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No, love...
ring goes on the other finger.
Rude gesture as Big Fat Gypsy bride
Cheyenne, 16, weds traveller John.
Gypsy bride Cheyenne Pidgley salutes well-wishers with a one-fingered gesture on her big fat wedding day.
Sporting a typically over-the-top gown, the 16-year-old raised her middle digit following the nuptials with fellow traveller John McFadyen in Hersham, Surrey, this afternoon.
Other female guests at the bash, in the village's St. Peter's Church wore similarly flamboyant attire that clung to their heavily-tanned curves.
And one reveller, among the 200 who attended the ceremony, even accessorised a tiny pink dress with an ankle tag.
Youngster Cheyenne, from Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, was famously seen being "grabbed" in the hit Channel 4 series.
Footage showed her being bundled into a dark corner of a car park by 17-year-old McFadyen. And his hands-on approach was today shown to be a success.
Cheyenne ensured her bridesmaids were also looking the part, dressing the adults in candy pink lace fishtail dresses, and six child bridesmaids in pink tutus.
The congregation were a vocal bunch, according to the priest in charge of the ceremony.
Reverend Jonathan Andrew said: "I've never heard one join in so much with enthusiasm. "The wedding was beautiful, the same as any other but a bit more flamboyant."SPOILER (clicca per visualizzare)
He had said before the wedding: "We have a good relationship with the travelling community so are often called upon at various times in their lives wedding and funerals".
"Everybody always takes things seriously when they marry in church, but maybe it is manifested in different ways".
"It's different because the travelling community is very large and very close so events tend to be big. We know the church will be full of people."
The Reverend went on to add that the two made a "lovely couple", and that he wished them many happy years together.SPOILER (clicca per visualizzare)
After the ceremony, the wedding party moved on to Hersham Sports and Social where a lavish reception involving a six-foot cake with a staircase and three waterfalls had been planned.
Hundreds of locals lined the streets to get a view of the bride and guests.
Ami Champion, 20, of nearby Esher said: "I just came because I like the dresses, they are amazing and it's amazing to have this on our doorstep".
"When I first heard the wedding was coming here I couldn't believe it".SPOILER (clicca per visualizzare)
"This place is usually quiet, it's the first time anything like this has happened around here."
Zara Cochrane, 21, a student from Hersham said: "I watch this on TV and I think these kind of weddings are fabulous. It's a bit tacky but I love it".
"This is the biggest thing that has happened in Hersham for years.". -
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4 hairdressers, 10 bridesmaids and 1 smashed-up Rolls...
inside the craziest gypsy wedding yet.
Disaster has struck at the Big Fat Gypsy Wedding of the year.
Kylie, an eight-year-old bridesmaid, has burnt herself badly on a sunbed and the best man has thrown a strop over having to wear a pink suit.
As I wipe away Kylie's tears, another bridesmaid asks me if I can help her put on her diamante-tipped fake eyelashes while her friend wails that her fake tan has turned her too orange and she's going to clash with her baby pink bridesmaid frock.
In among the frenzy of fake eyelashes, fake tan and total madness of ten bridesmaids trying to get ready at the same time sits bride Cheyenne Pidgley.
And considering she is only 16, she is remarkably calm.
She hit the headlines when she was shown being "grabbed" by fellow traveller John McFadyen, 17, at another wedding last year in the C4 show Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.SPOILER (clicca per visualizzare)
Viewers were shocked when Cheyenne, then just 15, was dragged to the dark corner of a car park where John tried to kiss her.
But it worked and within weeks the couple were engaged. Now it's the big day and what a day.
A white stretch Hummer has been ordered for the bridesmaids but there isn't going to be room in there for Cheyenne in her big fat wedding dress. So she's due to travel to church in a white Rolls-Royce.
She designed her own wedding dress, which features a huge Victorian-style skirt hoop and three petticoats. The see-through bodice is decorated with Swarovski crystals, as are the hearts on the billowing skirt.
As she proudly shows off the show-stopping dress, Cheyenne tells me how she turned down an offer from Thelma Madine, the top gypsy wedding gown maker.SPOILER (clicca per visualizzare)
She says: "She called me after she heard I was engaged but I was like, 'No thanks!' I hate her dresses, they're too sticky-outie".
"So I designed my own and two little old local ladies made it all in a shed in their garden." Cheyenne says she is "high maintenance" and that any man would have to keep her in the style she is accustomed to.
She wanted a white and pink theme for the wedding which is where the best man trouble comes in. He is still refusing to wear the pink suit.
She says: "He doesn't like suits and he certainly didn't want a pink one. But now he's only got to wear a pink waistcoat, so he's agreed."
Four hairdressers and a make-up artist are battling to get all the girls ready in time. Even the two-year-old and five-year-old bridesmaids are getting made up with mascara, lip gloss and loads of glitter.
Baby Doll, five, is busy practising her best Katie Price pose, telling me: "I love her. I want to be her when I grow up."
