A match made in TV heaven! As Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan prepare to tie the knot in a fairytale wedding, MailOnline looks back on their romance
Fans were sceptical when reports first emerged that Coronation Street beauty Michelle Keegan had fallen for TOWIE lothario Mark Wright.
But almost three years after the couple initially met on a New Year's break in Dubai in 2012, Mark, 28 and 27-year-old Michelle are set to tie the knot in a lavish ceremony (funded by a glossy magazine deal) this weekend.
Following a swift proposal nine months after they met, the couple have taken their time to plan the dream day at Hengrave Hall in Sussex, where the worlds of soap and reality TV will come together for a spectacular celebration.
MailOnline looks back at the fairytale romance between two of Britain's biggest TV stars.
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Back where it all began: Two years after meeting in Dubai on New Year's Eve, Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright returned to ring in 2015 and celebrate their impending marriage
Just eight months after splitting from The Wanted heartthrob Max George in April 2012 (although the news was not revealed until July), Michelle met Mark in Dubai while celebrating New Year's.
After an intense nine-month romance, he popped the question when they returned to the Middle Eastern holiday hotspot in September 2013, where The Sun claims they have also been offered a free honeymoon.
But Michelle admitted she thought her beau was joking when he got down on one knee.
She said in an interview with Hello! magazine: 'I thought he was joking at first and then he said 'come here'.
Intense: Mark and Michelle started dating after meeting on New Year's Eve 2012 and quickly become one of English's top celebrity couples
'I started crying, and said yes, and then he started welling up as well. Then as we walked further down the beach I saw a table set up with lanterns and petals, and with two glasses of champagne.'
Mark added: 'It didn't take me long to realise that Michelle is everything I wanted. Michelle is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.'
The Strictly Come Dancing finalist also admitted spending three months apart from his stunning girlfriend due to work commitments was the catalyst for him popping the question.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said: 'I was desperate to see her, I missed her so much and that's when I realised, 'f*****g hell, this is intense'.
Serious: Mark and Michelle got serious extremely quickly and were completely inseparable
'I couldn't be away from her for that long, so I thought I'm going to get on this flight and propose. I flew Michelle to Dubai and that's where I told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.
'I've got now, for the first time in my life, what I've always wanted and what every boy dreams of – affection in a relationship, love, best friend, a girl I fancy… everything rolled into one.'
Max handled the news of Michelle Keegan's engagement to Mark well, as he wished his ex 'all the luck in the world'.
So in love: Mark popped the question when they returned to the Middle Eastern holiday hotspot in September 2013, nine months after they first started dating
Incredible: Mark and Michelle will marry at Hengrave Hall in Sussex in front of family and friends this weekend
The boyband star was somewhat ambushed with a question about his former fiancée during a Q&A session on ITV's Daybreak but handled it very well.
Host Lorraine Kelly read out the question from a fan, and sympathetically asked Max 'Are you alright?'
Max, looking slightly uncomfortable, enthusiastically told Lorraine and her co-host Aled Jones: 'Yeah, absolutely. I'm actually really happy for her, she's a wonderful girl. I've met Mark and he seems like a really nice bloke so yeah - I wish them all the luck in the world.'
Epic: Mark has gone so far as to compare his relationship with Michelle to the romance between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams' characters in epic love story, The Notebook
One year on from engagement and going strong: Michelle moved to Essex in 2014 when she quit Coronation Street and said the move had been a huge positive on their relationship
But one person who was not so enthusiastic was Mark's ex-fiance Lauren Goodger, who he starred with on TOWIE.
Both left the show following the final breakdown of their romance and had no further contact with each other.
And Lauren angered Michelle with a message on her Instagram which read: 'I'm not going to be the girl you marry, but I'll be the girl you'll be thinking of 20 years from now while you engage in polite sex with your boring wife who fakes her orgasm to make you feel better about your receding hairline.'
