Things just got a bit goopier
Gwyneth Paltrow managed to turn her celebrity-studded second wedding into a puff for her ailing business
ALISON BOSHOFF
GWYNETH Paltrow has released details of her supremely high-end, faddy and exceedingly pleased-withitself 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 46-year-old actress turned lifestyleguru, would pick a second wedding dress which is backless, 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 a piece with the uber-luxe event, which saw her fly a chef more than 8 000km to grill the guests pineapples over a 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 jnr, her co-star in Iron Man, gave a speech. Her godfather, Hollywood director Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw were among the guests, 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 underneath a beautiful natural floral arch.
Afterwards, the bride changed into a tiny white playsuit designed by her pal Stella Mccartney in time for dancing to 1980s tunes.
Gwyneth called 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 here.
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, a cynic might say the wedding provides a perfect chance to burnish the rather tarnished Goop brand, which is worth £190 million (R3.5 billion), but it is under fire from regulators for peddling overpriced pseudo-scientific nonsense to the gullible.
Visitors to her Goop website, 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 serving team’s aprons.