Just Married! 'Melrose Place' Alum Daphne Zuniga Weds Her Longtime Beau David Mleczko

The couple were married in an intimate ceremony at Oleana Restaurant in Cambridge, Mass.

Published on June 8, 2019 05:00 PM

Daphne Zuniga is married!

The actress and director, beloved for her roles on One Tree Hill and Melrose Place, wed her longtime beau David Mleczko in a private ceremony on June 8 at Oleana Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, PEOPLE confirms exclusively.

“It’s just family and very intimate,” Zuniga, 56, told PEOPLE two days before the nuptials. “I always had this fear of having too big of a wedding that I’d feel like I was going to be acting or performing because I’ve been a bride on-screen. In real life, I wanted it to be more poignant and private.”

Surrounded by almost 30 members of their family, Zuniga, who wore a Nicole Miller gown, and Mleczko were married by a close friend and New York Times bestselling author Sharon Salzberg and wrote their own vows.

“But Sharon’s going to read them because we don’t think we can get through it without falling apart,” Zuniga said, laughing. “I’ll still fall apart, are you kidding? It’s going to be like stuffing the Kleenex right in the dress.”

For more exclusive details and photos of Zuniga and Mleckzo’s wedding, pick up next week’s issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.

After the ceremony in the restaurant’s patio garden, the couple hosted their guests over a lunch of Eastern Mediterranean dishes. “We opted not to do a cake because they have these world-class desserts,” Zuniga said of their Baked Alaska and Turkish-style Profiteroles offerings.

The couple, who were initially set up on a blind date 12 years ago, got engaged after a decade. This is the first marriage for Zuniga and the second for Mleczko, who co-founded the PR company, Signature Green.

“It feels amazing,” the actress says of getting married. “I’m overwhelmed every day with tears, like ‘Oh my God, how can it feel so much more than it was already?’ But it does.”

Zuniga will next be seen in Gates of Paradise on Lifetime. She is also directing the new film, The Waiting Room, which will begin production this summer.