MAFS couple Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson to officially tie the knot

Married At First Sight’s Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson are officially tying the knot as they reveal what went wrong at their ‘first’ wedding.

As the next crop of Married At First Sight TV bride and grooms are unveiled, MAFS alumni Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson are preparing to tie the knot for real.

The couple will exchange vows – this time officially – on the Mornington Peninsula in mid February.

The couple emerged intact, if somewhat shell shocked, from the torrid 2021 season of MAFS in which Ruthven landed the unenviable “villain edit”.

Proving doubters of their relationship wrong, Ruthven and Rawson are parents of 16-month-old twin boys, are engaged and are counting down the days until their wedding. Against the odds they have become a MAFS success story.

Their nuptials, Rawson said, would be “dramatically different” to their for-the-cameras union on the show.

Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson appeared on MAFS in 2021.

“It will be very different considering we got married on national TV and Bryce and I had never met each other up until that moment when I walked down the aisle,” Rawson said.

“Our MAFS wedding was absolutely beautiful, but it did not showcase us as a couple because we were strangers.

“This time round we get to do our actual wedding the way we want it, we are getting married near a beach, which is definitely us, and we have the twins, who I think will be the focus of the day. We are hoping they are going to be walking and will be walking down the aisle with us.

“We proved everyone wrong, we found our match and we are truly happy, we have got a beautiful family and now we get to tie the knot for real, so we are elated.”

Rawson won’t be giving her MAFS wedding gown another spin.

“So many people have told me I should re-wear the MAFS gown, but that is not going to happen,” she said.

“That dress caught fire so many times during filming.

“There were a lot of tea light candles down the aisle and the bottom of the dress caught fire and had to be stepped on a few times. They did not show that on TV.

“My (real) gown is my dream dress. It is quite simple, but it is definitely me.”

The couple have got in shape for their wedding using Celebrity Slim meal replacement shakes.

Former MAFS contestants Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson are getting married in February 2023 with their twin boys, Tate and Levi, to be part of their wedding party. Picture: Fiona Hamilton

With the new season of MAFS launching Monday, Ruthven had a tip for whoever becomes the show’s villain.

“My advice would be don’t take anything you hear or you read or someone says to you in an interview to heart,” he said.

“People that know you personally and have known you for years and not for a week on TV, they know you better than anyone else.

“It is easier said than done not to react to the negative comments, but that would be my bit of advice.”