Lauren's sadness was understandable as the pair dated on and off for almost 10 years, and the dramatic twists and turns of their tumultuous love lives were one of TOWIE's biggest storylines throughout its first few seasons.
Special; The couple have returned to Dubai a number of times since meeting there as it holds a special memory for them
Besotted: Mark said he knew he had to marry Michelle when he couldn't cop with being away from her for three months while they were working so he whisked her off to Dubai to pop the question in September 2013
Lavish: Almost three years after the couple initially met on a New Year's break in Dubai in 2012, Mark and Michelle are set to tie the knot in a lavish ceremony (funded by a glossy magazine deal) on Saturday
Not shy: Michelle and Mark often post gushing messages and sickly sweet pictures of them together
But Mark dismissed the relationship, which finally ended in August 2011 amid claims Lauren had cheated on him, as simply a 'teenage' romance, and said he 'obviously hadn't' been in love with her.
Mark even went so far as to compare his relationship with Michelle to the epic romance between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams' characters in love story, The Notebook.
He added: 'Every single thing you imagine and you dream about falling in love with someone, I've got now. I remember watching The Notebook, and I honestly feel like what Noah has got, I've got.'
And it would seem Michelle has gone down a lot better with Mark's close-knit family, with Lauren, 28, and his elder sister Jessica, 29, being involved in a well-documented spat.
Dismissing her brother's relationship with Lauren as 'volatile' and 'random', Jessica insisted his future lies with Coronation Street beauty Michelle.
MARK AND MICHELLE'S CIRCUITOUS PATH TO TRUE LOVE
In 2008, Michelle's Hollyoaks actor boyfriend Anthony Quinlan dumped her because he reportedly couldn't handle her on-screen smooches with Jack P Shepherd.
Michelle split from fiance Max George in 2012
Michelle then started dating male model, club promoter and aspiring actor Brad Howard later that year and made a point of mentioning how supportive he was.
She said: 'Whenever male fans come up to me in the street, he always takes a step back, he understands it's part of the job.'
However, she called off the relationship in 2010, reportedly after a series of furious rows
She then got together with The Wanted singer Max in late 2010, before he popped the question with a £10,000 ring in April 2011.
Their split was announced in July 2012, although Max later revealed the break-up had occurred three months before and was caused by his drinking.
Speaking to The Sun, Max said: 'I had a real problem with drinking too much and that was, without doubt, the downfall of our relationship.
Just months later, Michelle met Mark in Dubai and the rest history.
Meanwhile, when TOWIE first aired in 2010, Mark and Lauren Goodger were introduced as childhood sweethearts who had been dating since they were 15.
Mark's 10-year relationship with Lauren Goodger finally ended in 2011
During their on and off relationship, Mark had a fling with Lucy Mecklenburgh behind her boyfriend Mario Falcone's back.
Although he started dating Lucy, it was revealed in the climax of the series one that he had still been sleeping with Goodger.
Later during the Christmas special of TOWIE, when viewers thought he would make a choice between Lucy and Lauren, he actually confessed his feelings to Sam.
The pair slept together numerous times but never had a full-on relationship.
A brief romance with I'm A Celebrity pin-up Kayla Collins followed in 2011 but it ended after just two months.
When Mark proposed to Lauren in an episode of The Only Way Is Essex in 2011 after reconciling, even their own families weren't convinced it was a good idea.
And the pair proved their critics right splitting in August just five months after getting engaged.
It was claimed that Lauren had cheated on Mark, but she denied the allegations as ludicrous.
A brief flirtation with his I'm A Celebrity co-star Emily Scott ended before it even got going and when Mark went to Hollywood to film his reality TV show Mark Wright's Hollywood Nights for ITV2 in 2012, he enjoyed a short fling with volleyball playing Chelsea Rashoff.
However, just months later he met Michelle and it was game over for the now reformed lothario.
