Brooks Laich says his wedding to Julianne Hough was the ''greatest time of [his] life''.

The retired hockey star, 37, split from the former 'Dancing with the Stars' professional earlier this year, but he still has fond memories of their wedding day.

Brooks spoke on his 'How Men Think' podcast as he lamented for those who are unable to get married this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said: ''I have friends that have had to postpone their wedding and my heart absolutely breaks for them, because reflecting on my wedding and how that was just the greatest time of my life, I just want everybody to have that experience. That memory of your world, her world, both worlds colliding, the people you love the most in the world coming together to celebrate love.

''I just want that for people and it breaks my heart to hear weddings being postponed and so my perspective would be yeah, from the guy's standpoint it is as disappointing or saddening if the wedding has to be postponed.''

Despite their split, Brooks was among the guests at a surprise pool party on Saturday (25.07.20) to celebrate Julianne's 32nd birthday last week.

Julianne's friend Nina Dobrev shared a number of videos and photos from the bash, with one showing the birthday girl jumping onto a raft in the pool while Brooks laughed in the background.

On her own Instagram Story, the dancer shared a photo of the celebrations and wrote: ''Feeling super loved right now.''

The party came a few days after it was reported Brooks is ''open'' to trying to repair his marriage, after previously feeling too ''humiliated'' to consider it.

A source said: ''At first Brooks was not open to reconciling.

''She bruised his ego and left him feeling humiliated, but he never stopped loving her. He was doing all of this to give her what she needed. Now that some has passed, it seems like he's more open to the idea of reconciling.

''It's been a very fluid situation. They still love each other, and the lines of communication are open.''

According to the insider, Julianne wanted to end the relationship because she felt ''there was more out there in the world for her to experience, and that perhaps she had settled down into married life too soon'', but has now begun to think differently after the coronavirus pandemic gave her time to reflect.