Max Branning (Jake Wood) has had more than his share of wedding drama over the years, but his fifth one exceeded all our expectations in Tuesday's (8th September 2026) instalment of EastEnders.
Having confessed his recent affair with Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) to the woman he truly loves, Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), the last thing Max wanted to do next was marry Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins).
Cindy was already having an underwhelming day, with two of her children no-shows. Youngest daughter Anna Knight (Molly Rainford) is still abroad with no sign of returning, while absent Cindy Junior (Mimi Keene) had at least sent her mum flowers.
Meanwhile, Priya chased Linda to the hotel, where Linda stopped short of revealing Max's betrayal in the middle of the ceremony.
A distracted Max went through with the nuptials, but as the reception progressed his discomfort increased as he admitted to son Oscar (Pierre Counihan-Moullier) that he had messed up, though he didn't explain himself.
Max was summoned to a clandestine meeting with Priya and Linda, with the latter having told Priya she still wanted to tell Cindy the truth in private.
But Cindy interrupted the conversation and Max covered that he and Linda were talking about daughter Annie (Lois Hawkins), while Priya claimed she merely didn't want to miss out on an event she had helped organise.
In a brief moment alone together, Max insisted he wanted to be with Linda, but she pointed out he had married Cindy so that was that.
As the Slater-Moons gate-crashed for the food, and – in Mo Harris's (Laila Morse) case, to cut the wedding cake – Oscar and Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) made jibes about the lack of guests.
Then it was time for the speeches, and Cindy gushed about being the woman to tame philandering Max.
But when Max went to speak, the air became tense as he locked eyes with Linda.
He began shaking and sweating as he seemed to be working up the courage to say the right thing, for once in his life. This certainly made a refreshing change from soap tradition, we must say.
But just as Max proclaimed that he hadn't been honest with Cindy, he clutched his chest and collapsed to the floor!
What has happened to him? Will Max break Cindy's heart, and will Priya's secret pregnancy with his baby be exposed amid the chaos?
Elsewhere, Kim Fox (Tameka Empson) married Howie Danes (Delroy Atkinson), before a preliminary stem cell match was found for Denise Fox (Diane Parish), while Zoe Slater's (Michelle Ryan) exit storyline began as she suffered a fall.
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