Laura Whitmore and Iain Stirling were thankful the coronavirus pandemic gave them an excuse to have a small wedding.

Laura Whitmore

Laura Whitmore

The couple secretly tied the knot in Dublin’s City Hall last year and the ‘Love Island’ presenter – who is pregnant – admitted they had always planned to have an intimate ceremony, and the restrictions in place due to the health crisis meant friends weren’t offended not to have been invited.

She said: “We knew a year ago, pre-pandemic, what we wanted to do and we were lucky that we were able to do exactly what we wanted.”

Asked if she stressed about the guest list, she said: “I mean, I’m Irish so, unless the whole country comes to the wedding…

“It worked out in our favour as a lot of people assumed we did it small because of Covid.”

Laura wore a white trouser suit by Joshua Kane for her wedding because she gets tired of having to “dress up” for work.

She told Stella magazine: “I’m lucky enough to dress up for my job so, on that day, I just wanted to do it the way I wanted to do it.”

Despite not being able to see her mum due to the restrictions, Laura thinks the pandemic has brought them closer.

She said: “I talk to my mum more, which is really nice. She’s in Ireland and had never used FaceTime before lockdown. Now she won’t bloody stop FaceTiming me.”

And the presenter is thankful for the multiple WhatsApp groups she has with friends including Niall Horan.

She said: “What have I got? There’s The LIC, which is the London Irish Crew, I think Niall Horan’s in there.

“There’s a group for Mick (her dog), for when we need help with the dog.

“And there’s one called Therapy, which is my friends Alex and Ryan. If one of us is feeling down, we use that group to get positive energy from the other two. Luckily we never all feel down at the same time.”