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Rachel Stevens' wedding: the Jews talked...
OK! Magazine made every guest attending the wedding of Rachel Stevens and Alex Bourne sign a confidentiality agreement - but you can’t gag the Jews.
August 6, 2009 13:01
By, Jan Shure
1 min read
OK! Magazine made every guest attending the wedding of Rachel Stevens and Alex Bourne sign a confidentiality agreement - but you can’t gag the Jews.
August 6, 2009 13:01ByJan Shure, Jan Shure
OK! Magazine may have made every guest attending the wedding of singer Rachel Stevens and Alex Bourne sign a confidentiality agreement — but you can’t gag the Jews.
Even though guests’ mobile phones and cameras were banned, the JC can report — four full days ahead of OK!’s “exclusive” pictures and reports of Rachel’s nuptials — that the Strictly Come Dancing star was an hour late for her chuppah at top London hotel, Claridge’s.
The couple's guests sweltered as the bride kept them waiting before Rabbi Geoffrey Hyman, minister of Ilford Synagogue, performed the ceremony surrounded by the couple’s family – Rachel's mother Linda, and brothers Lee and Jason, and Alex's parents, long-time Woodside Park residents, Suzanne and Ashley.
Rabbi Hyman was invited to officiate by Alex, who was taught his barmitzvah by the rabbi when he was minister at Woodside Park from 1986 to 1992. In preparation for the event, the couple had Friday-night dinner at Rabbi Hyman's Redbridge home last month. Ensuring it was a traditional choral chuppah was leading chazan Steven Robins..
Ms Stevens’ white tulle and silk dress, studded with delicate crystal beading, was by Israeli designer Mira Zwillinger, and was made for the singer after she found a similar dress by the Tel Aviv couturier at the designer boutique Browns Bride in central London.
She wanted the whole fairytale, and Mira specialises in that kind of gown Samantha Moore, Browns Bride
In Tel Aviv, the designer’s aides were taking the oath of secrecy seriously, but Samantha Moore, manager at Browns Bride, said: “She came to the shop in April and tried on several dresses but she really fell for one by Mira Zwillinger. She wanted the whole fairytale, and Mira specialises in that kind of gown. She contacted the designer direct.”
Kosher caterer Carole Sobell provided the reception and dinner for 184 guests, including sacked Strictly Come Dancing judge, Arlene Phillips. Also there was Vincent Simone, Ms Stevens’s partner on Strictly, though guests say the pair did not dance. Strictly professionals Ola and James did take several turns around the dance floor in a ballroom decorated with white roses.
Mr Bourne thanked guests on his Facebook site, declaring: “We had an amazing day... and now I’m a married man with a beautiful wife.”
The couple are taking a brief break in Bournemouth before an Indian Ocean honeymoon in late autumn.