Dashing dancer Rhys Mathewson 'MEET MY BEAUTIFUL BRIDE!'

The Dancing With The Stars NZ favourite introduces his leading lady - his new wife Chelsea

- Hayley McLarin

They say a shared sense of humour is the secret to a lasting relationship - and newlyweds Rhys Mathewson and Chelsea McMillar have been making each other laugh since the day they met.

Then living in the UK, Kiwi comedian Rhys was back in Aotearoa for a few months in 2014 when he met his future bride while they were both making an appearance on a mutual friend's podcast to review the film Divergent.

They both agreed it sucked and then kept bumping into each other at New Zealand International Comedy Festival events.

We just gravitated towards each other until we were holding hands in the back of other people's shows, confesses Rhys, 32.

But shortly afterwards, the funnyman had to return to the UK. They dated long-distance, with Chelsea juggling her role as CEO of her mum's company Go Native

Skincare by day and rehearsing for a play at night, while Rhys was on the stand-up circuit in the UK.

He moved back to his homeland later that same year and the pair became inseparable, but it wasn't until 2019 that Rhys decided to pop the question.

About a month before, we were watching a TV show with someone who proposed at the top of a mountain, the Billy T Award winner tells Woman's Day. I said to Chelsea, gently probing for information, 'Hey, if I would ever propose, would you want that?' And Chelsea said, 'Oh, God, no. Do it in the bathroom or something.

With a rare Saturday off together, Rhys had already asked family and friends to keep the afternoon free to celebrate their engagement. The couple was having a lazy morning with pizza and coffee in bed when Chelsea, 35, told him, This is my happy place. It's my favourite thing to do.

Rhys recalls, I had the ring under the sheets, so I pulled it out and asked, 'Would you like to do it forever?