Days
The Horton, Brady, DiMera and Kiriakis clans are all standing together at last as they celebrate Sonny and Will’s wedding.
Days Of Our Lives Weekdays SABC3 (*193) 22:30
It’s taken a year-and-a-half since Sonny Kiriakis (Freddie Smith) and Will Horton (Guy Wilson) started dating in October 2015 to get everyone in their families on the same page. But it’ll be worth it to see those loving smiles and glowing eyes when the pair tie the knot in Salem’s wedding of the year on Thursday 1 June. We’re in for a lavish threeday celebration from Tuesday 30 May, to when the guys exchange their vows at the Kiriakis Mansion on Thursday 1 June. And while Sonny and Will have to put up with grandpa Victor’s (John Aniston) dreadfully drab curtains as their backdrop instead of St Luke’s glowing stained glass ( Victor, it really is time to call in a decorator), it promises to be a beautiful wedding.
THE FAMILY SPEAKS
There are sniffles aplenty as Will’s mom Sami (Alison Sweeney) walks him up the aisle and Adrienne (Judi Evans) does the honours for her son Sonny. But before they get stuck into their vows, Will’s grandma Marlena (Deidre Hall), who’s officiating the ceremony, invites some important family members to speak. And seriously, Days fans, get those tissues ready. We won’t spoil the moment, but we can reveal that the cast’s tears were real – and you’ll see why when Will’s great-granny Caroline (Peggy McCay) speaks about an experience that has made her so glad that Will has been able to come out to his family instead of having to hide his heart. “You’re set-up thinking Caroline is going to forget what she wants to say. Peggy got up to say her speech. I said to myself, ‘Don’t listen, you are going to cry’ And one after the other after the other, they made me cry,” says Deidre. “Bryan Dattilo’s ( Will’s dad Lucas) speech is amazing.” Alison agrees: “The way they incorporate the family is so special and Peggy has this really beautiful monologue. She had everyone crying! And wow, Bryan just blew me away!”
WOWS BEFORE VOWS
Sonny and Will have opted for traditional vows because they want those traditional values of love and fidelity through all hardships as a cornerstone of their marriage. “Love is love. There is no need to alter society’s traditions to accommodate that,” explains Guy. But they do take a little moment to talk about their love for one another before they exchange their promises. Here’s a taste of what they’ll say: Sonny: “I’ve been out on the edge my entire life. I’ve been to every continent on this Earth and if someone would have asked me a couple years ago, I would have said that would be my life, until I met you. You’re my anchor that doesn’t weigh me down. Our life together is my greatest adventure of my life.” Will: “EM Forster once described love as ‘ two imperfect souls coming together to create something close to perfection.’ That’s how I’ve felt since the day that I met you, even if I’m the one who brings more of the imperfection into the equation.”
A TOUCH OF MAGIC
Guy believes that the wedding is going to be hugely rewarding for long-time fans. “Every moment and look has a story to it. Even the moment when Will is going to enter and walk down the aisle with his mother Sami, those moments are steeped in history within their relationship. It adds so much
power to those scenes as an actor. Everything felt so emotionally charged. No detail was left unattended.” The shoot took three hours longer than normal because of that attention to detail, but it was worth it, according to Deidre. “Our director felt strongly about it being a magical show. We moved walls in, we moved walls out, and we moved windows in. But I am assuming to the viewers it shows on camera the care we put into it.”
WHOOPSIE WALTZ
There was one little detail that slipped though the cracks behind the scenes though. Guy admits that “for our first dance as a newlywed couple, Freddie and I went to the middle of the floor and we realised neither of us knew how to Waltz!” After a horribly awkward attempt with everyone in cast watching and nobody daring laugh, help came from above. “The director, who has a background in dance, grabs me and says, ‘This is how you lead.’ Then he grabs Freddie and says, ‘This is how you lead and every few beats you switch off and take turns leading each other.’ So he had to lead us through it in front of the entire cast”. Freddie adds, “It was super embarrassing! We just did not know how to do it and JJ (Casey Moss) is playing the guitar and we are fumbling around like idiots.”
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
A lot of care has gone into bringing viewers’ into Will and Sonny’s journey, right from when Will turned to a fan favourite, his grandma Marlena, to come out in April 2015 (in South Africa). So having Marlena be the one to watch over his “happily ever after” moment two years later is a perfect book- end. “I celebrate anyone who has found a wonderful, sustaining love,” Deidre says. “There’s so much we deny gay and lesbian couples that we freely give straight couples and that’s shameful. If you have someone in your life to whom you’re devoted and committed, then you need to be there in every moment. I don’t know how much we’re going to change the way of the world with this wedding, but I think what changes the world is role models standing up and saying, ‘Relax. We’re going to be fine. Everything is fine.’”