Getting Married at First Sight is challenge enough for a marriage, but for Stephanie Sersen and husband AJ Vollmoeller, demanding film schedules ended up being the biggest strain on their relationship.
Prior to Tuesday’s all-new episode of the Lifetime reality series (produced by Kinetic Content), Stephanie opened up to PopCulture.com about building her relationship with AJ, even during the tough times.
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“Our biggest challenge was time management, specifically with balancing our demanding careers with the filming schedules,” she admitted. “We would work 50-hour weeks, and film after work 40-plus hours a week.”
It wasn’t just being tired that was challenging, she explained, but the moodiness that comes with not sleeping.
“We lost a lot of sleep which makes it challenging to keep cool during filming—especially when being pulled in different directions and feeling cranky from lack of sleep,” she continued, adding that in order to get through the mood swings and tough times, “the experts reminded us to focus on ourselves, and try to tune out everything around us that would negatively impact our growth as a couple.”
Stephanie and AJ are definitely one of the more stable couples in the ongoing season, but fans have seen a couple tough moments between the two when it comes to AJ losing his temper in moments of stress.
“When marrying a stranger, nothing is a shock,” Stephanie said of witnessing her husband’s short fuse for the first time. “You have to be prepared for anything and expect the unexpected. So when AJ got mad on the honeymoon and moving, I knew it was more important for me to stay calm in those moments so that he would also calm down faster.”
She continued, “Everyone has bad times, we are human. It’s how you recover from it that matters, and hopefully it won’t happen again!”
It’s this kind of communication (plus the work with the MAFS experts) that Stephanie explains has been a pillar on which to lean throughout the process.
“We immediately dove right into the tough questions nights one and two of marriage,” she told PopCulture of their communication strategy. “We talked about pet peeves, finances, family, children, cleanliness, spousal expectations and our careers right away.”
She joked, “We laugh because we knew the tough stuff about each other before we knew our favorite colors, foods, or middle names! Diving right into the heavy questions helped us grow the attraction faster because we had the same ambitions and goals. Also, when someone is honest and open, attraction is expected.”
Throughout the entire process, Stephanie learned she’s “a lot more patient” than she ever expected she could be.
“This process forced me to sustain my self interest and do whatever was best for the two of us,” she continued. “That required a lot of patience from me, when I’m usually the go-getter in the driver’s seat doing things my way! I’ve surprised myself with how quickly I’ve adapted to environments outside of my control.”
Married at First Sight (produced by Kinetic Content) airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Lifetime.
Photo credit: Lifetime
