Todd Bridges has tied the knot.
The 57-year-old Diff’rent Strokes star married designer Bettijo B. Hirschi on Wednesday night at Beverly Hills’ Greystone Mansion & Gardens in front of 70 guests.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Bridges says the couple planned to have a small wedding with “just our closest friends and family.”
The former CBB participant continues, “someone that I’m madly in love with” makes it all the more memorable.
That Bridges and Hirschi are now husband and wife was first reported by TMZ.
Hirschi wore a dress she had made for herself down the aisle.
“I tried to find something off the rack that I could wear, but I just wasn’t seeing what I wanted since I wanted more coverage,” she explains. Like Audrey Hepburn, I appreciate a return to the timeless elegance of a bygone era. And it was precise that that served as a source of motivation for me.
Hirschi elaborates, “it was all satin and it was a fitted bodice with a square neck.” I also have long legs, so I made a wrap-like split skirt to accommodate them. In addition, I wore a satin train measuring eighty inches in length and a veil measuring two hundred and fifty inches for the ceremony.
The reception, held at the nearby Italian restaurant Il Cielo, featured the first dance to Etta James’s “At Last” and followed the ceremony.
“We both went through a lot before discovering each other,” Hirschi explains, explaining why the song is meaningful to the couple.
She goes on to say that they believe God played a role in bringing them together because they “sort of both had given up on finding something this great” before they met each other. Incredibly fortunate, we say.
After divorcing Dori in 2012, Bridges found his second wife through a mutual friend in March. Besides becoming a stepfather to Hirschi’s four children, Bridges and Dori are now parents to 24-year-old son Spencer and 25-year-old daughter Bo.
As Bridges explains, the pair “met through a friend who I’ve known for a long time named Mandy.” I intended to set her up with someone else, but things didn’t work out. From the moment I laid eyes on her, I vowed never to introduce her to another potential suitor. I’m going to steal her away for myself.’
According to Bridges’s interview with PEOPLE, he chose a beach for the proposal since it seemed like the most appropriate setting.
I proposed to her out of the blue because I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. He says, “It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect, and she adored the beach.
So, there we were, walking along the beach when I suddenly had the urge to pop the question. In other words, I knelt down and did my duty.
For their honeymoon, the newlyweds have decided to spend more time at the beach and are planning a trip to Hawaii.