Finding love on Love Island is harder than the title suggests, with bombshells sent to test the strength of connections, messy recoupling ceremonies organised by producers who love drama, and the famously tricky adjustment back to the real world.
But Molly Smith and Tom Clare have managed it. After falling for each other in the 2024 All Stars series set in South Africa (and then winning the show), they became engaged in September after a romantic Dubai beach proposal, and soon, they will become the sixth Love Island couple to say “I do”.
Their August wedding is quickly approaching (although, not as quickly as Tom, 26, thinks, as he mistakenly tells me they will wed in July, before Molly, 32, jumps in with the correction), and so they are in full planning mode. “It is getting very real,” remarks Molly.
The couple, who are speaking via video call from Mallorca, where they are seeing their wedding venue for the final time before the big day, have certainly challenged themselves.
Couples spend an average of two years engaged, according to a recent study by wedding planning app Bridebook UK, but Molly and Tom are halving that. “I’m very indecisive, and I overthink, so the fact that we don’t have much time might be a blessing, because it gives me less time to change my mind,” Molly says.
They have found themselves taking stereotypical roles in the planning process. “Molly’s taken more of the lead, because these things can need a woman’s touch, but we have sat down and gone through everything to make sure we both like things,” says Tom.
Molly compares their situation with an episode of Friends in which Monica presents two options for wedding flowers to Chandler, but holds the one she wants closer to his face: there is an illusion of choice, but it isn’t real.
The only major kickback from Tom has been on the venue’s fairy lights, costing £4,000, but the bride-to-be got her way. “It was really hard for me to get past,” Tom says in a way that suggests he is still not past it.
Overcoming the price tag becomes even more difficult when Molly points out that they could probably get them off Amazon for £100. It is, therefore, some relief to Tom that Molly at least won’t be throwing her bouquet, as is a common tradition. “Keep them, they’re expensive,” he half-jokes. “I’ll be watering them for days on end.”
“The cost of a wedding can get stupid, so I can see how people can get stressed,” adds Molly, “but we’ve balanced each other out. I’m very much a worrier, and Tom is super laid-back, so he calms me down… but we do need some of my stress to get things done.”
Tom also has a plan to combat the financial challenge. “What I’ve realised is that as soon as a wedding is involved, people triple their prices. I’m going to start saying it’s a birthday.”
As for getting stressed, he is keeping things in perspective. “I want guests to have a good time, but the day is about us two. As long as you and I love it, I don’t actually care,” he tells Molly.
This is the kind of discussion they have weekly on the podcast NearlyWeds, where they candidly discuss every aspect of this life chapter, just as previous hosts Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo did leading up to their 2023 wedding. They initially found it “overwhelming” to take over the successful format, but recording day has become their favourite part of the week.
On a recent episode, prenuptial agreements were the topic of choice, and Molly outlined that she would want the air fryer, all the pans, and her Pomeranian dog, Nelly, if they were to split. While the discussion was light-hearted, Tom has now shared that he is against formally signing a contract.
“If you want a prenup, you shouldn’t be with that person. If Molly ever said she wanted one, I’d be like: ‘You’re absolutely mental’,” he states – although he quickly softens to say that he can understand if you are getting married later in life, and have a business to protect. In his own situation, “divorce isn’t an option”.
There is only one reason he could foresee a break-up: “If she cheated on me, I wouldn’t want to break up, but I would have to. That’s the one thing that we said is non-negotiable,” says Tom.
Marriage rates are continually falling; in the UK, they have nearly halved since their 1972 peak. The cost of weddings, increased acceptance of cohabitation and witnessing divorces are some reasons people cite for not wanting to put a ring on it. “People are more selective, and they are well within their rights to be,” Molly summarises.
But marriage was always on the table for this loved-up pair, with Tom explaining why in simple terms: “I want to show Mol that I’m with her throughout everything.”
It is of such importance to them that they were considering postponing their Spanish wedding when they were struggling to organise a legal ceremony in the UK. “It wouldn’t count as anything. I want us to be actually married, so it’s real,” says Tom.
Many couples do a UK civil ceremony because legal non-Catholic marriages in Spain can be complicated for non-residents. “It’s really silly to say, but in school, you don’t really get taught life skills,” says Molly. “You don’t realise things, like giving notice before marriage. I just had no idea about any of that.” Thankfully, they’ve now cracked it, and things can go as planned.
Tom is already sad at the thought of it all being over, saying life is currently going 100mph, but isn’t concerned about any rush to follow the NearlyWeds to NearlyParents pipeline that their predecessors did. “Everyone’s different, but for us, there’s not a timer on it. When it happens, it happens.”
Molly adds: “Even before we got engaged, people were commenting on when we’d have kids. People always want the next step, but we won’t feel rushed.”
NearlyWeds with Molly & Tom is available every Tuesday on YouTube and all podcast platforms