Home & Away's Tessa marries rugby league star

Home and Away's Tessa James has described her wedding day as 'the best day'.

The 20-year-old actress, who played Nicole Franklin in the Australian soap until she left last March, tied the knot to National Rugby League player Nate Myles in an intimate ceremony in her family's back garden on December 23.

She told Australia's New Idea magazine: "I am so very, very lucky to have Nate in my life. And it was the best day."

The couple, who got engaged last March, had to deal with rumours that they had split last summer, but a spokesperson for the sportsman denied the reports, saying that their relationship was 'still on track'.

Tessa - who wore a Steven Khalil French lace wedding gown with a blue family heirloom brooch in her hair - admitted she had some last-minute nerves.

"My moment of freak out was when I drove in and saw everybody. But then I saw Nate," she admitted.

"That's all I wanted to do all day and when I did, I thought it was all going to be OK."

Her Home and Away co-stars Jodi Gordon (Martha MacKenzie), Samara Weaving (Indigo Walker) and Esther Anderson (Charlie Buckton) all attended the event in Melbourne.