Hallmark Pairs Erin Krakow and Brendan Penny in "The Wedding Cottage"

Krakow portrays Vanessa Doyle, a former wedding planner (with 234 nuptials to her credit) and creator of Tying the Knot – A Wedding Guide, who promises the winners of a competition their dream destination wedding at the Wedding Cottage. The only problem is the cottage has changed hands and its new owner, artist Evan Sutherland (Penny), has let it fall into disrepair and basically shut it down for business. Desperate to make this dream wedding a reality, Vanessa must use all of her tenacity and negation skills to win over the curmudgeonly Evan, who after initially wanting nothing to do with restoring the beloved cottage starts to come around after realizing there's more to Vanessa than just being a pushy wedding planner.

In portraying Vanessa, Krakow didn't have to dig too deep to find the "persistent" side of the character. "Oh boy, I'm not sure if I'm exposing myself too much by answering this honestly, but I can be that way," she laughed. "Hopefully, I'm a little less of a pest about it than Vanessa seems to be early on, but I respect the fact that she knew what she needed to do to save her business, and she was determined to make that happen. In life I can be a bit of a perfectionist, if it's something that I'm passionate about. I guess I hadn't really realized it until [now].

"I think there's an awful lot of crossovers," she added. "Things like she's a fish out of water, and a city girl trying to renovate a home when she doesn't necessarily know her way around things like a leaf blower. I didn't notice the parallels, but thinking back to season one of When Calls, and my character Elizabeth was new in town, she was from a big city and experiencing this rural lifestyle in a way where she was the fish out of water. So yeah, there are a lot of commonalities. I can be tenacious about things if I'm trying to make something happen. I'll write passionate emails explaining why I think [things] should be a certain way. That said, while I hold tightly, I do let go lightly. At a certain point, you have to say, 'OK, this is creating more stress in my world than is needed.' So, instead of looking for perfection, I embrace the good in whatever the situation is and take out of it what I can without overdoing it."

As to a building renovation, count her in, but only to a point. "I've been through it myself," she said. "It's truly exhausting because there are always surprises, and you never know what's lurking within walls. You think things are going to be really cut and dry -- simple, quick things. They just sort of never turn out that way. So, while I like the idea and think there's something really romantic and creative about a renovation, the stress that comes with it is better left for the movies.

"The cottage itself is like another character," she added. "It was gorgeous and an incredible find. It was a beautiful location, so charming, and watching our set decorators apply wallpaper to kind of peel it away and make it look more disheveled was really fun to watch creatively. I thought everyone did a really nice job."

As one of Hallmark Channels' most popular stars, Krakow isn't used to having to win anyone over as much as Vanessa does. "I would hope that anyone I've worked with has enjoyed working with me," she reflected. "And I hope that I didn't have to work too hard to win anyone over. I'm at a point in life where I know what I bring to the table, I'm a nice person, and I work hard. If I'm not someone's cup of tea, that's okay. I'm not gonna contort myself to become who they might want to spend time with. I'm just gonna be myself and hopefully, they're into it."

With over 20 Hallmark Media projects to her name, Krakow is doing something right. Just don't ask her to pick a favorite. "I'm terrible when asked which one is my favorite," she shared in closing. "They're all my favorites. They're all my babies. But I can truthfully say this one in particular was such a delight on and off camera. We laughed non-stop and while you may not necessarily hear us cracking up in every scene, just know, there was a lot of laughter happening."

The Wedding Cottage will be telecast Saturday, April 15 at 8 p.m. on Hallmark Channel as part of their annual Spring into Love programming event.

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