Home and Away has given a first glimpse at the nuptials of Justin Morgan (James Stewart) and Leah Patterson (Ada Nicodemou) in a new promo.
The pair have been engaged since late last year, when Leah unexpectedly proposed to Justin as he was fighting for his life following their kidnap by Vita Nova.
There were some stumbles along the way, with Leah calling off the engagement and struggling to find her way back to Justin after a stay in a mental health clinic, but things are finally back on track on Australian screens with the pair preparing to marry in the next couple of weeks.
We previously reported on our suspicions that the pair could get married in the Hunter Valley, after a crew member posted a photo from the famous wine region on social media during a location recce last year.
Shortly afterwards, Shane Withington jokingly commented on ‘X’ as to whether their choice of accommodation on a location shoot was the best idea.
"Let's put all the actors up in a winery " They said.
— Shane Withington. (@ripperriver) November 16, 2023
"What could go wrong "? They said…
The promo appears to confirm our theory with Leah’s wedding car, a classic Mercedes Benz, seen pulling into what looks to be a picture perfect vineyard.
For someone who for many years was adamant that she would never get married again, Leah looks perfectly content as she takes in her surroundings and Alf (Ray Meagher) helps her out of the car.
The promo goes on to flashback various points in Leah and Justin’s five year romance, before we see Justin, alongside best man Theo (Matt Evans), watch as Leah walks down the ‘aisle’ accompanied by her son VJ (Matt Little).
The return of VJ, who was last seen fleeing the bay with de facto daughter Luc in 2017, was previously hinted at when Justin and Leah spoke about the immediate family members who would attend from overseas.
Whilst many fans doubted that VJ would appear, we pointed out at the time that Matt Little now works on the show as a production assistant, meaning a return could easily be facilitated if required.
Penny McNamee appears as Tori, Justin’s sister, as well.
Fans first became aware of Tori’s presence when they saw Penny filming in Palm Beach; the actress herself reportedly said that she would only be returning for a few weeks to film the wedding.
After being married to fellow doctor Christian Green (Ditch Davey) in 2021, Tori had left Summer Bay. The couple moved to the UK with Tori’s baby daughter Grace after Tori was hired by a London hospital.
As more flashbacks are shown, we are reminded that Leah and Justin’s relationship had only started out as a friends with benefits arrangement for the pair of them, with Leah telling Justin that “the last thing we need here is one of us falling in love.”
Those scenes seem a lifetime ago now as Justin, beaming with pride, watches Leah approaching, and John gets his chance to shine as he steps up to his role as celebrant to oversee the proceedings.
The dialogue as Justin and Leah say their vows is muted in the promo as the soundtrack, ‘The Wedding Song’ by Angus & Julia Stone, takes over.
It’s probably best we don’t start speculating on the song lyrics that play out during that moment however—“And we’ll make lots and lots of babies on the beach!”
We see Irene (Lynne McGranger) and Roo (Georgie Parker) amongst the guests, smiling as Leah and Justin profess their love for one another, and even Alf looks to be shedding a tear as he proudly watches on.
As John pronounces the pair husband and wife, seemingly putting pay to any last minute disasters, their friends and family cheer as Justin and Leah share a kiss.
Although no date is currently known, we expect the wedding to be airing on Seven in the latter part of next week.
Leah’s history with marriage has certainly been a chequered one, indeed she first turned up in Summer Bay back in 2000 after fleeing an arranged marriage to family friend Ted Simos (Harry Pavlidis).
Although Leah is seen as the ‘black widow’ of Summer Bay, it’s not quite that simple, with only one of Leah’s three husbands actually dying whilst legally still married to her.
Leah married first husband Vinnie (Ryan Kwanten) in March 2001, but the pair were cruelly ripped apart less than two years later when Vinnie was jailed for fraud, after being set up to take the fall from his hopeless entrepreneur father Ralph (Alan Cinis).
Leah was devastated when she learned that Vinnie had apparently been killed in a prison fire in the 2002 season finale, but was dealt a shocking twist in 2004 when Detective Peter Baker (Nicholas Bishop) told her that Vinnie was actually still alive, and living in witness protection.
Vinnie later made an undercover return to Summer Bay, in the guise of a bear, to attend son VJ’s third birthday party.
He had already reached out to Leah to ask if she and VJ would join him in witness protection, but by this time, Leah was moving on in her life with Dan Baker (Tim Campbell).
Using his disguise as a way to hold Leah and VJ one final time, Vinnie left Leah a note explaining that he would always love the both of them.
Leah went on to marry Dan in July 2005, but he was tragically killed off-screen whilst abseiling in the Yellowstone National Park in 2008.
When Reverend Elijah Johnson (Jay Laga’aia) later came to Summer Bay in 2010, he brought with him the news that Vinnie had died for real 18 months earlier, after being involved in a farming accident.
Leah and VJ went to visit Vinnie’s grave, and that chapter of her life was closed for good.
Leah briefly became engaged to Elijah, but called it off when Elijah decided to go and help out with some missionary work overseas for earthquake victims.
Leah’s third husband was Zac Macguire (Charlie Clausen), who she married in the 2015 season finale episodes.
The marriage lasted little more than 18 months though, when Leah began pushing Zac away as the family faced various crises.
As Leah tried to support VJ following the death of his partner Billie (Tessa de Josselin), Zac was left out in the cold to the point where he sought comfort in the arms of his publisher Sam (Cheree Cassidy).
Zac came clean to Leah and did everything he could to win her back, but after months of continuing to be shut out by Leah, we were cheering Zac on when he finally gave up and signed the divorce papers!
