All eyes were on Holly Ramsay on Saturday as she swept along the honey-coloured Bath stones past a sea of onlookers, security guards and photographers.
The billowing, shiny, white, hooded cloak that swamped her en route to the historic abbey must have felt like a fabulous idea for a winter wedding, yet lamentably it looked more Scottish Widows than luxury cover up.
With so much anticipation around this winter wedding, I’m surely not the only one to have been disappointed not to see the actual dress. And I did wonder if her ‘something blue’ might be just the mood towards her new (but uninvited) in-laws?
The bride appeared to have taken style notes from former Bath resident Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis, as she tripped into church on the arm of her father. She cut a dash somewhere between everyone’s favourite literary heroine Lizzie Bennet and Narnia’s sorceress, depending on which side of the aisle your (sense and) sensibilities lie.
After all, this was an event fraught with toxic drama. Triple Olympic champion Adam Peaty, 31, and Holly Ramsay, 25, have been at the centre of a bitter row with his family, who were all uninvited from the nuptials, aside from Adam’s sister Bethany, 32, who was a bridesmaid.
The feud kicked off after some Peaty family members were not invited to the engagement party in December 2024. Then, Adam’s mother did not make the cut for Holly’s hen do, where she was joined by her mum Tana, Bethany and Victoria Beckham at Soho Farmhouse.
In the wake of the snub, stories of strife multiplied. The upshot was that Adam’s family – mother, father and brothers – stayed at home 130 miles away in Staffordshire while the wedding took place in front of 200 guests in Somerset.
The day of the wedding, Adam’s mother Caroline told the Daily Mail that she felt Adam and Holly had ‘cut her heart out’.
Then the Mail on Sunday revealed a text from Adam’s Aunt Louise. In it, she wrote: ‘I hope you never suffer the depth of pain you have put your mother through and despite it all she loves you still. Shame on you both. Shame. Remember on this, your happiest day, and on each anniversary… that you hurt your mum so deeply her soul screams.’
The wedding party were no doubt instructed to amp up the glamour (all the better to distract from family rows), with black tie the order of the day.
The groom and his five-year-old son George (from a previous relationship) were in matching tuxedos. Cute as the pair were, it broke with the tradition that tuxes should only be worn to evening events.
And while Gordon Ramsay’s daughters – Holly, Tilly and Megan – had their hair precisely tonged, it’s a shame the hairdresser didn’t find their way to the chef’s mop, which, thanks to the icy wind, stuck up on end like that of a Vegas croupier.
Above all, the day was a poignant reminder of how two high profile families – the Ramsays and the Beckhams – are not all that different from the rest of us when it comes to family fall outs.
Sir David and Lady Beckham’s estranged son was absent yesterday too, despite close bonds between him, Holly and her twin Jack when they were growing up.
Perhaps that’s why Lady Beckham placed so much focus on her role of fashion fairy godmother.
She dressed the bridesmaids – Megan, Tilly and Bethany – in her signature deep red silk slips. Gracious and festive, they were accessorised with strappy black Christian Louboutin heels and a posy of arum lilies.
Mother of the bride Tana followed suit in a forest green (more festive colours!) Beckham creation, bravely baring arms despite the chilly temperatures.
The Beckham men paired their suits with stylish winter coats. (Why must women freeze in frocks while their counterparts cosy up in wool? All the better to promote the dresses, one supposes.)
Lady Beckham was in big shades and a glossy teal gown, complete with a dramatic front slit and plunging neckline, hips cut to add shape and whittle that waist in even further.
It was, as she explained on her Instagram, the maxi version of a dress she’d worn to dinner a few nights previously.
For it is a truth universally acknowledged that a much discussed celebrity wedding is a keen marketing opportunity for its esteemed guests.
