Friends to fiancés: A full timeline of Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo’s drama-filled romance

After a 16 month long engagement, a legal ceremony at Chelsea Old Town Hall, and hundreds of episodes of the NearlyWeds podcast, Made in Chelsea’s Sophie Habboo and Jamie Laing are officially getting married in Spain this week. And, in honour of their incoming domestic bliss, it seems only right to look back on the years of drama that have led up to their big day.

Sam Thompson, Sophie Hermann, Alex Mytton— barely any of the MIC cast were left out of the chaos that eventually became Jamie and Sophie’s relationship. So, in case you need a reminder of the happy couple’s drama-filled dating timeline before they finally say “I do”, here’s everything you need to know:

Sophie joins Made in Chelsea cast as a friend of Jamie’s ex

Remember Frankie Gaff? She dated Jamie for a year back in 2016 and Sophie actually joined the Made in Chelsea cast as her friend. We never really got Frankie’s reaction when her best friend and ex-boyfriend started dating. But she does have a two year old son with someone else now. So, she’s probably not too fussed.

Sophie starts (briefly) dating Alex Mytton

After joining the Made in Chelsea cast in 2018, Sophie started dating Alex Mytton – a relationship Sophie’s podcast co-host Melissa Tattam’s then boyfriend Harry Baron frequently tried to meddle in. But Habbs and Mytton called things quits that Christmas and Alex revealed they’d decided to be friends after the fling fizzled over the holidays.

Sophie then goes out with Sam Thompson for six months

Next, Sophie starts dating Jamie’s other best friend Sam Thompson but they only lasted six months because he was simply too keen. Sophie told new! magazine Sam doted on her “hand and foot” which was a dealbreaker because she doesn’t like anyone needy. Categorically, Habbs said she’d never date Sam again and he quit the show after being sacked off on national TV. Ouch.

Jamie and Sophie are both single and become BFFs

A month before Habbs’ split with Sam, Jamie had broken up with his French girlfriend Heloise. The pair started hanging out as friends, but there were definite vibes. And soon there were endless tabloid stories coming out claiming they’d been sleeping together, which Jamie (of course) passionately denied.

They hook up and Sophie Hermann calls Sophie a snake

Eventually, it’s revealed on an episode of Made in Chelsea that Sophie and Jamie like each other and are keen to see where things go. At which point, Sophie Hermann (who was best friends with Jamie’s ex Heloise) tells Habbs to stop talking with one of the most iconic put downs in the show’s history: “I’m sorry I don’t speak snake”.

Looking back on the argument after the show aired, Sophie doubled down, telling the MailOnline: “Heloise was was very close friends with Habbs, pouring her heart out to her for months and months after she and Jamie split. And it wouldn’t be so bad if Jamie and Habbs were head over heels in love with one another…But for Jamie it’s clearly a rebound and for [Sophie] she’s trying to social climb up the snake ladder.”

Well, that claim aged like milk.

Betrayed Sam Thompson is also heartbroken

Obviously, Sam Thompson was also enraged by Sophie and Jamie’s new relationship and returned to the show to express his heartbreak that Jamie had betrayed him – and that he found out the full extent of the news (ironically) on an episode of Made in Chelsea. He can’t have been too hurt, though, as he confirmed he was dating Zara McDermott weeks after filming. You win some, you lose some.

Jamie sleeps with someone else while dating Sophie

Unfortunately, four months after they were rumoured to have coupled up, Jamie fell back into old patterns and slept with Rosi Mai Waldon while he was exclusive with Sophie in September 2019. Sophie called him a “mean person”, didn’t speak to Jamie for two weeks and then, just like that, they rekindled, Sophie forgave Jamie and said she was committed to “working on it [his infidelity]”. Modern romance.

One year later – Sophie and Jamie move in together

After successfully avoiding any SW London drama for almost exactly a year, Jamie and Sophie decided to move in together in October 2020 and prove their relationship was definitely not a rebound after all. As the saying goes, the course of true love never did run smooth – and Jamie and Sophie’s journey was definitely bumpy.

They prove everyone wrong and get engaged in 2021

December 2021: After loads of speculation and two and a half years of dating, Jamie and Sophie announced their engagement on Instagram: “WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!” they wrote with the news and started to prepare to tie the knot in front of family, friends and many, many, exes.

Jamie and Sophie then launch the Nearly Weds podcast in 2022

In March 2022 , just over a year after they first got engaged, Jamie and Sophie announce on Instagram they’re starting their NearlyWeds podcast, which has followed every step of their engagement, including Jamie’s skiing stag do and Sophie’s stress-filled cleaning rituals that  helped her cope with the pressure of planning their big day.

And they’re finally getting married in Spain this April

After 16 months as fiancés, Jamie and Sophie are flying to Spain this week to get married at the Marbella Club surrounded by 200 guests. Sophie’s dad lives nearby to the venue in the luxury golf resort of Sotogrande and is, according to Jamie, paying for the whole wedding.

Other details we know so far include that Sophie’s bespoke wedding dress has been designed by Emma Beaumont, her former flame Alex Mytton will be Jamie’s groomsman while MIC mega villain Spencer Matthews is master of ceremonies.

Chelsea will forever be a very, very, small world.

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