Cheyenne also designed the bridesmaids' dresses a pretty tutu style for the younger ones and sexy tight-fitting fish-tailed ones for the older girls. All of it is accessorised with enough bling to make you wish you'd brought along a pair of sunglasses.
A huge crowd gathers outside her home and there are at least 1,000 people waiting to see Cheyenne arrive at St Peter's Church in Hersham, Surrey. Cheyenne starts to panic. She says: "I'm not a royal bride, this is crazy."
Her mum Julie died last year of cancer. Cheyenne is feeling her loss keenly today and there will be collection buckets at the church in aid of the Royal Marsden hospital where Julie was treated.
Dad Colin, who has been left to bring up six girls, is trying his best to give Cheyenne the best big day, which mainly means footing the massive bill.
He tells me: "I've got five more of these to go. I think I'm going to have heart attack!"
It's time to get Cheyenne in her huge dress.
Two of her friends and I battle to get the hoop in place avoiding her double diamante belly button piercing. Asked if she's got something borrowed, something blue and something old, she says: "Only something old my knickers!"
"I haven't brought any sexy new ones, so John's out of luck."
We struggle to get the super-tight bodice on as Cheyenne shrieks: "I'm going to faint, I'm going to faint."
All ready, we are about to go outside when we hit another problem Cheyenne's massive dress won't fit through the front door.
As I push, someone else pulls and finally she pops through.
Outside, we find a livid Colin shouting into the phone: "You don't know who you're dealing with. You'd better have a car here in five minutes."
It turns out that the Rolls-Royce has been in a smash-up and hasn't arrived. Cheyenne bursts into tears.
We wait for over an hour a nervous John paces around at the church while his mates joke that he has been stood up. I spend my time poking around underneath Cheyenne's huge dress trying to get the hoop in the right place while she wails: "Its all going wrong."SPOILER (clicca per visualizzare)
Finally, Cheyenne arrives at the church in a replacement Rolls-Royce to find herself in the middle of a paparazzi frenzy and to cheers from the huge crowd.
Inside, the congregation consists of women in thigh-split glittering gowns, skin-tight miniskirts and sky-high stilettos.
One woman called Barbara is wearing a blinged up electronic tag on her ankle which she tells me "is just an ankle chain".
Josie who found fame with hubby Swanley on TV has managed to have her tag removed for the day. It was put on after she was convicted of assaulting a woman at another wedding.
The blokes in the congregation look like they are wearing their best probation suits or they have dressed down in tracksuit bottoms and trainers.
At the service the Rev Jonathan Andrew reveals: "The preparations for Cheyenne and John's wedding have certainly been interesting!" The congregation cheer as he adds that John and Cheyenne are by far the youngest couple he has ever married but he has "no doubt that their marriage will be a success. They are clearly in love."
John gives Cheyenne a snog and it is on to the serious part of the proceedings the reception at a nearby social club.
It is decorated in pink and white, with fake diamonds showered over the tables. The centrepiece is a massive cake featuring sweeping staircases and three lit-up fountains.
There is a free bar and lobster at the buffet. Cheyenne grabs a bottle of blue WKD and starts dancing.
I am challenged to a dance-off by eight-year-old Kylie, who has recovered from her sunburn, her six-year-old friend and two-year-old Dolly, another bridesmaid.
The girls bust moves better than Rihanna and burst out laughing at my feeble efforts. As Eminem blasts out of the speakers, Kylie tells me: "You gorgas (non- gypsies) don't know how to dance!" Josie has dumped their baby on Swanley and has changed into her evening outfit, an eye-popping tiny bra and see-through leggings.
Mayor John Sheldon pops in with his wife Mary and is soon dancing away happily on the floor with Cheyenne and Josie.
Mary says she thinks the wedding is "absolutely spectacular totally amazing".
Apart from the bride and groom's first dance, the music at the reception is hip-hop and rap. The kids even the toddlers seem to know every word of the songs.
I dance with Cheyenne, who tells me the wedding was "exactly everything I wanted".
Married life for her now means settling down in a chalet in the back garden of her dad's house, where she will happily spend her life cooking and cleaning while John goes out to work. Normally, if I had attended a wedding between a 16 and 17-year-old, I would leave feeling depressed and sure that their marriage would not last.
But with John and Cheyenne I feel there is real hope travellers hold marriage dear and divorce is rare.
As for the wedding itself, as a huge fan of the Channel 4 series, I was worried that the real thing would be a let-down. Instead, it was madder than I could ever have expected and so much fun.
Forget the arguments over seating plans and guest lists that we gorgas normally have just have a Big Fat Gypsy Wedding instead.
Cheyenne and John's big day will feature on Big Fat Gypsy Weddings on Channel 4 on March 27..
CHEYENNE PIDGLEY rude gesture during weddingNo, love...ring goes on the other finger |
