Petra Ecclestone got married to fiancé James Stunt yesterday in wedding estimated to have cost dad Bernie a whopping £5 million ($8.2 million). The F-1 heiress celebrated her big day in traditional billionaire style at an Italian Castle. It was arguably one of the most highly-anticipated celebrity events of the year, with guests including members of the royal family and hotel heiresses.
The 22-year-old heiress looked stunning as she was driven to the wedding in a white Rolls Royce, with her father Bernie sitting with her in the back. Not one but two Rolls Royce motors ferried Petra to the ceremon, the second of which was driven by former F1 driver Jean Alessi. Petra wore a £80,000 couture wedding dress by Vera Wang with her blond hair down she wore a beautiful diamond tiara and drop earrings.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Tenebrae Choir, a snip at just £250,000 for 40 minutes, were flown to the Italian town of Bracciano to play for the wedding party. The medieval town of Bracciano ground to a halt, the cobbled piazza closed off as fleets of cars ferried 250 VIP guests for the twilight ceremony inside the Odescalchi Castle – which cost the bride’s father £310,000 to hire. Guests enjoyed Cristal champagne, caviar and caviar canapes. The celebrity guests included Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton, Sarah Ferguson, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas.
Once the two were married Andrea Bocelli performed Time To Say Goodbye. The celebrations were rounded off with a midnight fireworks display. A reception followed in the castle gardens, where guests were served vintage Louis Roederer Cristal champagne and £4,000-a-bottle Chateau Petrus wine in an air-conditioned white marquee, while acrobats performed beneath hot-air balloons amid the first of the evening’s two fire¬works displays. It was the beginning of a night of opulent celebrations, paid for out of Bernie’s £2.5 billion ($4.1 billion) fortune, which next saw Eric Clapton, a friend of the Ecclestone family, providing the music for the couple’s first dance, free of charge. Clapton was followed by The Black Eyed Peas, paid a reported $1.5 million fee, and DJ David Guetta, who was believed to have received £500,000 for his night’s work. The celebrations were rounded off with a midnight fireworks display, bringing firework costs alone to £100,000.
Along with £150,000-worth of posh nosh, a £100,000 firework display, £140,000 to put the guests up at the Hotel de Russe in Rome and a massive £400,000 in additional costs, Petra’s nuptials came mighty close to outdoing the royal wedding. [Daily Mail]
Bernie Ecclestone’s Wedding Bash Bills
- The Black Eyed Peas – £1 million
- Alicia Keys – £600,000
- DJ David Guetta – £500,000
- Odescalchi Castle – £310,000
- Gifts for wedding party and key participants – £250,000
- Andrea Bocelli – £150,000
- Alain Ducasse – £140,000
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – £250,000
- Food for guests on Saturday night – £150,000
- Hiring all 122 rooms for guests at Rome’s Hotel de Russe – £140,000
- Vintage wines – £800,000
- Vera Wang wedding dress – £80,000
- Bridesmaids and maid of honour gowns – £100,000
- Fireworks – £100,000
- Two suites at the Hassler Hotel – £9,200
- 90 rooms at the Hassler Hotel for guests – £50,000
- Phantom Rolls-Royce hire – £1,000
- Additional costs including security and wedding planner – £400,000
