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When tennis legend Serena Williams (40) married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (38) back in 2017, their The Beauty and the Beast-themed wedding sent the internet into a meltdown.
Four years later, the couple is still madly in love, with Alexis gushing about his partner on Instagram on their anniversary on 16 November.
READ MORE | Serena Williams reveals her dad pulled out of walking her down the aisle - an hour before the wedding!
The couple, who met by chance in Rome when they were guests at the same hotel during the 2015 Italian Open, were engaged at the same hotel in December 2016 after a year of dating.
Almost a year after their engagement, the couple welcomed their first child, daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, in September 2017.
Later that year they tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony in New Orleans attended by Serena’s sister, Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, Caroline Wozniacki, Kelly Rowland and Ciara. The two-time Olympic gold medalist wore three designer dresses on her special night.
Their wedding date had personal significance for the couple as it was also Alexis' late mother's birthday.
"We wanted her to be represented at the wedding. Obviously, we wish that she could be here for this, but choosing her birthday as our wedding date was a nice way of making sure she’s still involved and made us feel more connected to her on our day,” Serena told Hello magazine.
READ MORE | Serena’s Mini-Me Olympia follows in the champ’s footsteps
The couple has never been shy about expressing their love and sharing how they make their relationship work with their busy schedules.
Serena told E! News that, “it takes a lot of time and effort. He travels a lot. It's about having great communication and understanding. And above all, it's all about [being] loving. That's the most important quality anytime, and it covers everything. We FaceTime a lot. We have prayer time at night. That's really special. We always do that, we try not to miss it a lot”.
The secret to their relationship is regular date nights and coordinating their schedules, explained Alexis.
“Comparing calendars isn’t romantic, but at the start of every year, Serena and I map out our schedules so that, ideally, there isn’t more than a week that we go without seeing each other.”
Sources: People.com, hellomagazine.com, huffpost.com, dailymail.co.uk
