Todd Bridges wed a woman! Inside the Beverly Hills Wedding of the Different Strokes Star

Photography by Victoria Smith

Todd Bridges has a spouse!

 

The Diff’rent Strokes veteran, 57, wed designer Bettijo B. Hirschi on Wednesday night at Beverly Hills’ Greystone Mansion & Gardens in front of 70 guests.

 

Bridges exclusively discloses to PEOPLE that the couple desired a small wedding with “just our closest friends and family.”

 

The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant says that marrying “someone that I’m madly in love with” was a memorable occasion.

 

The information about Bridges’ marriage to Hirschi was first reported by TMZ.

 

Hirschi wore a gown she created herself to walk down the aisle on her special day.

 

Since I needed more coverage, I looked for something off-the-rack that I could wear, but I just wasn’t finding what I wanted, she claims. “I appreciate Audrey Hepburn-style timeless beauty from earlier times. So that’s what really motivated me.”

 

Hirschi continues, “It was all satin and had a fitted bodice with a square neck. “I also created a split skirt that functioned almost like a wrap because I have long legs. I also got a 200-inch-long veil and an 80-inch satin train for the ceremony.”

 

The wedding reception, which featured a first dance to Etta James’ “At Last,” took place at a local Italian restaurant after the ceremony. Hirschi claims that the song holds special meaning for the couple since “we both went through a lot before discovering one other.”

 

We were astonished to be able to have it kind of given to us and believe God had a hand in bringing us together, she continues. “We kind of both had given up on finding something this great. “We are really grateful.”

 

Bridges, who divorced his first wife Dori in 2012, met his new wife in March through a common friend. Bridges will now be the stepfather to Hirschi’s four children; they have a daughter, Bo, 25, and a son, Spencir, 24.

 

Bridges explains, “We met through a friend who I’ve [knew for a long time] named Mandy. “I was actually going to hook her up with someone else, but it didn’t work out. I told her right away that I wouldn’t set her up with anyone else. I desire her for myself.

 

When the moment came to ask her to marry him, Bridges tells PEOPLE that he determined the ideal location to do so was by the ocean.

 

“I proposed to her after making the spontaneous decision that I wanted to marry her. She adored going to the beach, and it was a really wonderful day and the weather was excellent “He imparts. “We were on the beach when I made up my mind to pop the question. I took a knee and completed the necessary actions.”

 

Now that they are married, the couple is going back to the beach for their honeymoon in Hawaii.