real life

Is this the most over-the-top wedding ever?

Petra Eccleston on her way to the wedding

I love weddings. I adore the whole romantic notion of two people saying they love each other in public, I relish the opportunity to dance in an environment where I am unlikely to be mocked and I jump at the chance to be part of a major celebration.

And I have been to some pretty spectacular weddings – like the dinner dance I attended  a couple of months ago where they served 7 courses. Or the fancy dress wedding  where there were a couple of Elvis’s, a lot of pirates, a priest who was not officiating (or even a real priest) and a mermaid. There was also a man with 27 earrings in his face but I don’t think that he was wearing fancy dress. I have been at a wedding where there were 500 people and I have been to a civil ceremony where there were only 5 of us (I still danced) but I don’t think I will ever be invited to a wedding as over the top as that of Petra Ecclestone, the daughter of billionaire formula one boss Bernie Ecclestone,  and her boyfriend of five years, James Stunt. And I can’t say that I am sorry.

The SMH reports:

The couple married on Saturday in the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in the Italian village of Bracciano – the same place Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes tied the knot in 2006.

The bride and her father arrived at the ceremony in a white Rolls-Royce, with her strapless white Vera Wang wedding gown taking up most of the room in the back seat.

The Daily Mail reported an 18-piece string section from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra played before and during the hour-long evening ceremony, along with the famed Tenebrae Choir.

The newlyweds were serenaded by tenor Andrea Bocelli, before guests celebrated with Cristal champagne and $6000-a-bottle Chateau Petrus wine under illuminated hot air balloons strung up around the castle.

Guests, including the Hilton sisters and princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, were entertained by Eric Clapton, DJ David Guetta and the Black Eyed Peas, who performed for a reported $2.3 million.

Yes. A present wrapping room. I mean it would be all types of wrong to use the dining room to wrap thank you presents for the acrobats that flew through the air at the end of your wedding celebrations.

What is the most over the top wedding that you have ever been to?