Gwen Stefani & Blake Shelton’s magical wedding day
California girl Gwen Stefani and Southern superstar Blake Shelton tied the knot in a magical ceremony
THE perfect blend of country and glamour – that’s how the wedding of a pop princess and her country prince is being described. The bride donned an elegant Vera Wang gown paired with vintage Le Silla cowboy boots. The groom was resplendent in a tuxedo with a twist, pairing a black vest with his seemingly ubiquitous blue jeans.
After a six-year romance Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani recently tied the knot in a magical ceremony in front of 40 guests at Blake’s rustic ranch in Oklahoma, her glamorous California-girl style a fabulous foil to his down-home Southern roots.
“The best way to describe it is it was perfectly them,” says TV personality Carson Daly, who officiated the wedding as a favour to his famous friends.
“It was as elegant and refined and cool as Gwen is, and it was as country and fun as Blake is.
“They’re an unlikely pair. They’re like, if you pair delicious fried chicken with a glass of champagne. On paper and on the menu it doesn’t seem to work, but it works. It’s comfort food with class. And everybody roots for that.”
Carson, host of The Voice US, says he encouraged the couple to write their own vows rather than reciting the traditional “to have and to hold” version.
“She crushed it,” he says of Gwen’s heartfelt pledge to Blake. “Not a dry eye in the church. It was so perfect that I said to Blake when she was done, ‘Top that, buddy’.”
Yet Blake came close, presenting his vows in the form of a song he wrote
‘IT WAS AS COOL AS GWEN IS, AND AS COUNTRY AND FUN AS BLAKE IS’
specially for the big day.
“Blake starts by saying, ‘Gwen’s always giving me a hard time about not writing enough songs so I wrote a song’,” Carson recalls. “And he sings the song he wrote specially for her – Reach the Star, I think it was called. And again, not a dry eye in the house. That was really a highlight.”
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HE love between Gwen (51) and Blake (45) wasn’t the only focal point of the wedding: the couple also acknowledged their family with a few touching and intimate details. Gwen’s oversized veil was a nod to the family she and Blake have formed with her three sons, Kingston (15), Zuma (12), and Apollo (7), whose dad is her exhusband, musician Gavin Rossdale (55).
Her name, as well as Blake’s and those of the three boys, were intricately embroidered in the design of the veil alongside two roses.
The shorter dress Gwen donned for the reception also acknowledged her brood.
“The embroidery is highlighted by a pair of hand sewn lovebirds symbolising the couple,” says designer Vera Wang. “They’re joined by three baby lovebirds representing Gwen’s children.”
In keeping with the love-of-family theme, Gwen and Blake’s dog, Betty, joined them during their first dance. And their wedding cake – a five-tiered extravaganza adorned with white swan pillars, bells, tiny sugar flowers and
a white-chocolate cherub – was a recreation of Gwen’s parents’ wedding cake.
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HE stars weren’t looking for love when they met back in 2014 as coaches on hit talentsearch show The Voice, but that’s exactly what they found. Although they shared an immediate chemistry as friends and co-workers, the painful break-up of their respective marriages eventually drew them closer.
In July 2015, Blake confided to his fellow coaches on The Voice that he and his second wife, fellow country crooner
Miranda Lambert (37), were divorcing after four years of marriage.
Just one month after Blake’s sudden separation, Gwen also confronted heartbreak when she announced the end of her 13-year marriage to Gavin, amid rumours he’d had an affair with their nanny.
Blake later opened up about how Gwen was a lifesaver while he was going through his painful divorce.
“I was at rock bottom, in the middle of hell . . . Gwen saved my life. Who else on Earth could understand going through a high-profile divorce from another musician?”
In the same interview Blake talked about how the mutual support eventually blossomed into a full-blown crush.
“It went from checking in on each other once a week through email to ‘Hey, here’s my phone number if you ever want to text’. Next thing I know, I wake up and she’s all I care about and I’m wondering if she feels the same about me.”
The feeling was clearly mutual and by November 2015 they admitted they were a couple. In October last year the pair confirmed they were engaged with Blake tweeting a photo of Gwen showing off her R7,2-million engagement ring.
Although their wedding plans were repeatedly halted because of the Covid-19
pandemic, the Rich Girl singer couldn’t contain her excitement when, in an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she was asked how she felt about being the future Mrs Blake Shelton.
“The kids love him,” she enthused. “We love him. Everybody loves him. He’s lovable!”
Those close to the singer say her sons are as enamoured with their stepfather as their mother is.
“He’s so fun and has shown Gwen’s kids another side of life filled with adventure,” one insider says. “The boys have really grown immensely by spending time with Blake.”
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LAKE readily admits that co-parenting Gwen’s boys has been a blast, and he takes his responsibility as a stepfather “very, very seriously”.
“It’s one thing for me to be with the kids all the time and be their buddy. But then you do have to consider after a while that they’re starting to listen to things you say and there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that, which is new to me.
“But I’m not going to lie. I don’t take it so serious that I’m not enjoying this time because I really am.”
So what’s next for this picture-perfect family of five? Well, growing bigger, of course.
The musicians are reportedly determined to have a baby of their own in whatever way possible, a well-placed insider says.
“It’s extremely important to Gwen that she gives Blake a biological child, and Blake is so excited,” the source says. “Gwen is just so in awe of the love Blake has, not only for her but for the boys, and knows he wants his own child too.”