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Todd Bridges is married!
The Diff’rent Strokes alum, 57, tied the knot to designer Bettijo B. Hirschi in front of 70 guests on Wednesday evening at Greystone Mansion & Gardens in Beverly Hills, California.
Bridges tells PEOPLE exclusively that the pair wanted to get married in a small ceremony with “just our closest friends and family.”
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant adds it was special to marry “somebody that I’m madly in love with.”
TMZ was first to report the news of Bridges’ marriage to Hirschi.
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During her special day, Hirschi walked down the aisle in a gown she designed herself.
“I tried to find something off-the-rack that I could wear, and I just wasn’t seeing what I wanted because I wanted more coverage,” she says. “I like classic beauty channeling from older eras, like Audrey Hepburn. So that’s what I was really inspired by.”
“It was all satin, and it was a fitted bodice with a square neck,” Hirschi adds. “And then I have long legs, so I did a split skirt that was kind of like a wrap. And then for the ceremony, I had an 80-inch satin train and then a 200-inch-long veil.”
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The ceremony was followed by a reception at nearby Italian restaurant, Il Cielo, and included a first dance to “At Last” by Etta James. The song is special to the couple because “we both went through a lot before finding each other,” Hirschi says.
“We kind of both had given up on finding something this great, and we were super surprised to be able to have it kind of given to us, and we feel like God had a hand in bringing us together, she adds. “We feel so blessed.”
Bridges, who parted ways with his first wife Dori in 2012, met his new bride through a mutual friend in March. (Bridges shares son Spencir, 24, and daughter Bo, 25, with Dori, and will now be a stepfather to Hirschi‘s four children.)
“We met through a friend that I’ve [known] for a long time named Mandy,” Bridges shares. “I was supposed to actually be setting her up with someone else, but it didn’t go that way. When I met her, I was like, ‘I’m not going to set her up with anyone else. I want her for myself.’ “
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When it came time to propose, Bridges tells PEOPLE that he decided the perfect place to pop the question was by the ocean.
“I’d just all of a sudden decided that I wanted to get married to her and I proposed to her. It was a really nice day, it was really good weather, and she loved going to the beach,” he shares. “So we were on the beach and I decided to propose to her. I got down on one knee and did what I was supposed to do.”
The newlyweds are now returning to the beach for their honeymoon, as they plan to vacation together in Hawaii.
