Married At First Sight bride Stella Mickunaite has claimed she and Filip Gregov were preparing to elope just days before he abruptly ended their engagement. Mickunaite told the Daily Mail that she had been secretly planning a wedding ceremony for Saturday, July 25, with arrangements discussed with celebrity jeweler Simon Curwood and the events manager at Novella on the Park, the venue where the couple married during the show's experiment last year.
"It's absolute bollocks and it's so far beyond the truth," Mickunaite stated in response to claims the pair were not aligned on their future. "I was planning to offer for us to elope. I had plans in place for July 25."
Mickunaite's revelation suggests she believed the couple was still moving towards marriage shortly before Gregov, 37, ended their relationship over the phone. She had also reportedly planned a magazine deal.
However, sources close to Gregov have strongly disputed Mickunaite's account, telling the Daily Mail that the couple's disagreement over where they would live had become an insurmountable issue. One insider claimed Mickunaite had "zero intention" of relocating from Sydney to Melbourne, a move that had never been seriously considered by the couple.
"Stella had no plans to move to Melbourne. It wasn't even an option," the source alleged. "That was a major reason Filip wanted out. He could not see how the relationship was going to work when they were not on the same page about where they would build their life."
This claim directly contradicts Mickunaite's public statement earlier in the week, in which she insisted she had decided to relocate to Melbourne and had spent months preparing for the move. She wrote that Melbourne offered more family support, better work opportunities for Gregov, and a more affordable place for them to build a life together, noting her desire to start a family.
During the experiment, Gregov was shown making plans to move from Melbourne to Sydney, where Mickunaite is based, and had even been given keys to her apartment. The conflicting accounts raise questions about the couple's discussions regarding their future.
Mickunaite stated she was "completely blindsided" when Gregov ended their relationship weeks before their one-year anniversary and admitted she was "heartbroken, deeply saddened and, if I'm being honest, incredibly embarrassed."
Gregov broke his silence with a statement declining to address Mickunaite's claims directly. "All I will say is, I'm not going to debate our relationship on social media. I respect what we shared, wish Stella the best, and I'm moving forward with peace and gratitude," he wrote.
Mickunaite and Gregov met and exchanged vows at Novella on the Park while filming Married At First Sight last year. They became one of the few couples to get engaged at Final Vows and continued their relationship after the show. The couple had previously spoken about holding a second wedding in Croatia, where Gregov has family ties, but Mickunaite stated she had more recently been working on an intimate ceremony at the venue where their relationship began. Had the plan proceeded, they would have returned to the altar on Saturday, July 25.