Planning a wedding is chaotic enough without the added pressure of being a celebrity to tie the knot in public.
The most recent celebrity couple to expose their wedding drama was billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn Beckham.
The actress, 28, and the son of former Spice Girl Victoria and football legend David Beckham, 23, tied the knot in April last year.
It has since emerged that Nicola’s father Nelson has filed a lawsuit to reclaim his $159,000 deposit from wedding planners Nicole Braghin and Arianna Grijalba over alleged “mistakes.”
The most recent celebrity couple to expose their wedding drama was billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn Beckham (pictured in November 2022)
It recently emerged that Nicola’s father Nelson (pictured right with Brooklyn) has filed a lawsuit seeking a refund of his $159,000 deposit from her wedding planners over alleged ‘mistakes’
But the pair previously bounced back against what they claim to be a “frivolous” lawsuit.
To get a glimpse into the high-stakes world of performing the wedding of the rich and famous, FEMAIL spoke to the LA-based celebrity wedding and event planner David Tuterawho has planned the ceremonies of Star Jones, Shannen Doherty, Elton John and ex-NFL player Antonio Pierce.
He has also planned events for Zendaya, Ice-T and Coco Austin, Jennifer Lopez and Shania Twain.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, 56-year-old David revealed that he was just days away from the most expensive wedding he’s ever done, costing nearly $4 million.
“We wrap up today and tomorrow, and we’re off to Orlando, and we’re doing the biggest and most expensive wedding in David Tutera’s history. It’s a five-day event in Orlando, Florida,” he said.
“But it’s quite an undertaking and the challenge is that in the wedding planning world, I always say I’m sort of a captain on the ship, and all the stewards around me are either going to sink and jump ship. ship, or they will be able to meet our customer’s expectations.
“Our clients, you know, sometimes don’t get along with the in-house families in[these]situations when you do a wedding, so you step in as a negotiator and therapist and mediator. very good at that.’
The Orlando extravaganza is one of the “most intense” events David has ever planned.
David Tutera, a Los Angeles wedding and event planner (pictured with Zendaya in 2016) has worked with Star Jones, Shannen Doherty and Elton John
The 56-year-old planner from LA is photographed in 2015 with one of his clients, Coco Austin
“The client basically gave carte blanche to create something that has never been done before, which I always do anyway,” he said.
“And I’m turning this beautiful location into a legitimate forest.” We had three trailers (leaving) three days ago from Los Angeles with hundreds of trees going into two ballrooms (for the) ceremony and celebration.
“We have great entertainers… one is a Grammy award winning entertainer performing, the second is a Grammy and Tony award winner, and we have this room that is just mind blowingly amazing.
“It’s like I had a dream and woke up because my client said, ‘Where did you get this?’ I said, “I don’t really know, to be honest.”‘
But this is just one of many weddings David has planned in his 30+ years in the industry, calmly handling wild requests from brides.
He recalls an 800-person ceremony he planned at Cipriani’s in downtown New York City, where the bride wanted to make an entrance her guests would never forget.
“She wanted to be lowered from a trapeze from a 25-foot ceiling to the center of the room, which would fall to the dance floor, in her ballgown, not an A-line dress. There were no options here, this is what she wanted,” David told DailyMail.com.
Another incredible feat David pulled off was an Indian wedding with a “massive number of guests” and the couple wanted an elephant for the ceremony, which he understood because of the tradition.
Part of Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills had to be closed, and David initially thought it wouldn’t be possible.
But after working with the police and insurance companies, he and his team were able to pull it off for the multi-million dollar wedding.
David (second right) is seen here in 2015 with Slomique Hawrylo, Ray J, David Tutera and Montre Burto
He also planned the wedding of former New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce and his wife, Jocelyn Maldonado. The couple married in 2008
David has been in the wedding planning industry for over 30 years
“We managed to close off part of Wilshire Boulevard, which to me is astounding and stopped the elephant traffic,” David told DailyMail.com.
“It was actually one of the hardest things we had to do just because of all the circumstances around it.”
The wedding planner has also had to deal with difficult brides.
One that stands out is a “high-profile” wedding he held in New York City several years ago.
Although he declined to name the bride, he said the wife-to-be had a “very high opinion of herself.”
“I was on a TV show for years, five years as an entertainment expert, and one of the TV show hosts asked if she could do her wedding live on air,” David recalls.
“She went on live television and decided to tell America or whoever where the actual ceremony took place, the day it took place and the time it took place, which put me in a terrible situation.
He’s had his share of wild demands and difficult brides. Her pictured is one of the weddings he has done
An elephant plant sculpture is one of the main features of another wedding David planned
A chorus stunned the crowd at this wedding dreamed up by the LA planner
What keeps David going is the challenge of planning an event that most would think was ‘impossible’
“I actually live for that, I guess, because I’ve just done it for me for so long. It’s almost like I don’t want to say game, but for me it’s like I can do something I’ve never done before,” he said.
“Now I had to deal with private security, New York police officers and another company that had to be called in for security purposes because the fans showed up and we couldn’t get the bride and groom and guests into the church, let alone into the auditorium.
“We ended up having to take her through tunnels to get her from point A to point B. She was one of the toughest clients, if only for her lack of reality.”
David also revealed that, despite popular opinion, the bride’s dress is not the most expensive big-ticket item. It is usually the visual design of the wedding.
The second most expensive when inviting a large number of guests is the food due to the potential cost of bringing in a celebrity chef and the sheer amount of food and drink required to serve the crowd.
And what keeps David going is the challenge of planning an event that most would think was “impossible.”
“I actually live for that, I guess, because I’ve just done it for me for so long. It’s almost like I don’t want to say game, but to me it’s like I could do something I’ve never done before, unlike most planners who just do the same thing over and over again,” he said.
“So that’s why I think we’re doing really well, because we’re standing out in a very messy industry.”
