EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
There were all the magical ingredients of a festive winter wedding when Maeva D’Ascanio married James Taylor at the magnificent Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire.
The Georgian venue was festooned with Christmas trees and candles, flowers and fairy lights as the French bride tied the knot with her English groom – for the second time.
Maeva and James, who have one-year-old son Beau, married in a legal ceremony at Chelsea Old Town Hall in November, in front of a close group of family and friends. But their wedding at Hedsor was an altogether more dazzling affair, with 76 guests and a few flourishes of drama.
“Everything was perfect, more than per fect,” says Maeva, in hello!’s exclusive interview.
James adds: “I know we did the legal bit the month before, but this was our moment.
“It had gravitas, which is exactly what we wanted.”
SPECIAL GUESTS
Among the guests there to help them celebrate were their Made in Chelsea co-stars Ruby Adler, Reza Amiri-Garroussi, Hugo MacKenzie-Wood, Joel Mignott, Robbie Mullet, Tristan Phipps, Digby Edgley and Sam Prince.
Choosing who to invite to share their big day wasn’t difficult, as they have all played a part in the couple’s consistently eventful romantic journey over the past five years.
“We had some very nice words from our Chelsea friends who said: ‘You’ve completed it,’” says James. “They know how hard it is to survive, with everyone looking on and analysing. But we’ve always been a team.”
Following tradition, bride and groom spent the night before apart – James at Hedsor and Maeva at nearby Cliveden House, where the Duchess of Sussex stayed before her wedding to the Duke at Windsor Castle. “I had my Meghan Markle moment,” Maeva says, laughing.
She returned to Hedsor House on the morning of the wedding to get ready in the Lavinia bridal suite, joined by Beau and her mother Corinne, who had travelled from Paris with Maeva’s father Thierry.
“My mum was getting ready with me so we had as nice time together, but she was more stressed out than me!” Maeva says. “I kept saying: ‘I’m the one getting married! I’m feeling okay, so please chill out.’”
