Ex Hear'say singer weds soap star

Former Hear’Say singer Kym Marsh and EastEnders star Jack Ryder were set to tie the knot today.

Marsh, 26, and Ryder, 20, will wed in the grand surroundings of St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire.

Details of the wedding have been kept under wraps because the couple have sold the rights to a glossy magazine for a reported £300,000 (€470,000).

The service will be conducted by the Reverend Canon Stephen Lake, Sub-Dean of the cathedral.

Marsh and Ryder, who plays Jamie Mitchell in the BBC soap, live in St Albans and have been regularly attending services at the cathedral in preparation for their big day.

The singer has chosen her wedding dress from Mirror Mirror in north London, where previous customers have included Zoe Ball.

The guest list will include her children David, seven, and Emily, five, whom she left behind with her family in Wigan to pursue a life of fame and fortune on TV’s Popstars series.

There have been rumours that celebrity attendees may be thin on the ground.

When the couple announced their plans to marry at the beginning of the year, the wedding promised to be a star-studded affair.

Marsh was then part of pop phenomenon Hear’Say and Ryder was hot property as one of EastEnders’ biggest stars. Bandmates Myleene Klass and Suzanne Shaw were lined up as bridesmaids.

But since walking out of the band in January, interest in Marsh has waned and Hear’Say’s fortunes have nose-dived.

Marsh has not exactly set the world of pop alight since her departure, although she did sign a deal with Island Records a couple of months ago.

She has had no contact with Klass and Shaw since her departure, leaving the bridesmaids positions vacant.

It is rumoured that Natalie Cassidy, who plays Jamie’s ex Sonia, declined an offer to be one.

Ryder is also taking a gamble with his career after recently announcing he is to quit the hit soap after four years.

Marsh and Ryder met early last year in the BBC canteen at Elstree Studios in Herts, where he was filming an episode of the soap and she was recording an appearance on Top of the Pops.

They got together two months later after a chance meeting in Spain and soon moved in together.

Marsh has never missed an opportunity to wax lyrical about the couple’s relationship, describing their love for one another as "almost like an obsession".

"He’s the perfect man, if there is such a thing. I know that sounds sickening and makes people want to hurl but that’s genuinely the way we feel about each other. It feels like we were meant to be," she once said.