Victoria, then 25, had seen her girl group Spice Girls land their eighth No 1 UK single the year before, while 24-year-old David’s football team had won all three major UK tournaments in the most recent season.
The couple stated in Beckham that they crossed paths in 1997 in the Manchester United players’ lounge after a match. They both “fancied” each other immediately, leading them to enter a relationship.
About a year into dating, David popped the question with a US$85,000 marquise-cut diamond engagement ring. In 1999, four months after welcoming their first son Brooklyn, they tied the knot.Here’s a look back at their extravagant wedding day, which elevated them to British celebrity royalty and has gone down in history as peak 90s.
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Posh and Becks got married at a castle on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland, on July 4, 1999
The venue for their elaborate ceremony was Luttrellstown Castle, a historic 226-hectare estate, according to its website, with 20 bedrooms, a golf course, high stone walls and tall, leafy trees to ensure privacy from prying paparazzi. Photographers showed up and tried to steal snaps alongside gaggles of onlookers who lined the streets outside, hoping to spot the happy couple.
The couple sold the exclusive rights to photographs from their wedding to British magazine OK! for £1 million (US$1.2 million), setting a record for the most expensive celebrity photo shoot ever. According to Martin Townsend, the then-editor of OK!, scuffles broke out in shops when the Beckham wedding issue hit news-stands as the UK public clamoured to get a copy.
According to People, the venue presently costs US$800,000 to reserve for a one-day event. It’s unknown how much the couple paid at the time.
Only 29 people were invited to the ceremony, but over 200 attended their lavish reception
The couple exchanged vows in front of friends and family in a stone cave on the castle grounds. Per a BBC report published a few days after the wedding, David wore a cream-coloured suit and arrived at the ceremony in a Bentley with his best man and Manchester United teammate, Gary Neville.
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The magazine reported that his bride-to-be was dressed in a champagne-hued Vera Wang dress accessorised with an 18-karat gold tiara and a six -metre-long train. She likewise arrived in a Bentley car. The couple’s infant son Brooklyn served as the ring bearer.
After they said “I do,” a white dove was released above the estate, symbolising their love. Among those invited to the ceremony were their immediate families, more of David’s teammates and Victoria’s bandmates (minus Geri Halliwell).Speaking about choosing to only share this part of the special day with a select few, Victoria told Business of Fashion in 2022: “We had the football team there. We had the Spice Girls there, and it was family and friends, and it was actually much more intimate than it looked.”
They changed into coordinated purple outfits and sat on oversized thrones
The pair kicked off married life in matching bright purple outfits designed by Antonio Berardi. Victoria’s featured a satin fishtail gown with a strapless bodice, while David’s was a double-breasted blazer and flared trousers, according to OK! Baby Brooklyn was changed into a purple suit and bib.
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Victoria reflected on their coordinating looks on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2021: “I think it was a naivety then. We didn’t know about fashion. We were just having fun with it, which, to be honest with you, is kind of the way it should be.”
Leaving their oversized gold and velvet thrones, the pair had their first dance to “It Had To Be You” by Frank Sinatra, and their wedding playlist consisted of music from the 60s and 70s. They also had a live soul band and enlisted their close friend Elton John to perform at one point in the evening. Unfortunately, he could not because he had a heart attack in the prior weeks, according to a 1999 report by The Guardian.The couple’s unique wedding cake featured alternating layers of chocolate-flavoured sponge and red apples. Earlier this year, Victoria shared a clip of the moment they cut into the cake with a giant sabre – an odd tradition in the UK – before sharing a kiss.
Since their 1999 ceremony – and David’s alleged infidelity with his former assistant Rebecca Loos came to light – the couple has renewed their vows. On BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2017, David revealed it was a small, scaled-back ceremony.He said: “It was a lot more private, about six people there in our house. We’re a strong family unit. Of course you make mistakes over the years, and we all know marriage is difficult at times. It’s about working through it.”
This article originally appeared on Insider.ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuqKzwLOgp52jZMC1xcueZqmdn6W5pnvCnqOemqKewaqx0miYq6yZmLmme5JranBsYWZ8pa3VoptmmZ6Zere1wq2mq6GRYq%2Bmr8qhmKarXaS1br%2FOZnBpq12ssqWwyKeeZqSRq7a0tIycnKudnaS7unnFnpitraKasW59lK2fZpuVo8G2vthmmpqrpKGy