Inside flashy reality star weddings that spared no expense… and made sure we knew it – from helicopters to £30k dresses
THEY film their entire lives for us to watch - so obviously reality TV stars are going to have some very public weddings too.
And many of them are incredibly lavish, involving £30,000 wedding dresses, luxury locations around the world - and even helicopter entrances.
Made In Chelsea couple Maeva D'Ascanio and James Taylor got married for the second time last month - and spent £10,000 on the cake alone.
Having already tied the knot at Chelsea Town Hall, the couple invited 76 guests - including their MIC co-stars Ruby Adler, Tristan Phipps and Sam Prince - to celebrate with them at Hedsor House, Buckinghamshire.
The 100-acre Georgian venue was decorated with five stunning Christmas trees, candles, white roses and fairy lights.
And their one-year-old son Beau was the star of the show, as he drove down the aisle in a white remote control car.
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Maeva wore two different wedding dresses during the day, both rented from PS. Bridal Rental - a semi-sheer Liz Martinez number for the ceremony, and a strapless, corset dress by Alon Livne for the evening.
She also wore two different outfits during the day at their first wedding, which saw them go from Chelsea Town Hall to a wedding breakfast at Claridge’s, followed by a suite at the Ritz.
Speaking about their second wedding day, James told Hello!: “I know we did the legal bit the month before, but this was our moment. It had gravitas, which is exactly what we wanted.”
But their big day had nothing on some of these other reality stars…
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£100k bash
Alex and Olivia Bowen met on Love Island in 2016 - and probably had the most extravagant wedding of any couple to have come from the ITV2 show, in September 2018.
They tied the knot at Gosfield Hall in Essex, welcoming 98 guests, including TOWIE’s Pete Wicks and fellow Love Islander Gabby Allen, in a day costing them £100,000.
And from their entrances - him on a helicopter and her in a Rolls Royce - to their cake with a staggering eight tiers, including vanilla, champagne and caramel, no expense was spared.
For the meal, Alex and Olivia - who wore an Enzonai fishtail wedding dress - sat on golden thrones at their own private table, while guests tucked into seared scallops and beef wellington.
Meanwhile, their first dance song, John Legend’s You & I, was performed by former X Factor runner-up Rebecca Ferguson, who also gave guests a rendition of her hit Nothing’s Real But Love.
The evening party saw many more guests arrive, including Love Island voiceover star Iain Stirling, and they were treated to booze served by pop-up prosecco and Peroni vans - plus a magician, hog roast and fireworks display.
Two weddings
Like their Made In Chelsea co-stars, Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo also had a first, smaller, but seriously chic wedding at Chelsea Old Town Hall - for which Sophie wore a £4,000 Vivienne Westwood mini dress.
But their second wedding, last summer, was absolutely massive - and was in Sotogrande, Spain.
More than 200 of their nearest and dearest - including Spencer Matthews, Sam Thompson and Zara McDermott - were invited to celebrate with them at the luxe wedding venue Finca Las Sirenas.
However, the venue wasn’t their first choice - with Sophie’s original dream venue deemed too expensive at £500,000!
For the ceremony, Sophie wore an Emma Beaumont wedding dress, costing around £10,000, while her seven bridesmaids all also wore white.
She then wore a second outfit for the evening, which saw them cut a six-tier wedding cake, and dance in front of a fireworks display.
Jamie and Sophie even had their own signature wedding scent, of poppy fields, made for the day - which Jamie joked was called “Regret”.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Sophie explained they chose poppy because it reminded her of her mum and orange blossom because it reminded her of her dad.
Cinderella carriages
Despite it being a second wedding for both TOWIE star Elliot Wright and his wife Sadie Stuart in 2017, they did not scrimp on their big day.
The couple had a fairytale church wedding in Bromley, in front of 400 family and friends - with Elliot’s children Elliot Jr, now 17, and Olivia, now 14, acting as page boy and bridesmaid.
Meanwhile, Sadie - having admittedly stolen a wedding tip from Pippa Middleton - had her bridesmaids, including TOWIE star Leah Wright, arriving in horse-drawn carriages.
While Sadie’s wedding dress was stunning, she almost had a nightmare when it came to the bridesmaids’ dresses, as her designer let her down at the last minute.
However, Elliot’s cousin Jess Wright and her former company, Lipstick Boutique, stepped in to save the day, designing new dresses from scratch, which turned out to be “exactly” what Sadie wanted.
Hen do 'funeral'
There are weddings - and then there’s Love Island star Olivia Attwood and Bradley Dack’s eye-watering £200,000 wedding!
In June last year, the couple became the first ever people to get married at the five-star Bulgari hotel in Knightsbridge, and went way over budget, according to Olivia.
