From The Bachelor to real life: Locky Gilbert and Irena Srbinovska’s sweetest moments from their whirlwhind romance

On March 18, 2024, the pair celebrated four years since their first date together on The Bachelor.

“Still can’t believe this was our first photo together and it’s my favourite,” Irena captioned the photo above on Instagram stories.

“It was an instant connection, instant attraction and chemistry. We shared our first kiss, spoke about having babies, what our future together would look like and where we would like to live. You know, all the normal things you talk about on a first date.”

Locky Gilbert chose Irena Srbinovska in the nail-biting 2020 Bachelor finale, leaving runner-up Bella Varelis heartbroken.

Locky and Irena spent the better part of their first year together travelling around Australia.

“We’re just travelling at the moment, we’re still getting to know each other. I definitely want to marry Irena but when the proposal comes everyone will have to wait for that one,” Locky said in February 2021.

After their travels, the pair moved into a hotel in Perth while hunting for their dream home to purchase together.

The couple have picked up on a lot of each other’s hobbies since dating, including Irena’s love for yoga.

Locky has followed in Irena’s nursing footsteps and recently accompanied her to donate plasma.

“We are finally doing something @irena_srbinovska wants to do, of course all she wants to do is donate plasma. I lucked out with this one. Always putting other first,” Locky wrote on social media.

Despite snap state border closures wreaking havoc on the tourism industry for the past two years, Locky and Irena have managed to maintain their frequent travels predominantly around Australia’s west coast.

“We spent at least one month in each state with most of that time being away from major cities,” Irena previously explained.

During the beginning of their relationship, before the finale of The Bachelor had aired, Locky and Irena were forced to spend months apart to avoid spoilers.

But Irena admitted the separation actually “strengthened” their connection.

“It was obvious to Locky and I from the beginning that we had incredible chemistry but when your time together is so limited, it’s hard to build on that. Lockdown gave us that time to get to know each other on a much deeper level,” she said.

The couple have previously said their road trip was “crash course in getting to know each other”.

“When you’re on the road with someone like this for so long, you really get to see the good, the bad and the ugly. But we’ve had an amazing time and know we’ll be together forever,” Locky said.

Irena said the secret to a happy relationship is “trust, respect and always supporting one another”.

“A lot of people thought we’d break up or it was just for the show, but a year later we are just as crazy in love and happier than ever – love triumphed!” the nurse previously gushed of her romance with Locky.

The couple attended the wedding of Survivor star Harry Hills Cook and his wife Jordan.

Locky met Harry while filming the fourth season of the adventure reality show.

The couple share a love of hiking and often share snaps from their adventures on the road.

“Travelling is so much fun, it’s also stressful and testing on a relationship,” Irena said in 2021.

“But we are creating the most amazing memories together.”

After a whirlwind road trip around Australia, Irena moved from Melbourne to Perth.

“We have spoken about getting engaged, pretty much planned our next five years already,” Irena told fans in June 2021.

“Ideally we would love two kids… Hoping for twins. Locky is super easy to talk to about marriage and babies, he is just as excited about our future as I am.”

The couple have also been through their fair share of rough times together, with Irena revealing in 2021 that she suffered a miscarriage.

“During our first few months together I, unfortunately, suffered a miscarriage,” she told WHO.

“But Locky was my absolute rock and having his support made me love him even more.”

Locky and Irena have been candid about backlash and trolling they have received online since the show wrapped.

“We are just normal people and while we put ourselves in the spotlight, you never know what is going on in our lives that day,” Locky said.

“If you have to say something, then direct it at me, not my girl.”

Locky and Irena previously shared advice for couples spending prolonged periods of time with each other while travelling.

“When you spend that much time with each other you will fight. The best thing to do is just take 10 [minutes], go for a walk on your own and calm down,” Locky said.

Irena shared a sweet tribute to Locky on their first anniversary in July 2021.

“On this day a year ago we were in a hotel room waiting for our love story to be finally revealed,” Irena wrote.

“A year on, our life is far greater than I could have ever imagined it to be. @locklangilbert you have made me the happiest that I have ever been and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. I love life with you.”

Locky said he knew Irena was “The One” after their last date on The Bachelor.

“She wrote a note for me and [runner-up] Bella [Varelis] in case I chose her at the end. It was beautiful and wished us the best in our new lives,” he said.

“All Irena wanted for me was to be happy, even if that was without her. It showed me she really did love me.”

Irena often gushes over Locky to her 108,000 Instagram followers.

“You always put me first, you look after me, you stress so I don’t need to and you love me even when I’m angry and emotional,” she wrote last year.

Stealing a kiss!

Another Christmas as a couple! A smitten Locky captioned this snap: “2nd Christmas together and many more to come 😊”

“It’s moments like this 🥰 my New Years resolution is to appreciate the little things in life more and to make every moment count,” Irena penned as she and Locky kicked off 2022 together.

Locky embraced Irena’s background and culture, joining in when she wished family, friends and followers a Happy Orthodox Christmas in January 2022.

The couple happily announced their engagement on Instagram by posting this scenic picture.

“Can’t believe I got to take my favourite person to my favourite place in the world. I truly have to pinch myself sometimes,” gushed Locky alongside his engagement photo.

Locky and Irena decided to grow their family by bringing this adorable Red Merle Australian Shepherd into their lives.

The proud fur dad announced the news by writing, “Then there were three… O D I N G I L B E R T 🐾.”

On Irena’s 32nd birthday in September 2022, Locky wrote a typically-gushing tribute to his future-wife. “Love with you has shown me what true love really is. Weather it’s Good times, bad times, fun times, adventurous times no matter what, I know you will always be there for me. I just want you to know that I’ll always be there for you as well,” he penned alongside this photo.

“Babe, I want to travel the world but I know now, I have the world right beside me when your with me.”

A cosy Christmas in 2022.

Is it even possible for these two to be more smitten with each other than they already are?

In a surprise ceremony, Locky and Irena married for real in April 2023. Awww!

In July 2023, the couple bravely revealed they suffered from a second miscarriage. They were thrilled to learn they would welcome a little one, only to suffer a “heartbreaking” blow a week later.

“We’ve been trying to get pregnant and try to start our family and we were absolutely over the moon when we found out we were pregnant last month,” Irena told 7Life.

“Unfortunately, a week later we suffered a miscarriage, and… it was emotional, hard and obviously heartbreaking. It was a very unfortunate experience and a sad time for us.”

While it has been a difficult journey, Irena affirmed their families have been an “incredible support system” and “everyone’s rallied around us and helped us through.”

After sharing the news of their miscarriage, the couple received an abundance of love from fans. Irena took to Instagram to thank everyone for the well-wishes.

“Words cannot express how truely touched I am by all the messages of love and support we have had over the last few days. I am overwhelmed,” she wrote.

“Thank you to everyone who has messaged me with their story, advice and messages of hope. Reading them made me feel less alone as I hope my story may make someone out there also feel less alone.

“I know it’s a difficult topic to talk about and can bring up a lot of emotions, feelings and reminders of times that we do not need reminding off. I am hoping that we can start to make the conversations more about inclusion, support and understanding.

“I also wanted to take this time to thank my rock, my amazing husband. I am very fortunate to have such a caring and loving partner that was there for me in every sense of the word. I love you and I know that you will be a truely remarkable dad one day.

“Thank you again”.

The lovebirds welcomed their daughter, Ava Aleksandra Gilbert, on 23 February 2024.