I want Jedward to walk me down the aisle... they are my dogfathers after all
She’s a self-confessed diva with a love of excess. So when it comes to planning the biggest and happiest day of her life, it was never going to be an understated affair.
In fact, Gemma Collins is so delighted to be finally tying the knot with the man of her dreams, she’s planning to do it not once, not twice but three times.
That’s once more than Prince Harry and Meghan.
Gemma and her long-term love Rami Hawash have already started planning the lavish celebrations – with talk of Jedward walking her down the aisle and a Victoria Beckham-inspired tiara.
It comes after Rami – her on-off partner of 13 years – popped the question in the Maldives last month.
While unlucky-in-love Gemma’s been down this path before, this time she’s confident of getting the happy ever after she’s always craved.
Speaking about the engagement back home in Chelmsford, Essex, Gemma, 43, says: “It’s official this time. He’s finally put a ring on it.
“It was the best surprise. I can’t believe I didn’t know something was going on.
“On that day we had been chilling by the pool and it was so warm I just let my hair dry naturally for dinner and didn’t put on any make-up. In fact, I didn’t even have a bloody bra on! But I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Rami, 48, had whisked The Only Way is Essex star away for her birthday. On the night of the proposal he’d taken her for sushi, her favourite dinner.
He pretended to go to the bathroom and when he got back, he told her to look over to the beach, where he had set up lights reading, ‘Will you marry me?’.
“It was such a beautiful moment. He walked me down to the beach, which they’d closed just for us, and there were hundreds of roses on the sand,” recalls Gemma. “It looked like Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian’s proposal.”
Former car mechanic Rami also had Gemma’s favourite film, House of Gucci, playing on a screen on the beach.
Laughing, Rami explains: “There was a lot involved in the lead-up to the engagement and it was a lot of pressure. We were on an island with no car, so the staff at our hotel helped pull it off.
“Gemma’s favourite flowers are roses so I organised a seaplane to fly lots of them in from Malé, the capital city.”
“I’m usually on the ball,” says Gemma. “But I had no idea”. Now the star can’t stop staring at her engagement ring, but says she probably won’t wear it much. Told she “deserves it”, she replies: “You know what, I do. I waited long enough.
“But it is honestly the best of the best. It’s one of a kind. It’s huge and set in platinum, but truthfully I don’t think I’ll wear it every day. I’ll get a replica made and bring it out on special occasions.”
Rami spoke to her parents beforehand and used the same Hatton Garden jeweller which made her mum Joan’s ring. She adds: “Rami knows how much I love the Royal Family so he took inspiration from their engagement rings.”
Since getting engaged, Gemma admits she’s becoming a bit more bossy, which could make for some interesting wedding planning, as she wants three celebrations. “The main one will be somewhere fabulous in the UK, the second maybe abroad, and the third will be the formal one for our closest friends and family,” she adds.
It’s looking like a winter wedding in 2026 – the year Rami turns 50 – because an astrologer told Gemma it’s the luckiest year to tie the knot.
And of course three weddings means three dresses. “I’d love something similar to the lace one Lady Gaga wore in House of Gucci,” says Gemma.
“I might go back to my roots and wear something really Essex-like and over the top. I’m thinking something Italianthemed, then a ‘wow’ one with a huge train. I might even recreate Victoria Beckham’s wedding moment with the tiara, I loved that.”
Gemma suggests Jedward, who she met on Celebrity Big Brother, may walk her down the aisle. “They are my dog’s godfathers, after all,” she says. “They’re honestly like family to me, I adore them.” Rami adds: “Jedward are like our kids.” She is already working on her fitness and has lost 20lb by cutting out all sugar.
“I don’t want to be stick thin, I just want to be healthy. I want to feel amazing,” explains Gemma, who also goes by her alter-ego The GC.
They’re kicking off their celebrations with a Tuscan-themed engagement party. It “won’t be anything formal”,
according to Gemma, but she has asked Andrea Bocelli to perform.
“It’ll be very rustic, I want everyone walking barefoot in my garden with thousands of flowers and candles,” she says. “I also want singing waiters and the menu needs to be Italian-themed.”
Outside of the wedding excitement, her life is far calmer than it once was.
“I’m much more settled now. I’ve got my house, a dog, cat, chickens, a fiance and a stepson,” she tells us.
Rami jumps in to praise how she is with 14-year-old Tristan. “Gemma’s the absolute best stepmum,” he says. “We never get any sleep though, everyone piles into the bed – including animals!” Gemma adds: “Rami knows the real me as well as ‘The GC’. We’re a normal couple who load the dishwasher, cook dinners and hang up the washing. I don’t think people really see that side of me.”
Born in Romford, she worked in a BMW salesroom when she first joined TOWIE in 2011. Her overthe-top personality made her a quick favourite with fans.
Next followed diving show Splash!, CBB, then Dancing On Ice. By 2019, Gemma had become one of the biggest names on TV, with her own reality series.
But her personal life and love life had always been difficult. She had selfharmed from the age of 13 and has been on a long, difficult road to true love.
Gemma and Rami first dated in 2011, before she began a two-year relationship with TOWIE’S Charlie King, who later came out as gay. She went back to Rami and they were briefly engaged, before she moved onto another relationship which she later claimed was abusive.
She also had an on/off relationship with co-star James “Arg” Argent, and supported him through his weight gain and rehab for cocaine addiction.
By 2021, Gemma and Rami were back together, and they moved into in their €1.5m barn conversion.
Gemma has bravely spoken about having suffered a number of miscarriages. But she and Rami still hope to have children. She says: “We’re going to
visit a fertility clinic soon. I’m nowhere near menopause so that will hopefully take the pressure off.”
Perhaps the sweetest sign of their connection is Gemma’s admission about her slightly unusual sleeping set-up. If Rami’s away, she can’t bear to sleep in their “marital boudoir” alone.
“I have my own bedroom and it’s fabulous,” she says, as she describes a pink room that includes a life-sized gorilla. “If we have a night apart I never sleep in our bed, I’ll go to my pink one.”
Two beds, three weddings and three gowns?
We shouldn’t expect anything less.