On her TV show, Olivia Marries Her Match, she said: “There is nothing I regret. The band was incredible, the food was great.
“You have a budget in mind but as the weeks get nearer and nearer, you say yes, yes, yes to everything and before you know it, you are over budget, so I think overall it got away from us a little bit.”
Olivia’s stunning, bespoke lace-sleeved wedding dress, by Galia Lahav, cost a whopping £30,000, and she later changed into a £2,000 Christopher Kane mini dress for the evening.
She also had make-up artist to the stars Mikey Phillips and hairdresser Mikey Dash, whose clients include Rebel Wilson and Amanda Holden, making her look her absolute best.
But it was apparently the arch they got married under - made up of 10,000 roses - that was one of the biggest costs.
In fact, there were a total of 29,000 flowers spread out across the entire room.
After the ceremony, Olivia and Bradley got tattoos reading out “Till Death Do Us Part” by top tattoo artist Pablo, who has previously inked Cruz and Romeo Beckham.
They even had Pablo stay for the rest of the night to perform “tattoo favours” on their guests, who included former Love Islanders Georgia Harrison and Amber Davies.
This all came after Olivia's funeral-themed hen do, in which she and her guests dressed in black and mourned the end of her single life.
Celeb singer
In October 2019, former TOWIE star and Premier League footballer Rio Ferdinand married at the five-star hotel D Maris Bay, in Marmaris, Turkey.
The pair, who were married by the Mayor of Marmaris, Mehmet Oktay, had three days of celebrations at the £4,000-a-night hotel, for their 80 guests.
And Kate’s mother Jacqueline told the MailOnline: “It was the best day of my life.”
On the wedding day, Kate wore a stunning Berta gown - which she’d only found a week before, after her original dress went wrong.
They also had a lavish brunch for all the guests, as well as a free bar, and Rio surprised Kate by hiring one of her favourite singers, Ashanti, to perform.
The Rock Wit U singer was paid $20,000 (£15.8k) to speak and perform at an American high school in 2012.
The three days of celebrations ended with a lavish pool party, which was strictly off limits to other guests of the hotel.
Strictly coaching
Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams first got married in June 2018, in a small intimate ceremony at the former Made In Chelsea star’s family’s 10,000-acre estate in Scotland.
The nuptials were attended by a small guest list including Spencer's brother James and his wife Pippa Middleton, and a bagpiper played, as well as an accordion player.
After the ceremony, guests tucked into a modest three-tier sponge cake, followed by a sit-down meal of Scottish scallops and Scottish venison.
But two years later, Spencer and Vogue - who met on The Jump - had a much bigger party on the Thames for their friends, all documented by E4 for their show, Spencer, Vogue and Wedding Too.
The event came to £500,000 and involved a performance by a drag queen, a towering Maitre Choux eclair cake, and Spencer arriving in style on a speed boat.
Spencer’s MIC pal Jamie Laing ordained the couple, before they performed a dance routine taught to them by Strictly pro Giovanni Pernice.
While it seemed their guests loved the big day, Spencer has since admitted he wasn’t a fan of the second wedding.
On their podcast, : “I’m going to go on record and say that that day was just b******s. I couldn’t care less.”
“I couldn’t have given a s**t about that day. It meant nothing to me. TV only. It was rubbish.”
£30k on flowers
In March 2019, TOWIE star Billie Faiers and Greg Shepherd tied the knot on the Maldives island of Kuramathi, in front of 95 friends and family - including her sister Sam Faiers.
Greg arrived to the wedding in style, by speedboat, no less, and Billie looked stunning in Berta fishtail wedding dress, embellished with crystals.
Prior to the wedding, Billie had been seen telling Greg she’d considered spending £30,000 on imported wedding flowers.
“Anyone will tell you flowers make the biggest difference at a wedding,” she said on The Mummy Diaries.
While it’s not known the exact figure spent on flowers, there were white orchids and fairy lights spread throughout the venue.
The guests partied the night away until 3am, and also watched as Billie and Greg performed a Charleston-inspired first dance, taught to them by The Pussycat Dolls’ Kimberly Wyatt.
Dirty dancing
Former TOWIE star Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan had a stunning church ceremony in May 2015.
St Mary's Church in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, was decorated with 20 12-foot trees and tons of beautiful flowers, and Michelle looked even more radiant than usual in a bespoke strapless lace and tulle gown by Russian designer Galia Lahav.
The couple hired Tudor mansion Hengrave Hall in Bury St Edmunds for their reception, following the ceremony.
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And they treated their guests to a rendition of the Dirty Dancing anthem (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, as their first dance.
Let’s hope they nailed the iconic lift!