by getting down one knee at a picnic at the beach in June 2021.
The couple welcomed little Penelope a month later on July 3, 2021, weighing 8lbs 1oz at St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol.
Ally said: “It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind – meeting, falling in love, getting engaged and falling pregnant – but we are just so happy.
“Having our little girl, Penelope, has just been the icing on the cake.”
After settling into family life they started planning their wedding, and tied the knot on June 8, 2024 at the Brighton Pavilion.
Paul said: “It was a small, intimate one.”
Now the pair have celebrated their first wedding anniversary, Ally says they’re renovating their £280,000 “forever home” in Weston-super-Mare and are trying for baby number two.
Looking back at her MAFS experience, she says she felt “immediate relief” when her series was cancelled.
She says she and Paul wanted a genuine match and got it – but worries some participants only sign up to find fame.
“Me and Paul went into it to find our ‘forever’ relationship – something long-lasting and right for us,” she said.
“I just hope people aren’t going in for the fame.”