‘Vikings’ Star Alexander Ludwig Marries Fiancee Lauren Dear Just Weeks After Engagement

Alexander Ludwig and fiancee Lauren Dear married recently, the Vikings actor announced on Instagram Sunday. The couple tied the knot just a few weeks after they announced their engagement. They chose to elope and had a small, intimate ceremony at The Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge Resorts in Utah. Ludwig, 28, is best known for playing Bjorn in Vikings and Cato in The Hunger Games.

Ludwig shared several photos from the ceremony, which only included an officiant and photographer Gabriella Santos, and their dog as witnesses. In the caption, Ludwig explained the two did not want a long engagement, considering how the “crazy year” put everything in perspective. “Life is too short and I didn’t want to spend another day without calling this beautiful woman my wife,” Ludwig wrote. “Of course when things settle down we will have a proper celebration with our friends and family but for now- the love of my life, our dog yam, a yurt on a mountain top in the middle of nowhere sounded like the perfect beginning.”

Dear also shared Santos’ photos from the ceremony and called marrying Ludwig the “easiest decision” of her life. “I think we all learned in some way or another to look inside ourselves and find what truly makes us happy. Thank you to 2020 for bringing this guy into my life,” she wrote. “I will love you forever [Ludwig]. You continue to show me what life is truly about every day and how to be strong, resilient, and courageous. I am a better person by your side.”

The couple was engaged for only a few weeks, as Ludwig and Dear showed off her engagement ring on Nov. 22. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight last month, Ludwig said the couple was “over the moon” and called their relationship “the one light at the end of this pretty crazy tunnel” everyone has been in. “But it definitely does put things into perspective and makes it really easy to pull the trigger on something like this when you find that person that you just know is going to support you through and through,” he said of their relationship.

Ludwig joined Vikings in its second season, playing Bjorn Ironside until the show’s last season. The series originally aired on the History Channel, but the second half of Season 6 was released on Amazon Prime Video on Dec. 30. A spin-off, Vikings: Valhalla, is in the works for Netflix. Ludwig also starred as Cato in the first Hunger Games movie, Braden in Grown Ups 2, and Shane Patton in Lone Survivor. His other credits include Midway, Bad Boys for Life, Operation Christmas Drop, and the upcoming Starz series Heels.