KIMBERLEY COOPER 'Nothing was going to RUIN MY BIG DAY!'

STAR MARRIES HER SOULMATE DESPITE A LAST MINUTE HITCH!

- Melissa Field

In a plot twist that could've come straight from a cliffhanger episode of Home and Away, Kimberley Cooper's dream wedding to fiancé Bryan Crocker almost didn't go ahead. As the big day dawned on Saturday, August 17, the actress and screenwriter bride was struck down by a stomach bug that went way beyond a case of bridal butterflies!

"I ended up with an upset tummy all weekend," Kimberley tells New Idea. "The main thing it buggered up was that I couldn't pull my dress's corset as tight as I wanted to and I couldn't stomach all the delicious food I'd chosen for everyone!" But Kimberley, who portrayed Summer Bay's lovable Gypsy Nash for four years from 1998, was determined that the meticulously planned show would go on and nothing would stop her from saying 'I do' to her dream man!

"Despite that hiccup, we had the most magical, perfect day," Kimberley gushes. "Bryan and I both agree that we loved our wedding and we wouldn't change a thing. It really represented who we are. There's so much pressure you can put on yourself to make a wedding 'perfect'. We didn't aim for perfection, we aimed for fun, love and brilliant food."

A glowing Kimberley adds, "Even if we missed the mark, we ended up married to each other and that's all that matters in the end."

Special touches...

Kimberley's delicate wedding band (below left) perfectly complemented her rock'n'roll engagement ring. "All the details were very 'us'," she says.

Los Angeles-based Kimberley, 44, met Bryan, 42, from Westford, Massachusetts, on dating app Bumble three years ago. He popped the question over a Thai takeaway meal in their LA kitchen last year. At the time, Kimberley said Bryan, who works in film distribution and who is a keen golfer, was the personification of "worth the wait".