Revelation: Mark revealed on TOWIE that he had a fling with Lucy Mecklenburgh behind her boyfriend Mario Falcone's back
Surprising: Mark declared his feelings for Sam Faiers in the TOWIE season one finale
She added to heat: 'Lauren and Mark met when they were children. They were 15, they weren't even adults, and they had a kind of volatile, random relationship. With Michelle, Mark's besotted. He idolises, he respects her. He just loves her.'
Jessica's loyalty to Michelle has been rewarded and she will be among the reported seven bridesmaids on Saturday.
Michelle moved to Essex in 2014 when she quit Coronation Street and told Star magazine that the move had been a huge positive on their relationship.
'Yeah, we're really happy,' she revealed. 'There isn't one definitive moment I can think of when I knew he was the one for me. We're very happy together and I know everything is how it should be.'
Mr and Mrs Wright: Michelle will take Mark's name when they wed this weekend
And Michelle revealed she and Mark will become a real-life 'Mr and Mrs Wright' after they walk down the aisle.
Speaking in an interview with Hello! magazine, the actress confirmed she is planning to change her name after the couple get married.
She said: 'We will be Mr and Mrs Wright. I may keep the name Keegan for work but for everything else in my life I will be Michelle Wright.'
Sisters: Jessica (Mark's sister) has insisted Michelle is the one for him and her loyalty to Michelle has been rewarded and she will be among the reported seven bridesmaids on Saturday
Celebrate; Mark is alleged to have spent a whopping £35k on alcohol during his extended stag party in Las Vegas
Michelle has helped to design her own dress, explaining: 'I couldn't find one that I really liked, so instead I took inspiration from various aspects of dresses I loved and it's been made for me.'
And Mark - who finished fourth in last year's Strictly Come Dancing - explained the pressure is now on for the couple's first dance, as everyone has such high expectations when it comes to his fancy footwork.
He joked: 'Actually it's even worse as people are now thinking, 'Oh he's going to be well good'.
Raging: Michelle was said to be furious when Lauren posted this message one year after Keegan and Mark got engaged
She's at it again: Lauren posted this message on Friday, one day before Mark's wedding
Pouting: Lauren shared this selfie on Friday after her not so cryptic message
'Everyone has high expectations now but it shouldn't be a show dance. I want the music to come on, and it to be just Michelle and me.'
Earlier this month Mark is alleged to have spent a whopping £35k on alcohol during his extended stag party in Las Vegas.
Mark and his crew are said to have racked up an eye-watering £20,000 bill at nightspot Tao on one night alone, according to the Daily Mirror.
They reportedly also splashed out £15,000 the previous evening at the Light club on 20 bottles of vodka, 10 bottles of champagne and beers.
Michelle's hen weekend was more sedate as she returned to Dubai where Mark proposed, even wearing the same dress she wore when he proposed.
She told HELLO! magazine: 'I knew I wanted to wear the dress again when we headed out to the desert as it has special memories for me.
'I did go back to the exact same spot on the beach with some of the girls. I did a re-run of what happened and I showed them where Mark was when he proposed to me. It was nice for them to see it.'
Keegan was joined by her mum Jackie Thornton, former Coronation Street co-star Brooke Vincent and Mark's sister Jessica and his mum Carol.
While it's full steam ahead for the wedding on Saturday, Lauren couldn't resist one last public message, taking to Instagram to share a post about lost love.
In a message many followers claimed was aimed at Mark, she wrote in the early hours of Friday morning: 'She's the kind of girl a guy meets when he's too young and he f**ks up because there's too much living to do. But later he realises she's perfect.'
However, after months of preparations and despite any last minute hiccups, Mark and Michelle are eagerly anticipating their big day on Saturday.
Oblivious: Despite Lauren's message, the couple are eagerly anticipating their wedding and looking forward to another trip back to Dubai, this time for their honeymoon
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3092763/A-match-TV-heaven-Mark-Wright-Michelle-Keegan-prepare-tie-knot-fairytale-wedding-MailOnline-looks-romance.html#ixzz3auCh3t5v
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