MAFS’ lovebirds Carmen and James are already looking for a place together in Christchurch

They were the power couple from the start – hitting it off from the moment they met at the altar and showing no signs of faltering in their relationship as the experiment progressed.

At this week’s final vow ceremony Married At First Sight‘s Carmen and James again failed to disappoint, vowing to stay together beyond the experiment.

“You had me at ‘yeah boy, I will’,” Carmen told her TV husband.

James admitted he was falling in love with Carmen – and he is not one to throw the L word about lightly.

“We are very lucky,” the couple said to camera afterwards and they looked so happy you could absolutely imagine them riding off into the sunset together.

This week Now To Love caught up with them and can reveal that the interview had to be done over the phone because they have ridden off into the sunset together.

They’re in James’ home town of Christchurch. Carmen has moved there from her family home in Auckland; she drove down over the weekend and the couple is looking at rental houses.

So will you be living together or in separate homes? was my first question because James had talked during the series about not wanting to rush into moving in together. Nine months was the marker he seemed to have in mind.

“We’re sussing out our own place together,” Jimmy reveals.

“We’re going full hog. I think it’s only fair on Carmen because she doesn’t know people down here and we lived together for the whole experiment and it just feels normal to live together – so we’ll give it a go. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

Carmen has already secured a job in Christchurch. She worked in Auckland at the Moustache Milk and Cookie Bar and two more bars will open in Christchurch; Carmen will be helping to set them up and run them.

Over the next few weeks Cantabrians are most likely to see the pair shopping at Kmart for homeware.

Jimmy says, “I told Carmen she could decorate the house any way she wanted with all her hippy things and colourful rugs.

“I just draw the line at dream catchers,” he jokes.

There is also talk of getting a dog, and if things are “still going this well in a couple of years” then they’ll “look into having kids”, they shared.

They say there will be a second wedding.

“If this goes as good as what it’s going at the moment, then yeah, there will definitely be a real wedding,” says Jimmy.

And so what of Saturday nights? James incensed female viewers in episode one when he announced he’d be making it clear to his bride that Saturday nights were “for the boys”. Does he still feel this way?

“Saturdays will probably be more for Carmen than the boys,” James says coyly. “She’s just like one of the boys really so it doesn’t really count,” he adds.

Carmen awwws contentedly in response then adds that she’s perfectly happy for James to go on his boys’ nights without her.

“I could just have a wine and a nice, quiet bath by myself,” she says.

These two fall over themselves to please one another.

So has it really been as easy as the couple have made it look? I ask. Yes, they both say with confidence. Carmen even reveals that they’re yet to have their first fight.

Jimmy’s “toolbox and hazards” approach to their relationship has stood them in good stead.

“It’s pretty much like what we have every morning on the work site,” Jimmy explains. “In the first part of the day you say ‘are there any issues, any problems, anything you want to talk about and bring to the table?’. Anything small, just chuck it out there about how you’re feeling.

“And then, again, if there’s any hazards that need to be addressed they go on the hazard board and then we talk about how we can fix them.

“It’s a way of making sure that if there’s anything small you can get it out before it grows into something big – then you never get to the point where you bottle everything up and just explode. It works for us,” he says.

“We’re just totally on the same page,” Carmen adds.

The couple still can’t quite believe appearing on a reality TV dating show has worked out so well for them.

“You read about people that it actually worked for and then going into this… you don’t want to get your hopes up too high,” Carmen says. “But now that we’re here we’re very thankful.”

“Yes, I am one lucky man,” James agrees wholeheartedly.