Virgin River Let Mel and Jack finally step in front of the altar – and the stars – in the finale of the sixth season Alexandra Breckenridge And Martin Henderson look back on their fondest memories of the big day.

“I saw Martin crying every time I walked down the aisle,” Breckenridge, 42, exclusively shared in the latest issue of Us weekly. “I didn’t cry. I thought, ‘Oh no, where are my tears?’ You know, tears of joy. I’m like, “Where are they?” But every time I walked down the aisle, he got everything (misty-eyed). He was really sentimental and it was very sweet.”

After six seasons of breakups and make-ups, a false paternity test and a heartbreaking pregnancy loss, Mel (Breckenridge) and Jack (Henderson) said “I do” in the season six finale surrounded by their friends and family. It was an emotional moment for everyone involved in the series, and while Breckenridge was able to keep her eyes dry, Henderson explained why the moment touched him so deeply.

“Obviously I put a lot of energy and emotion into the character of Jack and his love for Mel, which is kind of the core of the series,” he said. “When I finally got to that moment and saw Mel walk down the aisle radiant and so beautiful, I felt the love that I think these characters have for each other. It was just really moving.”

The way the wedding was shot felt so “beautiful” and “tender” for the two characters, who have been through so much together, Henderson added. “I was pretty overwhelmed and very emotional about it. It was so moving,” Henderson continued. “Six seasons have passed by then. … I put my heart and soul into (Mel and Jack) and was so happy for Jack to have this woman his wife and what that means to him.”

Henderson noted how monumental this moment was also for fans, who knew since the pilot episode that Mel and Jack were destined to become soulmates. “They belong together,” he said. “The audience knows that when she walks into the bar (in the pilot). So it felt like the culmination of all the energy, romance, love and emotions that have existed between them for six seasons.”

Henderson certainly wasn’t the only one on set feeling the waves of emotion. Breckenridge said most people who attended the ceremony had tears in their eyes.

“I think there were a lot of people crying,” she said Us. “For example, with (Mel’s father-like character) Doc (played by Tim Matheson) led me to the altar…As I said my vows, I could hear sniffling behind me.”

While Henderson will likely remember Jack’s wedding day for the rest of his life, there was one particular moment from season six that he wants to forget: an intimate striptease for Breckenridge to Big & Rich’s “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.”

“I literally put that completely out of my head,” Henderson joked of the moment Jack stripped off his clothes and put on a cowboy hat. “It was one of the most excruciating moments of my life, let alone my career.”

All jokes aside, Henderson wanted to make sure the scene felt authentic and reflected Jack as a character – which is why he turned down the option of having the dance blocked by a professional and instead relied on his own creative freedom.

“They offered, ‘Do you want to choreograph it?’ And I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I do.’ I definitely need help.” But then I was about to go to the first meeting and I thought about it. I thought, “Wait a minute, this is going to look really weird.” Jack Sheridan, the Marine bar owner from Virgin River, just cracks up Magic Mikeperfectly choreographed circling? This will just look weird. It will look silly.’ So I said, “You know what? No, forget it. Just play the song.’”

What emerged from that decision was an instant fan-favorite moment and highlight of the entire six seasons, which Henderson described as an attempt by Jack to “entertain his drunken fiancée” after she had no strippers at her bachelorette party. Luckily for Henderson, Breckenridge was the perfect scene partner who helped him feel comfortable with that vulnerability – especially when production had to stop the music midway through filming.

“There was, unfortunately, a bit of dialogue that was kind of intertwined with the film. So to get the audio for her lines and my lines, we couldn’t have any music playing,” he said Us. “It was so embarrassing. I was dying. There is no music, there is no beat. I’m doing this ridiculous dance right now. But I have to say, Alexandra Breckenridge was so nice and present and she played it to me with just so much joy and fun,” he said. “And I think that’s why I finally decided, ‘It should just be the two of them really having a good time.'”

The wedding (and the bachelor/bachelorette mayhem) was undoubtedly the highlight of season six, but Mel and Jack were also on their respective journeys. Breckenridge was particularly interested in Mel’s history with her biological father, Everett (John Allen Nelson), with whom she met again at the end of the fifth season. The two spend Virgin River Season 6 get to know each other while bonding over their shared love for Mel’s mother Sarah, who died when she was 11 years old.

“I found it really touching, especially because I know what it means to lose your mother,” said Breckenridge, whose own mother passed away Us. “So I was very quickly networked at this level. I’ve always been with (Mel), but what she’s been through emotionally since finding her father and being able to get a glimpse into her mother’s life has been special.”

Although Mel and Everett hit a few bumps in the road as they tried to find their new normal, their dynamic developed quickly over the course of the season, and Breckenridge is excited to continue with season seven.

“I’m really excited to see where this goes,” she told Us. “I love how Mel tries to open up her relationship with her father and he keeps trying to push her away because I think he doesn’t want to experience the loss again. You know, often people who lose people are afraid to love someone again because they’re afraid of going through that pain. But you can’t live without it, you know? It’s not life if you don’t love again.”

As Mel continued to navigate her new relationship with her father, Jack was also on his own personal journey, which, according to Henderson, was about “making peace and coming to terms with what his military background meant to him at the time, but also, what he means.” him now.”

“We saw him struggle with this when he had to reconnect with his ex-wife. And the medal that is given to him is almost contemptible to him and he avoids the idea that it was a good thing,” he explained. “And he’s kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater because there’s so much pain and regret in some of the things that happened.”

Henderson noted that Jack was also forced to balance his own negative feelings about his time in the army while supporting Ricky (Grayson Maxwell Gurnsey), who returned to Virgin River before his deployment. “Jack is trying to stay the course and continue to support this poor child and not undermine him. (Ricky) already has his own insecurities and fears and Jack is trying to say, ‘Hey, it’s OK.’ I was scared too.’ And there’s a gray area there, and Jack doesn’t know how to feel emotionally.”

Mel and Jack’s individual storylines will likely continue into season seven, but the duo will also face many other obstacles together. In the final moments of season six, the duo were both stuck in cliffhangers, with pregnant teenager Marley (Rachel Drance) announces that she wants Mel and Jack to adopt her unborn baby. Meanwhile, Jack went over to check on a missing Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley) and found her home ransacked before she opened her little twins’ bedroom and discovered something shocking – a revelation audiences haven’t seen yet.

Of course, Mel and Jack had wanted to have a baby together for some time, but after Mel suffered a second pregnancy in 2011, she suffered a miscarriage Virgin River Season 5, their future as parents is uncertain. However, season 7 could mean big changes for the newlywed duo.

“Jack is still committed to having the family he wants and is pretty worried and excited about where that’s going to go,” Henderson shared, while Breckenridge teased that Mel has a million thoughts running through his head — but that means not She is closed to this idea.

“She’s just in shock,” she explained. “I mean, she just got married. This is literally the morning after she wakes up and she is in shock. And then a kind of hope creeps in. We’ll see. I don’t know.”

Virgin River is now streaming on Netflix.