> Beck's Wedding <

Dated : July 4th 1999

IT was never going to be an understated affair. But Victoria Adams and David Beckham outdid themselves as they tearfully became man and wife. The bride wore a £100,000 golden crown encrusted with diamonds. And as the groom placed the ring on her finger, a single white dove was released into the sky.

At exactly 4.02pm, when Posh Spice was formally pronounced Mrs David Beckham, a purple heraldic flag was raised above Luttrellstown Castle near Dublin. It bore the letters 'V.B.D' - for Victoria, their baby son Brooklyn, and David. From the regal 'thrones' at the reception, to the imperial purple carpets and rows of liveried attendants, the sheer spectacle of the event could not have been more of a contrast to the real Royal Wedding last month.

Prince Edward and his bride Sophie Rhys- Jones wanted their wedding to be a relatively low-key family day, with as little fuss as possible.

The Guests
Phil Neville & Julie Killilea	Teddy Sheringham & Nicola Smith	Andy Cole & Shirley	Nicky & Shelley Barlow	Peter & Bente Schmeichel	Johnsen & his girlfriend

David and Victoria didn't. They wanted pomp and splendour. And they made sure they got it. The bride's train was 20ft long. Also trailing along behind her was a retinue of 125 security guards. Everyone - even four- month-old Brooklyn - wore a security tag at all times. The couple had decided that royalty and doves were to be the themes of the day. When they emerged as man and wife, surrounded by flunkies in blue knickerbockers with purple sashes, another 100 doves were released.

Perhaps predictably, at that very moment, two helicopters carrying representatives of OK! magazine were Involved in an ill-tempered aerial dogfight with a third helicopter full of uninvited paparazzi. The glossy celebrity magazine has paid £1million for exclusive rights to pictures of the wedding, and has spent 14 months planning every detail with the bride. That included a security cordon which left all public walkways at the castle swathed in 10,281ft of fabric, and the grounds crawling with sniffer dogs.

But, for all the organisers, advisers and strategic battle plans, this wedding came with its fair share of last-minute hitches. The first casualty of the day was Sir Elton John, who was due to fly in by helicopter to perform the ballad Something About The Way You Look Tonight. He was put out of action by a nasty case of sunstroke, and had to disappoint the couple in their choice of first song. There were more problems with the entertainment. The bride gave three members of the orchestra their marching orders on the day.

It seems that Miss Adams fussed about the arrangements until the very last moment, suddenly deciding that some of the 18-piece Starlight Orchestra 'didn't look right'. 'She pointed to the double bass player and violinist and another member and they were removed.' Apparently affected by the mounting tension around lunchtime, Beckham retired to his suite upstairs for a two-hour nap.

Becks, as his friends know him, had played a rotten round of golf with his best man and Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville, along with his father Ted. He hooked his first shot into the rough. Beckham may have been exhausted by his efforts, but it is more likely that he was determined to look his best for a marathon session with the photographers from OK! later in the day. He and Victoria, incidentally, shared a hairstylist, Jenny Roberts. The couple were married in a crumbling folly in the grounds of the 15th century castle. It was strewn with rose petals and decorated with silver birch.

Victoria made her grand entrance in a burgundy vintage Bentley. Then with her bridesmaids - sister Louise, 22, niece Liberty and Beckham's niece Georgia, both 16 months - the bride joined the groom and his best man promenading down a 60ft walkway covered in fresh flowers. Victoria was dressed in an ivory silk off-the-shoulder floor length dress by designer Vera Wang. She had added a low-cut corset, which emphasised her 18-inch waist. Her crown, made by Slim Barrett, the jeweller who made pieces for the Princess of Wales, was fashioned out of 18-carat gold. It rather outshone the diamond tiara lent to Sophie Rhys-Jones by the Queen at that other summer wedding.

The Spice Squad
Baby	Scary	Sporty

Beckham, 24, wore an ivory outfit and his best man was in traditional morning dress. At around the same time that Victoria was walking down the aisle, her former fellow Spice Girl Geri Halliwell took to the stage at Hyde Park in London for the Party in the Park concert. Perhaps not coincidentally, Geri had chosen this moment to unveil a rather daring stage act, which involved stripping off to her underwear. But that had no chance of upstaging Posh.

Back at the wedding, a harp and violin duo played Mozart, Handel and Bach before the Rt Rev Paul Colton, the Bishop of Cork, witnessed the vows. Victoria, 24, promised to love, honour and cherish - but not obey - her Manchester United star in front of a mere 29 people, including the other Spice Girls, Baby Emma Bunton, Sporty Mel C and Scary Mel B. Both bride and groom cried.

Their baby Brooklyn, dressed in white by Antonio Berardi, slept peacefully throughout the ceremony. Mel B's little girl Phoenix Chi, however, cried as well.

The wedding party then moved to the medieval castle to change for the 8.30pm reception for 236 guests, which was held in a marquee in the 568-acre grounds. There, in party outfits also designed by Berardi, the newly- weds sat on gold thrones on the top table. Their son had a matching high chair next to his mother.

Toastmaster and master of ceremonies DJ Simon Francis announced the guests, all dressed in black or white, as they arrived. Then the slightly depleted Starlight Orchestra struck up the first dance - It Had To Be You. Dinner was also perfectly orchestrated. Chef Jason Reynolds provided red pepper soup followed by turkey breast or grilled Mediterranean vegetables and sticky toffee pudding and a terrine of summer berries. The guests toasted the bride and groom with Laurent Perrier non- vintage rose champagne and clinked glasses with Cotes du Rhone and New Zealand sauvignon blanc. After dinner, there were lashings of Guinness.

Any revellers feeling a little overcome by the occasion, organised by Bentley Entertainment and Sternberg Clarke, could recline on cushions the size of a double bed, scattered around the rooms. The evening finished with a spectacular firework display at 8pm. As a final touch, hundreds of red balloons were released into the sky. And Posh and Becks retired to spend their first night of married life in the castle's £3,900-a-night Royal Suite.

-- This Site Is 100% Designed By Jason Beckham® --