Christine and Paddy McGuinness’ wedding disaster – missing dad, Peter Kay and fire
Paddy McGuinness and wife Christine’s are splitting – and their marriage didn’t get off to the best of starts as she barely knew any of the 200 guests at their chaotic wedding day
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Christine McGuinness addresses rumours around her marriage on July 12th
Christine McGuinness and husband Paddy’s marriage didn’t get off to the best start – and now it’s coming to an end.
The couple have announced they have split after 15 years together, 11 of which as man and wife, but will continue living together in the family home.
Their statement read: “We hadn’t planned on sharing this publicly until we were ready but the lack of privacy surrounding our personal life, we feel left with no other option but to clarify.
“A while ago we took the difficult decision to separate but our main focus was as always is to continue loving and supporting our children.
“This was not an easy decision to make but we’re moving forward as the best parents we can be for our three beautiful children.
“We’ll always be a loving family, we still have a great relationship and still live happily in our family home together.”
Paddy and Christine, who have three children together, tied the knot back in June 2011 – but the big day literally went up in flames.
Mystery guests
Christine and Paddy got married in 2011
Image:
( @mrscmcguinness)
Christine recently opened up about issues in her and Paddy’s marriage
Image:
( WireImage)
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For starters, Christine barely knew any of the guests at her own wedding – and one of the most important ones she did invite didn’t turn up.
There were 200 people gathered to watch them get married, including a few famous faces (as we’ll explain later), but Christine only knew around a tenth of them.
In her 2021 book, A Beautiful Nightmare, Christine explained that she felt “overwhelmed” by the day itself and found it hard to actually enjoy herself.
“I didn’t really know anyone there, even though we had 200 guests. I didn’t have any friends to invite, and only 20 of the guests were my family,” she explained.
“I was worrying about everyone else, as a lot of brides do, and I struggled to relax and enjoy the day.”
There were also concerns that paps would be trying to get snaps of the newlyweds at any given opportunity.
Usually a bride is walked down the aisle by her father, but sadly Christine’s dad Johnny did not attend the ceremony.
“There was the heartbreak of my dad not turning up,” explained Christine, who has previously spoken about her tough childhood growing up with her dad being addicted to heroin.
Dress disaster
Christine looked gorgeous in her wedding dress
Image:
( Christine McGuinness / A Beautiful Nightmare)
Christine had a ‘real Pretty Woman’ moment when she rocked up at a dress shop in Cheshire.
She walked in wearing a tracksuit and without any make-up on – and the shop assistant wrongly thought she wouldn’t have enough money to buy anything.
Christine was humiliated when she was kicked out of the store and her confidence plummeted to a “real low”.
The model explained: “She then ushered me in the direction of a cheaper dress shop down the road.”
Christine then opted for a bespoke gown made by dress designer Ian Stuart, which was strapless with a sweetheart neckline and diamantes around the top, ruched at the sides with a long train.
“It was absolutely gorgeous,” she said.
Peter Kay’s speech
Peter was Paddy’s best man
There aren’t many people better placed to provide a hilarious Best Man’s speech than Peter Kay.
Paddy has been best pals with Peter since their schooldays – with the comedian getting the Take Me Out host to join him in his show’s That Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights and Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere.
Christine did admit that Peter’s speech ‘went on forever’ and was more like one of his stand-up comedy gigs.
“Peter Kay was his best man. He had to be – they’ve known each other since they were kids,” she wrote. “Peter’s speech felt like it went on forever – it was a stand-up show.”
However, there was one poignant moment which has stuck with Christine ever since that day.
Peter told the couple: “As long as you’ve got laughter, you’ve got everything. And you two have that.”
Christine explained: “It’s so true and I say it all the time. It’s become a bit of a mantra for me. Even during the most difficult times in our marriage and in our lives, we’ve managed to laugh our way through.”
Also on the star-studded guest list was Celebrity Juice host Keith Lemon and a surprise performance from singer Rick Astley.
Up in flames
They managed to stop the flames
Image:
( Instagram)
Christine and Paddy spent an “eye watering” amount on flowers for their big day – and was literally like burning money.
Just before one of the final speeches of the day, one of the flower arrangements caught fire from a candle which had been situated right next to it.
Thankfully, they managed to put the fire out before the entire building was set ablaze.
“We went a bit over the top with the flowers and the florist’s bill was eye-watering,” Christine explained
“Just before one of the speeches, the flowers on the table top, which were near some candles, actually caught fire.
“We had to put them out quickly before anyone noticed.”
Didn’t stay the night
They ended up going back home
Image:
( Christine Mcguinness/Instagram)
The pair got hitched at the fancy Thornton Manor in the Wirral, but they ended up spending their wedding night back at home.
They decided to go back to Bolton for their first night as a married couple so they could get back to their beloved dog Leigh.
The pet pooch had been left home alone and they couldn’t find anyone to look after her as everyone they knew was at the wedding.
“Despite all the stress and chaos, I was so happy to be married to the man I loved,” Christine gushed.
“The man who was to become the father of my children. The man who I thought was the best thing ever.”
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