Celebrity Weddings

I WANT A BIG WEDDING

When it comes to some celebrity marriages it seems less is more - less taste and more extravagance...

MONEY can’t buy taste, and there’s nothing like a celebrity wedding to prove it.

Wedding days are special, they’re the one time you can really splash the cash, but when you’ve got more dosh than you know what to do with, all too often the nuptials end up more crass than class.

Jordan (AKA Katie Price) and Peter Andre

A foot-high (that’s 12 inches!) crown for Jordan and his ’n’ hers rings made from 20 and 35 princess-cut diamonds respectively were just some of the extravagant features of the nuptials of Britain’s most exposed couple.

As well as hand-made ivory shoes, the groom wore hair extensions.

The bride was resplendent in a lurid Barbiepink tulle puffball gown, with a bodice encrusted with gazillions of Swarovski crystals, that took a dozen people more than three weeks to apply.

Oh, and the train measured more than seven yards long, which meant she could make it into the Guinness Book of Records – never afraid of a bit of multi-tasking, our Jordan.

She arrived at the venue, Highclere Castle, Cinderella-style, in an elaborate, pumpkinshaped glass carriage, drawn by a team of white horses and fitted with pink seats and a pink fur carpet.

300 guests, including Big Brother’s Orlaith (me neither), Vanessa Feltz and Gazza, quaffed pink champagne and ate from pink platters.

When asked about her giant ring Jordan proudly replied: “It’s so big, I can’t bend my finger!” The couple are now divorcing.

Coleen McLoughlin and Wayne Rooney

The world’s most famous Scouse couple’s big day took place not in their home city of Liverpool, but in Italy’s picturesque Portofino.

Even so, the bride still had to trudge through pouring rain under a brolly on her way to her civil ceremony in Santa Margherita Ligure in a flouncy strapless gown and a pair of designer heels.

The intimate ceremony, for close friends and family only, was performed in Italian by the town’s deputy mayor, Gianni Costa, who said: “No rings were exchanged and the ceremony was very simple yet very beautiful.”

But don’t be fooled by this apparent restraint, for this was merely part of a fourday extravaganza, where several wedding dresses made an appearance, including a fabulous Marchesa job, various Jimmys and Louboutins were sported and the happy couple were serenaded not, surprisingly, by the local società operatic, but by Coleen’s favourite band, Westlife.

Other entertainment included a masked ball, lunch aboard a luxury yacht and champagne breakfast – every morning.

The bill? Oh, about £5 million, grazie.

David Beckham and Victoria Spice

With Vera Wang the designer of choice for the Posh gown, all boded well.

But then it turned out to be gold (they say champagne) and matched David’s suit. Oh, and little Brooklyn’s.

Then the outfits changed to a sort of Salon Floozie meets Country & Western singer in matching purple and red, even baby Brooklyn’s Stetson was purple satin.

I’m not kidding, dig out the photos again! Although hundreds attended the reception,the actual wedding ceremony itself was held in a small, private room, done out like a fairy dell and bedecked in vines and fruits of the season, in the castle and was witnessed only by family and closest friends.

The reception, where guests guzzled rose champagne by Laurent Perrier and troughed on a swanky spread, needed to be overseen by more than 400 attendants.

One of the most popular dishes was a sticky toffee pudding, Mr Beckham’s very favouritist.

The dress code was either black or white for guests who watched in awe as the couple left their golden thrones with purple upholstery to release doves; later eyes turned skywards for a spectacular fireworks show.

But for true marital extravagance and downright bonkerdom, you can’t beat the American celebs...

Alyson Hannigan (Willow off Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Alexis Denisof

This was a three-day mega-do at an elite resort near Palm Springs.

“We described it as a fun weekend with everybody we love where there just happened to be a wedding,” Denisof gushed.

There also just happened to be a trampoline, get this, so that everyone could jump for joy, a photo booth and a spa.

At the reception, trees laced with tiny lights changed colour after each course, while an Indonesian wedding bed sat on an island in the middle of a pond.

The couple kicked off the dancing by doing a duet of Over the Rainbow – inspired by Alexis’s proposal under a rainbow in Napa Valley.

Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley

Despite the stress of arriving at the wrong address in her vintage Rolls-Royce, Lavigne’s wedding went to Deryck went on to be a marvellous affair.

More than 100 guests attended the service in the garden of a Mediterranean-style estate under a hydrangea- and rose-covered gazebo.

The reception was held in a red organza tent, where tables were fetooned in red roses; guests dined on beef tenderloin with haricot verts, salmon with basil risotto and, for vegans, wild mushroom ravioli.

The couple quickly got down to the business of being rock stars, dancing to songs spun by DJ Kelly Cole. Awesome.

Eva Longoria and Tony Parker

After witnessing the big “I do” in Paris, guests including Jessica Alba (Sin City), Felicity Huffman (fellow Desperate Houswife) and Lake Bell (What Happens in Vegas) were transported in style to Chateau Vaux le Vicomte.

Tony and Eva surprised guests with their customised menu called Crazy Red Passion, and they all boogied to an ’80s band in the splendor of the 17th century castle.

“Walking into Vaux le Vicomte in my gown as a string quartet was playing was pretty phenomenal,” remembers Eva’s mate, Lake.

“But the private fireworks ceremony was the most magical moment,” she added.

Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman

Bratman proposed during a romantic Valentine’s break and before you could say “personalised seat reservers” they were exchanging vows under a chuppah of fuschia and blush and deep red roses at an estate in Napa Valley.

In honor of Aguilera’s favorite month, er, not November, but December, the event planner created a winter wonderland landscape with a snowy palette of ivory, cream white and silver.

Hundreds of birch trees lined the walls and the tables were dressed with silk cloths, white organza and trimmed with white faux fur.

The centrepieces were glitter-dipped white hydrangeas, roses, amaryllis and various bits of twiggery.

Chandeliers made from manzanita branches woven with crystal strands set the room aglow.

Marcia Cross and Tom Mahoney

Desperate Housewife Cross showed an alarmingly sweet tooth at her wedding reception.

As well as a towering nuptial confection, she’d laid on a sweets station with jars of saltwater taffy, jelly beans, rock candy and chocolate-covered strawberries.

At the end of the celebration, the newlyweds exited over a path of petals leading to a room suffused with candlelight.

Guests, who also stayed (at the Ritz-Carlton Pasadena), found pillows inscribed Sweet dreams, XO, Marcia and Tom.

Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott

After a private wedding in Fiji, Spelling and her new husband hosted a reception back home in Califorina.

“We wanted people to feel they were a part of the ceremony,” Spelling says. The footage of the couple’s week in Fiji, shot on Super-8 film, was made into a 40-minute silent movie and projected onto a wall at the reception.

So, not vain in any way at all then!