Inside Danny & Cricket’s ‘Young and the Restless’ Wedding With Lauralee Bell

The Young and the Restless‘ Christine “Cricket” Blair (Lauralee Bell) and Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian) will walk down the aisle again in a two-part wedding special beginning Friday, November 21.

Thirty-five years have passed since their first vows, but the enthusiasm is as fresh as ever. “We’re super excited,” enthuses Bell. “We certainly didn’t know that Josh [Griffith, executive producer and head writer] was going to give it two episodes, which is really fun. Day two is as emotional as day one.”

The lead-up to the big event started in September with an online contest where fans got to choose Christine’s gown. “For the people who really have waited a long, long time for us to get married, I just thought, ‘Of course, watching shows will be fun, but wouldn’t it be great if they could feel like they have some say?’” explains Bell. “And that’s just worked out really well. It was fun.”

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Bell kept the winner, which was revealed this week, close to the vest — even with her family members, says Bell. “My daughter was sitting with a girlfriend of ours, and she said, ‘Oh, by the way, which one won?’ And I looked at her and I said, ‘I can’t tell you.’ And she’s like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I said no. Michael was telling me that he was shopping, and two people came up to him and said, ‘Oh, my God, are you Danny?’ And before he could even say yes, she goes, ‘I voted for #2.’ Michelle Stafford [Phyllis Summers] texted me, ‘Girl, which one won?’ And I said, ‘I can’t tell you!’ So, it was cute. People all around were just totally getting into it.”

Playing a bride 12 years after her last trip down the aisle on-screen, and 28 years since her real-life wedding to Scott Martin, took Bell out of her comfort zone. “It was weird,” she says. “I get shy when all of the attention is on me.”

Bill Inoshita/CBS

But Bell was determined to make every moment count, especially the vows. “I learned the lines, but I didn’t go over them a whole bunch,” she shares. “We asked, ‘Can we not say our vows in rehearsal? Can we just tape it?’ So often when you get your scripts and you read it over and then you rehearse it, you’ve gone through it so many times that on that day, you’ve cried it out already. So, it’s not like I thought this would be like overly emotional; I just wanted every reaction to be authentic when we were shooting it.”

The ceremony and reception are filled with unexpected touches and heartfelt moments. “There are so many things that are just magical,” Bell previews. “There are a couple of visual effects that I didn’t know that they were even doing, and then another surprise when we kiss at the end. It was very touching and it was very sweet. Valarie Pettiford, the woman who plays Amy, she was so cute. She came up to me and she said, ‘I feel like I was just at a real wedding.’ It was so sweet. It’s a small group, but it was really nice. The two episodes were very appreciated.”

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Included in that small group are Danny’s sister, Gina Roma (Patty Weaver), as well as Cricket’s bestie, Nina Webster (Tricia Cast), and their presence was especially meaningful. “There’s something to be said when we’re saying our vows, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Patty Weaver looking at us with those eyes and knowing that Christian [LeBlanc, Michael Baldwin] is between us, and Trish and Tracey Bregman [Lauren Fenmore] are just to my right,” notes Bell. “These are people who have gone through this whole show journey with you. We all look at each other, and it’s such a feeling of comfort that you don’t worry about anything. You just know that you’re in safe hands. That bond is pretty significant; there are a lot of things that tie us all together.”

Amid the chaos of the filming, Bell found herself thinking about her father, William J. Bell, the show’s co-creator and longtime head writer. “There was one moment where a lot was going on and I needed to sort of focus,” she relays. “I literally thought of how much my dad would have loved to have been there on that day. I looked up into the dark rafters and I was like, ‘Maybe you’re here.’ It got me right back into it, but I actually feel like I saw him for a hot second, so that was cool.”

Bill Inoshita/CBS

Bell also had the devoted fans of Cricket and Danny on her mind as she did the episodes. “For some of them to have spent time over 30 years wondering if we’ll ever get married again and then it’s finally here, I felt a little bit of pressure, I’m not gonna lie,” she explains. “You don’t want people who have so kindly rooted this on and waited to be disappointed in any way. But I left those days feeling very fulfilled and knew that their hearts would be full after both those episodes. I thank them for still caring after all this time.”

As for what’s next, Bell sees endless possibilities. “There’s so much newness and excitement in each day if you allow that,” she points out. “This, to me, is not an ending like, ‘Oh, we waited all this time, now they’re married, who cares?’ I would love to explore so many conversations that I think so many people have, like, ‘What’s next? Are we kind of stuck in a rut? Are we still going to laugh every day and go to new restaurants and try new foods?’ There’s so much hope for people from this point forward, so I just hope that our group can show how fun life can be at this stage of our lives. It’s my belief that there’s still so much more to come.”

The Young and the Restless, Weekdays, CBS