David and Victoria Beckham's wedding was so '90s it hurts. Here's a look back at the ceremony which featured a 15th-century castle, coordinated outfits, and gold thrones.
Here's a look back at the power couple's extravagant wedding day, which elevated them to British celebrity royalty and has gone down in history.
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- David Beckham and his wife former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham got married 24 years ago in 1999.
- They exchanged vows at a castle in Ireland and over 200 people attended their reception.
- Here's a look back on their extravagant day, which elevated them to British celebrity royalty.
David Beckham and his wife, Victoria Beckham, married almost 25 years ago, and they remain as famous now as they were then.
When they tied the knot, "Posh and Becks" — as the UK tabloids dubbed them at the time — were both enjoying their first wave of success.
Victoria, then 25, had seen her girl group Spice Girls land their eighth number-one UK single the year before, while 24-year-old David's soccer team had won all three major UK tournaments in the most recent season.
The couple stated in David's new Netflix documentary that they crossed paths in 1997 in the Manchester United players' lounge after a match. They both "fancied" each other immediately, leading them to enter a relationship.
About a year into dating, David popped the question with a $85,000 marquise-cut diamond engagement ring. In 1999, four months after welcoming their first son, Brooklyn, they tied the knot.
Here's a look back at their extravagant wedding day, which elevated them to British celebrity royalty and has gone down in history as peak '90s.
The then-Manchester United player married the former Spice Girl at a castle on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland, on July 4, 1999
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The venue for their elaborate ceremony was Luttrellstown Castle, a historic 560-acre estate, according to its website, with 20 bedrooms, a golf course, high stone walls, and tall, leafy trees to ensure privacy from prying paparazzi. Photographers showed up and tried to snap alongside gaggles of onlookers who lined the streets outside, hoping to spot the happy couple.
The couple sold the exclusive rights to photographs from their wedding to British magazine OK! for £1 million ($1.2 million), setting a record for the most expensive celebrity photo shoot ever. According to Martin Townsend, the then-editor of OK!, scuffles broke out in shops when the Beckham wedding issue hit newsstands as the UK public clamored to get a copy.
According to People, the venue presently costs $800,000 to reserve for a one-day event. It's unknown how much the couple paid at the time.
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Only 29 people were invited to the ceremony, but over 200 attended their lavish reception
The couple exchanged vows in front of friends and family in a stone cave on the castle grounds. Per a BBC report published a few days after the wedding, David wore a cream-colored suit and arrived at the ceremony in a Bentley with his best man and Manchester United teammate, Gary Neville.
The magazine reported that his bride-to-be was dressed in a champagne-hued Vera Wang dress accessorized with an 18-karat gold tiara and a 20-foot-long train. She likewise arrived in a Bentley car. The couple's infant son, Brooklyn, served as the ring bearer.
After they said "I do," a white dove was released above the estate, symbolizing their love.
Among those invited to the ceremony were their immediate families, more of David's teammates, and Victoria's bandmates (minus Geri Halliwell).
Speaking about choosing to only share this part of the special day with a select few, Victoria told Business of Fashion in 2022: "We had the football team there. We had the Spice Girls there, and it was family and friends, and it was actually much more intimate than it looked."
They changed into coordinated purple outfits and sat on oversized thrones
The pair kicked off married life in matching bright purple outfits designed by Antonio Berardi; Victoria's featured a satin fishtail gown with a strapless bodice, while David's was a double-breasted blazer and flared trousers, according to OK!
Baby Brooklyn was changed into a purple suit and bib.
Victoria reflected on their coordinating looks on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in 2021: "I think it was a naiveté then. We didn't know about fashion. We were just having fun with it, which, to be honest with you, is kind of the way it should be."
Leaving their oversized gold and velvet thrones, the pair had their first dance to "It Had To Be You" by Frank Sinatra, according to People, and their wedding playlist consisted of music from the '60s and '70s.
They also had a live soul band and enlisted their close friend Elton John to perform at one point in the evening. Unfortunately, he could not because he had a heart attack in the prior weeks, according to a 1999 report by The Guardian.
The couple's unique wedding cake featured alternating layers of chocolate-flavored sponge and red apples. Earlier this year, Victoria shared a clip of the moment they cut into the cake with a giant saber — an odd tradition in the UK — before sharing a kiss.
Since their 1999 ceremony — and David's alleged infidelity with his former assistant Rebecca Loos came to light — the couple has renewed their vows. On BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" in 2017, David revealed it was a small, scaled-back ceremony.
He said: "It was a lot more private, about six people there in our house. We're a strong family unit. Of course you make mistakes over the years, and we all know marriage is difficult at times. It's about working through it."