Will Bonnie Sveen’s Ricky get her happily ever after wedding on Home And Away?

EACH Home And Away bride has a battle to get down the aisle in style, so will Bonnie Sveen’s character Ricky get her happily ever after?

IT’S the Summer Bay wedding Bonnie Sveen fans have been wishing for - if not quite the groom most of them wanted her to marry.

But in the fine tradition of Seven’s long-running soap, Home And Away, Sveen’s tortured character Ricky Sharpe is poised to get her “happily ever after” - finally tying the knot with on-screen love, Dr Nate Cooper (Kyle Pryor) next week.

Their hotly-anticipated nuptials — overlooking the fictional beachside village which averages a wedding every six months — appears to mark the end of one of the most tumultuous romances to ever blossom in ‘the Bay’ - between Ricky (Sveen) and her former flame, Darryl ‘Brax’ Braxton (played until recently by the show’s latest celebrity export, Stephen Peacocke).

Their rollercoaster relationship is almost single-handedly credited with sending the 28-year-old soap’s ratings sky-high; until viewers - mostly young blokes - went the way of their favourite River Boy. Out the door.

But since his departure, back in 2014 to chase his Hollywood ambitions, the show’s producers have walked no less than five couples down the aisle in a tried-and-tested way of wooing back audiences.

Bride of the Bay, Ricky Sharpe, played by Bonnie Sveen, wears a Grace Loves Lace gown. Picture: Supplied/Seven.

The show’s current series producer, Lucy Addario confessed the writing team did consider marrying off Ricky and Brax, sending them away together as the ex-con went on the run but felt Sveen’s character was too popular and too strong a woman “to live a life like that.”

Instead, they reunited the battling single mum with Nate, “the polar opposite of Brax,” Addario said, “who on paper, is perfect husband material.”

As expected though, the ghost of Brax plays a part in the lead-up, as second thoughts creep in for both the bride and her groom.

Sveen, who announced last week she was leaving the series after four years for a role in Seven’s new prime-time drama, The Secret Daughter, hints there are still hurdles for the couple to overcome before - and even after - they wed.

“Obviously Nate is going to assume that if anything is holding Ricky back from arriving it’s going to be Brax, when some other drama has happened,” Sveen revealed.

“There’s an element of their relationship that is still tender and she’s very aware that [Nate] would assume the worst if she’s late.” Which you can take it as read she is.

Such plot points dictate the designer details of each wedding episode, but most especially the bride’s dress.

The stunning Grace Loves Lace gown was bought online for $1600 and posted from the Brisbane-based label who specialise in stretch lace designs. Supplied/Grace Loves Lace.

Shelley Murray, the show’s costume designer for the past 16 years, is given about 12 weeks notice to prepare the wardrobe for each wedding (she’s worked on 30 so far and let slip there’s a new one to plan on her drawing board).

“Ricky is a surfer and sporty so her dress had to be more practical than a lot of the more fashion girls,” Murray said.

The Grace Loves Lace design (pictured, right and inset) was bought online from a Brisbane-based label for $1600 and suited the wedding day action Ricky gets up to.

“We needed a bigger skirt, just for practical reasons, so Bonnie could pick it up and run in it without it being too soft and flouncy.”

Whether it’s dodging bullets or surviving unexpected explosions, getting to the chapel in one piece — let alone in style — is all part of the challenge for a Home And Away bride.

“These are not normal weddings in that respect,” Murray said. “There’s usually some stunt. Someone’s falling out of a car, or giving birth. It never goes smooth, so when we’re getting the gowns together, whether it’s the bride or the bridesmaids, we have to take that into account”

In last year’s cliffhanger finale it was Ada Nicodemou as Leah Patterson-Baker’s third time to the altar - this time marrying Zac MacGuire (Charlie Clausen) in a stunning Paolo Sebastian gown; her big day marred, in dramatic fashion, by the shooting murder of resident villain, Charlotte King (Erika Heynatz).

The TV wedding dress sketched by Adelaide designer Paolo Sebastian. Picture: Supplied

Ada Nicodemou wearing Paolo Sebastian

Rewind to the early years and each bride’s battle to get that ring on her finger has made for many a memorable moment. Who could forget, back in 1995, the Lazarus-like moment when Angel (Melissa George) rose from her wheelchair to walk toward her beloved, Shane (Dieter Brummer) only for him to die soon after?

Or when serial bride Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) was marrying for the second time in 2003 to Flynn (Joel McIlroy), only making it to the church after doing a daring jump and roll from a runaway horse and carriage?

That, Murray explained, required four versions of the same bridal gown, to fit both Ritchie and her stunt double.

* Home And Away’s wedding special airs 7pm, April 18 on Channel 7.

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