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Gwyneth Paltrow has released details of her supremely high end, faddy, and exceedingly pleasedwith-itself wedding.
The Valentino dress worn by the bride at the September 29 ceremony in the garden of her house in the Hamptons is the great talking point.
Surely nobody but Paltrow, a 46year-old actress turned lifestyle guru, would pick a (second wedding) dress which is backless, made of virginal white lace and sheer over a nude underskirt.
The extravagance of the lace and net couture gown (most likely a gift from Valentino, whom she regards as a second father) was of course on a par with the uber-luxe event, which saw ‘GP’ fly a chef 5,000 miles to grill the guests some pineapples, hung chicken and hung cabbage over a specially constructed fire pit for the rehearsal dinner the night before.
On the day itself, her 70 nearest and dearest dined on Dungeness crab with avocado, scampi tortellini and roast duckling, with duck fat roast potatoes and vegetable succotash, followed by personalised carrot cakes (bride’s choice) and chocolate and vanilla cakes (groom’s choice).
Robert Downey Jr, her co-star in Iron Man, gave a speech. Her godfather, Steven Spielberg, and his wife Kate Capshaw were among the attendees, as was actress Cameron Diaz with her rocker husband Benji Madden, and the actor Rob Lowe.
The groom, TV executive Brad Falchuk, 47, wore a natty Tom Ford suit and was attended by his son Brody and by Paltrow’s son Moses in scaled down versions of the same outfit. The bridesmaids were her daughter Apple Martin and Falchuk’s daughter Isabella. They wore strapless pure white dresses by Monique Lhuillier, a business partner of the bride. The bar was set up with handpainted De Gournay wallpaper, and they plighted their troth in the garden beneath a natural floral arch.
Afterwards, the bride changed into a tiny white playsuit designed by her pal Stella McCartney in time for dancing to 80s tunes. Gwyneth calls it the happiest day of both of their lives – which might slightly wound their previous spouses and children – but certainly there’s no shortage of joy in this picture, released nearly five weeks after the big day.
But what is truly remarkable is the way that she seems to be using her beautifully arranged wedding to flog a range of goods and services.
Indeed, if you were very cynical you might say that the wedding provides a perfect chance to burnish the rather tarnished Goop brand, which is worth $246million but under fire from regulators and consumers for peddling overpriced pseudoscientific nonsense to the gullible.
Certainly the big day has an element of big sell. Visitors to her website Goop, driven there by the promise of seeing all 47 pictures of her big day, are prompted to check out the sources of everything from the ring bearers’ pillows to the aprons worn by the serving team.
She enumerates who designed the dinner plates for both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself.
If you have the slightest curiosity you can click on a link which takes you to a website where you may make an identical purchase.
We already know that Gwyneth believes she has exquisite taste, but will us ordinary Joes really be queueing up to buy her ‘dry martini service’ trolley? And it is surely the case that the Jeep makers Moke gave her money off her bridally pimped golf carts in return for the lovely plug which she includes?
The many staff who toiled on her big day get name checks: Caterers, florists, hair and make-up, and all the rest. Not only is the calligrapher who wrote the menus thanked but the firm which printed the invitations also gets named and thanked. Naturally the wedding planner, hair and make-up artists and constructors of the super-fancy marquees are also thanked.
But the greatest star seems to be the chef. It says on Goop: ‘It was GP’s dream to have Argentine chef Francis Mallmann.’