Behind the Scenes of Billy & Sally’s ‘Y&R’ Wedding — And the Twists Ahead

Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) and Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope) are set to say “I do” on The Young and the Restless in a Great Gatsby-themed wedding beginning Friday, October 16.

Thompson admits he didn’t necessarily anticipate the couple’s story would lead to marriage. “I’m not sure I would have pinned this two years ago,” he observes. “But when you’ve got a really great story and a great partner to tell that story with, I was super-stoked that we were going to commit to it in that kind of way. They’re genuinely in love with each other, and they really want to make this work, and it is a beautiful thing.”

While Billy has been down the aisle before, Sally is a bride for the first time, and the occasion carries plenty of emotional weight. “She’s very excited,” says Hope. “Leading up to the wedding, a lot of her fears have dissolved away. I think there were those moments of feeling like, ‘Am I the one that never gets chosen?’ Having a baby on the way and marrying the man that she loves and wanting to be accepted into this family, that’s so huge. She wants it to go well and be as dreamy as possible.”

Big, splashy weddings have been few and far between on soaps in recent years, making this celebration particularly special for the whole cast. “Even Peter [Bergman, Jack Abbott] mentioned it,” shares Thompson. “He’s like, ‘Man, we haven’t had a wedding in a long time where it was really about love and the two people coming together.’ And people really felt that in the vows and the presentation and everything else, which we were both really excited about. There’s definitely twists and turns and dramatic things happen, no question, but there are really heartfelt, emotional things that happen as well.”

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Bringing the nuptials to life required considerable effort behind the scenes. “I know how hard the writers and Sally [McDonald], our executive producer, worked to make this feel and look amazing,” enthuses Thompson. “She was giddy the day of the wedding because she knows how much went into it. So, there’s that side of the business that I totally acknowledge and have so much respect for, and just gratitude for even trusting us to tell this story because I know it’s a big commitment. And then from a personal actor side, it’s the best. It’s the most fun to be right there in the tornado of the story. This means a lot, and a lot of people are saying yes to this, so I have to do my job to make sure that it goes as well as possible.”

For Hope, the wedding marked a milestone. Despite nearly a decade in daytime, she had never played a soap bride and relished being part of the preparation that brought Sally’s big moment to life. “I feel honored,” she says. “It’s a collaborative effort. Everyone was so invested, which is a really wonderful feeling. It was so fun working with our costume designer, Mandi Line, as well as [hairstylist] Justin Jackson and [makeup artist] Orlando Marin to create Sally’s dress and her entire wedding look. Everyone at the wedding looked incredible, thanks to our talented hair and makeup teams, who went above and beyond.”

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Of course, standing at the altar came with its own set of emotions. “I was nervous because I’ve been to a lot of weddings over the years and seen so many people get up there and say their vows,” Hope explains. “I knew it would be great, but I wanted to do it justice. I wanted to make Sally’s history proud.”

A conversation Thompson had just before the ceremony helped put things into perspective. “At one point, Jason was talking to the guy that played the pastor,” Hope recalls. “And you do so much work, and you put so much effort into your lines and what you’re saying, but at the end of the day, you have to just be there and trust that it’s all going to come out and be exactly as it’s meant to be. And Jason said that to him right before I said my vows, and it was so wonderful to hear because sometimes it’s nice to have that reminder of, ‘We are here, this is the story that we’re telling, and trust that it’s going to be the way it’s supposed to be.’ Jason was saying it to the actor, but I was like, ‘I actually needed to hear that so much. That was so helpful.’”

While the ceremony delivers its share of romance, viewers shouldn’t expect the drama to take a back seat. Thompson says the events surrounding the wedding will have repercussions well beyond the day itself.

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“The wedding really is a really beautiful accumulation of all the things that we love about this job and that the audience loves about soaps,” he previews. “There are some really interesting moments, and things happen that change the trajectory of the story. The massive ripple effect from the little things that happen are quite large, and things that we could play for the next 10, 20 years, frankly, and that’s amazing. Being in the business long enough, those are things you’re like, ‘Oh, damn!’ It’s not a one-day event. This continues on, and it changes story.”

And whatever the wedding sets in motion, Billy and Sally won’t have much time to enjoy their happily-ever-after before the next challenges arise. “They’ve got a newborn very quickly after saying ‘I do,’” Thompson teases. “There’s a lot of tension. There are a lot of tinderbox moments. There’s something that goes down pretty serious with Jill [Abbott, Billy’s mother], and it throws everything into the blender in that moment. They don’t get the typical, ‘Relax, we’re married now.’ They’re on to the next very quickly. There are a lot of moving parts, and there are a lot of different ways this can play out.”

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