diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/GetSetMethodNormalizer.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/GetSetMethodNormalizer.php
index 3d7dad3975..e4e3d82291 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/GetSetMethodNormalizer.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Normalizer/GetSetMethodNormalizer.php
@@ -128,7 +128,9 @@ class GetSetMethodNormalizer extends SerializerAwareNormalizer implements Normal
                     $params[] = $data[$paramName];
                     // don't run set for a parameter passed to the constructor
                     unset($data[$paramName]);
-                } elseif (!$constructorParameter->isOptional()) {
+                } elseif ($constructorParameter->isOptional()) {
+                    $params[] = $constructorParameter->getDefaultValue();
+                } else {
                     throw new RuntimeException(
                         'Cannot create an instance of '.$class.
                         ' from serialized data because its constructor requires '.
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Normalizer/GetSetMethodNormalizerTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Normalizer/GetSetMethodNormalizerTest.php
index 7ec4814d71..e4f1b5c656 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Normalizer/GetSetMethodNormalizerTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Normalizer/GetSetMethodNormalizerTest.php
@@ -86,6 +86,16 @@ class GetSetMethodNormalizerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         $this->assertEquals('bar', $obj->getBar());
     }
 
+    public function testConstructorDenormalizeWithMissingOptionalArgument()
+    {
+        $obj = $this->normalizer->denormalize(
+            array('foo' => 'test', 'baz' => array(1, 2, 3)),
+            __NAMESPACE__.'\GetConstructorOptionalArgsDummy', 'any');
+        $this->assertEquals('test', $obj->getFoo());
+        $this->assertEquals(array(), $obj->getBar());
+        $this->assertEquals(array(1, 2, 3), $obj->getBaz());
+    }
+
     /**
      * @dataProvider provideCallbacks
      */
@@ -263,3 +273,37 @@ class GetConstructorDummy
         throw new \RuntimeException("Dummy::otherMethod() should not be called");
     }
 }
+
+class GetConstructorOptionalArgsDummy
+{
+    protected $foo;
+    private $bar;
+    private $baz;
+
+    public function __construct($foo, $bar = array(), $baz = array())
+    {
+        $this->foo = $foo;
+        $this->bar = $bar;
+        $this->baz = $baz;
+    }
+
+    public function getFoo()
+    {
+        return $this->foo;
+    }
+
+    public function getBar()
+    {
+        return $this->bar;
+    }
+
+    public function getBaz()
+    {
+        return $this->baz;
+    }
+
+    public function otherMethod()
+    {
+        throw new \RuntimeException("Dummy::otherMethod() should not be called");
+    }
+}