A year after leaving the Love Island villa as a runner-up, Olivia Buckland is now planning her wedding to her former reality TV co-star, Alex Bowen.
She’s also making waves in the fashion and beauty industry: a clothing line for MissPap and now brand ambassador for our very own fake tan favourite, Cocoa Brown.
Known for her tears and tantrums in the 2016 series, Olivia said that having lived through the experience, she can really relate with this year’s contestants: “I do emphasise with them and what they are going through,” she exclusively told Her.
“A lot of people think it’s a bit of fun but honestly being in such a confined environment for seven weeks does cause cabin fever and it’s hard for people to see your breakdown’s when your at your weakest.”
Still, the 23-year-old wouldn’t change the experience for the world. Three weeks into the house, she was paired with Alex Bowen… and the two are now planning their wedding.
“Starting a relationship on camera is a strange one but you kind of forget that the cameras are there and you become so accustomed to the environment.
“Most of the cameras are also hidden, so you could be sitting on a bed talking and then all of a sudden they turn to face you and make noise and you’re like crap!” she added.
But from Cara and Nathan, who were last year’s LI winners, to Montana and Alex, firm favourites this season, a lot of reality TV couples end up in splitsville. And Olivia believes the problem is straightforward: trust.
She said: “Coming out of the house after your relationship was under full scrutiny from the public is hard but trust is so important to make things work and I think you really need to believe in your partner. Alex and I are lucky because we have that trust and that’s why we work.”
Hoping to tie the knot in 2018, Olivia admitted that she is in full bridezilla mode preparing for the big day.
“I get so stressed when I think about wedding dresses, I had one picked but it was £10,000 and I realised I don’t like spending that kind of money on a dress.
“My mum wants to buy me my dress and she couldn’t afford that, so I would prefer spend less and leave her buy it because she has always wanted to.”
In terms of wedding venues, none have been chosen yet but Olivia has revealed that Ireland would definitely be on the cards “of course I would consider getting married in Ireland, I’ll have two weddings, one here and one in England.” When we mentioned our beautiful castles on offer around the countryside, Olivia seemed very keen to know more. Could this be an indication that she might start looking for an Irish venue? We mentioned Ashford Castle which has played host to Rory McIlroy’s wedding this year and we hope she considers tying the knot here!
With her schedule forever busy, the reality star is currently juggling wedding planning with career projects, telling us all about what’s coming next, she discussed: “I’m going to be focusing on fashion and beauty and of course working with Cocoa Brown, I have a lot coming this Christmas for fans to be excited about so stay tuned.”
We cannot wait!
(BTS chatting with Olivia Buckland.. who is such a babe IRL too).
