Inside Hallmark Stars Jake Manley And Jocelyn Hudon's Marriage
Hallmark fans might not have realized that the "Love in the Maldives" co-stars Jake Manley and Jocelyn Hudon are actually a couple in real life. And they have been for close to a decade. Hudon and Manley have been together since August 2015, when he was 24 and she was 20. By December 2015, Hudon had made their relationship Instagram official, uploading a picture of Manley with his nephew. Just a month later, Manley also made Hudon known to his Instagram followers by sharing a photo of her walking on the beach.
Hudon even tagged Manley's sister on the toddler's face, suggesting that Hudon was mingling with his fam just four months into their romance. When you know, you know, right? And they knew. On the fifth anniversary of their meeting, Manley got down on one knee. In August 2020, the "Infamous" actor placed exactly 1,000 roses on a rooftop to recreate the "Gilmore Girls" scene in which Lauren Graham's Lorelai receives that amount of daisies from her suitor, Scott Cohen's Max Medina.
Hudon shared photos of her proposal setting and Lorelai's to see if her Instagram followers could figure it out. "Solve my riddle," she wrote, including a screaming emoji. Shortly after, Hudon confirmed what many had correctly guessed by uploading photos of her engagement ring. Unlike Max, Manley was there in person to ask the question. Luckily for Manley and Hudon, the outcome of their engagement was different from that of the fictional characters, who ended up not getting married.
Jake Manley and Jocelyn Hudon eloped in 2021
A Las Vegas wedding may not be everyone's idea of romantic, but, for Jocelyn Hudon, it was perfect. "When I went to university, I met this girl who told me it was her dream to do a Vegas wedding and that always stuck with me," she told ET in March 2022. Eloping actually killed two birds with one stone, as Jake Manley and Hudon both had a busy year with work. "I was in the middle of filming three movies back to back," she said.
But they wanted to make it work. They looked at the calendar and noticed Hudon's favorite holiday was coming up. "We realized that Halloween — my favorite day ever — was on a Sunday, so I could fit it in my filming schedule... and then it snowballed from there," she added. On October 31, 2021, Manley and Hudon, clad in black, said "I do" before a zombie Elvis impersonator, seen above. Even though they planned it in about a day, plenty of their loved ones flew down to witness the special moment.
While unconventional, Hudon has no regrets about any of it. "It was low maintenance for us and our guests, and definitely unique," she said. Since then, Hudon and Manley are enjoying married life alongside their Goldendoodle, Rupert, who has both of them wrapped around his paw. "We all know I'm the star here," they captioned a photo featuring the three together shared to Rupert's own Instagram page.
How Jocelyn Hudon knew Jake Manley was the one
Jake Manley and Jocelyn's relationship was possible thanks to their sharing a self-tape coach, who introduced the two, and an agent. Both played an important role in their love story. "We ended up driving to our agent's summer party together and have been together ever since," Hudon told ET in 2020. Up until then, Manley was just a cute guy. That changed a few hours later when Hudon was impressed by Manley's hygienic habits.
"I got cold, so he brought me a sweater from his trunk. It smelled so good and fresh and I was like, 'This is from your trunk!?'" she recalled. Hudon quickly became interested in knowing more about this sweet-smelling boy. "I liked him instantly after that, haha!" she said. Hudon also knows the moment she knew Manley was the perfect match for her. And the reason was similar to what attracted her to him in the first place.
"[It] was one year for New Year's Eve, we were about to go to a party and then both said, 'Let's just stay home,'" she said. Instead, they watched "Lord of the Rings" while eating a hearty homemade meal. "It was such a special night," she recalled. Perhaps cozy night-ins are important to Hudon because she often spends time apart from Manley for work, something they often note. "It's been five weeks too long. See you soon," he captioned an Instagram selfie of the two in 2017.