Waikato Times

Eugenie to wed it like Beckham

- The Times

How do you follow a wedding like Harry and Meghan’s? For Princess Eugenie, who will be married at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, next month, the answer is easy: do what David and Victoria Beckham did.

Eugenie has called in Peregrine Armstrong-Jones, the celebrity party planner who created the exuberantl­y extravagan­t wedding reception for Posh and Becks at Luttrellst­own Castle, near Dublin, in 1999.

While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex needed only a single day and night for the first royal wedding of the year in May, Eugenie, 28, and her husband-tobe, Jack Brooksbank, 32, will stretch their celebratio­ns into a second day after a

Friday morning service on

October 12.

A post-wedding lunch hosted by the Queen will be followed on Friday evening by a black-tie reception at Royal Lodge, Windsor, where Eugenie’s parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, still share a home despite divorcing in 1996.

Anyone still standing after the traditiona­l festivitie­s will be invited to the Royal Lodge on Saturday afternoon for a ‘‘festival and funfair’’ themed party organised by Bentleys Entertainm­ent. The A-list party planning firm was founded by ArmstrongJ­ones, the half-brother of the late Earl of Snowdon.

Bentleys dreamt up the £500,000 (NZ$988,000) Irish castle reception that featured the Beckhams perched on golden thrones in matching purple outfits, among other blingtasti­c excesses.

‘‘After the more formal celebratio­n [of Eugenie’s wedding] at Windsor Castle on Friday, the Saturday bash will be a relaxed party,’’ a source said. ‘‘There will be dodgems and funfair rides, coconut shies, lots of food stalls, loads of cocktails, bloody Marys for the hangovers and a festival vibe.’’

The couple are understood to have invited about 500 guests. –

 ??  ?? Princess Eugenie
Princess Eugenie

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