The groom wore white, the best woman took centre stage and Prince Harry’s girlfriend serenaded the bride (while flashing her midriff).
It’s fair to say that the wedding of Sam Branson and society blonde Isabella Calthorpe was an unconventional affair.
Alison Boshoff has all the details of the nuptials dubbed ‘the nearly royal wedding'...
All in white: Sam Branson and Isabella Calthorpe tied the not in South Africa both wearing all-white outfits
Isabella, 33, who is known as ‘Bellie’, wore a beautiful full-length ivory gown, covered with lace, by Los Angeles-based designer Monique Lhuillier.
It would cost a normal client around £10,000, although Isabella may have negotiated a favourable rate, given the publicity surrounding her nuptials.
Miss Lhuillier previously designed a wedding dress for Britney Spears’ ill-fated 2004 marriage to Kevin Federline. At the Oscars this year, Kate Beckinsale and Isla Fisher both wore Lhuillier gowns. Isabella added Jimmy Choo pumps in silver glitter, £395, and a matching Choo clutch, £575.
SUITED AND BOOTED
Not to be outdone, Richard Branson’s son and heir Sam, 27, wore an ivory three-piece suit by British designer Ozwald Boateng.
It would have cost at least £3,000. Boateng is famous for cutting a very slim silhouette, and fans of his tailoring include actor Jude Law and chat show host Graham Norton.
Sam’s shoes were by trendy Californian brand Toms, which donate a pair of simple canvas shoes to someone in need for every pair sold — appropriate for a right-on documentary maker like Sam
The extravagant wedding is covered in a 24 page special in Hello! magazine
It seems Sam is cut from the same publicity-hungry cloth as his father. The wedding, conducted at Sir Richard’s game reserve Ulusaba in South Africa, fills 24 breathless pages in this week’s Hello! magazine.
And we’re promised a second instalment next week, which will include details of … drum roll … the bride’s second gown and the ‘hilarious’ speeches.
Like Sir Richard, who arrived for his own 1989 wedding in Necker dangling from a helicopter, Sam appears to be very comfortable in the spotlight. When his bride was a few minutes late he called out to the guests: ‘She’s probably run off with a ranger!’
STAR-STUDDED RINGS
The wedding rings were designed by fashionable young jeweller Charles Goode, who also made Zara Phillips’ diamond and platinum engagement ring and the wedding bands used when Kate Winslet married Sir Richard Branson’s nephew, Ned RocknRoll. Isabella’s was a plain band; Sam’s featured a piece of quartz, hewn from the rock where they married. Goode also designed Isabella’s diamond engagement ring.
TALE OF LOVE
The happy couple produced a booklet, mostly written in rhyme, which served as an invitation to guests. Titled A Tale Of Love by Sam and Bellie, it opens: ‘Oh dearest friends and family/ We ask you to come/On a journey of adventure/Laughter and fun.’
CRESSIE CENTRE STAGE
Opera singer Patrick Hunter, a friend of the groom, sang Nessun Dorma at the party on the wedding eve. The bride’s younger half-sister Cressida Bonas — who is dating Prince Harry — sang Gershwin’s Our Love Is Here To Stay. Dance student Cressie, 23, known to her family as ‘Smallie’ because she’s the youngest, wore a vest top, long skirt and flowers in her hair.
The bride was so moved she burst into tears and buried her head under the table.
Prince Harry did not attend the ceremony with his girlfriend Cressida
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie both attended the wedding. Beatrice wore a blue Roland Mouret dress and Eugenie a green dress by one of the Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite labels, Issa. For the past six years, Beatrice has been dating Dave Clark, who works for Branson’s Virgin Galactic arm. Eugenie, incidentally, introduced Cressida Bonas (left) to Prince Harry.
Harry didn’t attend the wedding last week — perhaps hoping to avoid speculation he might be thinking of following suit with Cressida.
Sam Branson explained to Hello!: ‘Harry’s a good friend and a great guy. We did invite him and he wanted to come but he was in South Africa the week before with official duties so the timings didn’t work out.’
Harry has been friendly with Sam Branson for some time, and his notorious Vegas holiday started with a break on Necker Island with Sam and Cressie Bonas, among others. Film-maker Arthur Landon, who also partied in Vegas with the Prince, was at the wedding, too.
SUNSET CEREMONY
The vows were adapted from a classic wedding reading called Blessings Of The Hands, whose opening lines read: ‘These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and for ever.’ The bride arrived on the arm of her father, John, who guided her along a candle-lit path through the African bush just as the sun set.
Sam Branson had chosen a best woman, a friend called Anthea Townsend, who gave readings including Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr Seuss. The congregation sang Jerusalem and the local Ulusaba choir also sang. The ceremony was conducted by a local pastor, Carl Louwrens.
As a memento guests were given a bag of quartz crystal mined from the rocks where the couple said their vows
STARGAZING
Singer Natalie Imbruglia, a friend of both Sam and Sir Richard, was among the guests.
Sam has even appeared in one of her videos.
Physicist Professor Brian Cox gave a speech about the universe.
Sam and Bellie had bumped into him and his wife Gina on holiday previously, and invited him along.
BEAUTIFUL BLONDES
Isabella’s mother, Lady Mary Gaye Curzon, daughter of the 6th Earl Howe, wore a striking coral dress by Australian designer Collette Dinnigan. The vivacious Sixties deb, who has been married four times, is the mother of four stunning blonde daughters — Georgiana, Isabella, Pandora and Cressida.
As Sam remarked: ‘I am about to inherit a very beautiful bunch of sisters.’
Isabella’s father is the younger son of a baronet who made his fortune in property.
On the groom’s side is Sir Richard, 62, who has been married to Sam’s mother Joan for 24 years. He said: ‘I am totally sure that Sam and Bellie will be together a lifetime and it will be lovely to have some grandchildren before too long.’
Sir Richard’s indomitable mother Eve, who is 91, was also there.
FIVE DAYS OF FUN
The wedding celebrations lasted a full five days, with guests arriving on Monday and leaving on Friday. There was a ‘bush Olympics’ featuring football and egg-and-spoon races, and a spot of competitive fishing for the boys, plus game drives to see the wildlife. Not too much late-night carousing, though, as Ulusaba has a midnight curfew.CRYSTAL GIFT
Guests were given a bag of quartz crystal as a memento. The crystal was mined from the rocks at the spot where Sam and Bellie said their vows.TREETOP HONEYMOON
The ceremony took place on a hillside at a precise spot picked by the bride and groom on one of their numerous holidays at the game reserve.
The 140 guests stayed in lodges on the reserve and went on dawn game drives to see the wildlife.
All of the lodges have bedrooms that are open to the elements and vast baths made of locally quarried stone which allow guests to bathe under the stars.
Sam and Isabella honeymooned in the Treehouse Suite, a 15-minute walk along a raised walkway from the main lodge. Sam’s sister Holly was married in January last year at Sir Richard’s Caribbean paradise, Necker.
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