Ulrika wedding exclusive – ‘Why I married my sister’
With three weddings and three divorces under her belt, who better to oversee her sister’s big day than Ulrika Jonsson…
Ulrika Jonsson, 51, may only recently have finalised her divorce from third husband Brian Monet – but it didn’t stop her throwing herself into preparations for a wedding (her sister’s!). The Swedish former TV favourite hosted a stunning wedding ceremony in her back garden on 13 July for her little sister Kelly, 33, and
her partner Candeece, who live with their five-month-old baby girl, Isla, in Melbourne, Australia. And it sounds like Ulrika might have found a new calling…
You had a very special role at your sister’s wedding, didn’t you?
Yes, I did! When Kelly and Candeece first discussed getting married, the first place they thought of was my garden! They just love it there. I mentioned whether they’d get married in a register office, when Kelly cut in and said, ‘No, we were seriously wondering if you could get a licence, so YOU could marry us!’ And I said I would…
So, what changed things?
Sadly, at the end of last year, Candeece’s dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Because he was so poorly, by January they had to change all their plans and get married in Melbourne in May. It was a small affair, but absolutely drenched in emotion – Candeece’s dad died just two weeks later. But they were adamant that their big celebration back in the UK would feel like a proper wedding ceremony.
Were you run ragged with the planning?
A bit! Kelly and Candeece gave me free rein, and I wanted it to feel like a wedding for them, down to the fine detail. The canapés, making the cake, the individual place settings… I made biscotti wedding favours, I brewed my own elderflower schnapps. Oh, and the flowers… I grew the dahlias
myself! Then the night before, one of my dogs cocked his leg over one of them!
Your garden was the perfect venue, though…
It was all very weatherdependent – welcome to England, everybody! – but it worked out. We had a little marquee, and we planned to have the ceremony among the apple trees. I have a little orchard, eight rows of apple trees, which we hung decorations and lights on. Kelly and Candeece looked beautiful.
You looked the part, too – like a vicar, though you weren’t ‘official’…
Ha, yes – I ordered a dog collar online and wore a black dress, so it ended up looking like a vicar’s outfit. That was not planned. My sister had no idea I’d be wearing a vicar’s collar – and I genuinely didn’t know whether it was in bad taste or not. But I walked from the house and as soon as they saw it, they were laughing. Another surprise was Candeece’s mother arriving, as the ceremony started – she’d flown in from Australia to surprise her. It couldn’t have got any more moving.
And how did the actual ceremony go?
Well, the irony isn’t lost on me that I am marrying my sister not long after my third divorce came through! I kicked it all off by saying, ‘Bet you were thinking they should have somebody with solid experience in the field of marriage officiating this? Well, with a few marriages under her belt, today’s your lucky day – you’ve got Ulrika!’ I do believe you can’t have someone up there talking about love and marriage that has no experience. So, I was the perfect candidate! We customised the service with stories, poems and songs that meant something to them as a couple. We had a poem by Hovis Presley, called I Rely On You, which had us in tears. At the end, my daughter, Martha, broke into All You Need Is Love on the ukulele.
It looked fabulous!
Yes, though my sister went back to Australia a week after her wedding, so I’ve been a bit of a mess since! I’m generally pretty overly ambitious with things – plus, I was basically a one-man band organising this wedding. But I think that I achieved what I set out to do!
Did anyone get drunk and disorderly?
My oldest son, Cameron [24]! Yes, he’s quite adept at drinking, and he had to get up early the next day to do some filming for a US channel at Wimbledon [in between film projects he does camerawork]. Of course, it was the longest men’s final in history and he was nursing a hangover the entire day – I don’t know how he did it. And my little one, Malcolm [11], had tonsillitis on the day, so I just let him wear what he wanted, which included flip-flops. He was very sweet – he made an appearance for the ceremony, but the rest of the time he was in front of the TV. I had to keep running inside to administer Calpol, poor thing.
Could you get used to this wedding planning – or officiating? You could be like Joey in Friends and marry your girlfriends…
I could, couldn’t I? It’s big business, isn’t it? And I should know, I’ve done it enough! Even right back to my first wedding – in 1990, hello?! – I remember I just loved all the planning of the event. Actually, my ex-husband, Brian, was at Kelly’s wedding – he obviously knows the family! And he knows I’m very irreverent – you have to get in with the jokes about marriage, before somebody else does!