FORMER Big Brother star Jonny Regan wed his long-term love Joanne Llewellyn at a North-East church yesterday.

The 31-year-old former firefighter tied the knot at St William's RC Church, in Trimdon Village, County Durham, followed by a reception behind closed doors at Shotton Hall, Peterlee.

Big Brother 3 winner Kate Lawler and her boyfriend, Newcastle United footballer Jonathan Woodgate, were expected to be among the 350 guests, alongside several other former contestants from the reality Channel 4 show and ex-colleagues from Peterlee fire station.

Regan, who shot to fame in Big Brother 3 in 2002, has forged an acting and radio presenting career since leaving the fire service, starring in a sell-out pantomime at Newcastle Theatre Royal earlier this year.

He has been going out with Miss Llewellyn, an accountant from Hartlepool, for more than ten years, and they have recently had a house built in Teesside.

The couple are believed to have signed a deal with a glossy magazine for exclusive coverage of the nuptials.

Regan, from Trimdon Grange, County Durham, told The Northern Echo in 2002 how he got together with Miss Llewellyn in a Hartlepool nightclub.

"She had just been on holiday and she looked fantastic," he said. "She had a short top on and this flat, brown stomach, and her tan just made her smile look incredible.

"Because I'd had a lot to drink, I think it gave me Dutch courage. I went straight over to her, gave her a kiss and got her phone number.

"I was a bit young and wild, but Joanne tamed me. When we'd been going out for a few months, I thought maybe this time it was different."

The couple got engaged in 2001, but kept details of the wedding under wraps. Regan held his stag party in Amsterdam in June - the night before taking part in a charity walk in Newcastle.

He said last month he had no last-minute nerves about the big day.

"We are both excited," he said. "We've been together for 11 years now, so I think Joanne is just about ready for marriage.

"There's a few things left to do. The missus leaves me a note every morning with that day's tasks on."