Celebrity wedding planner Mark Neimierko has overseen some of the UK's most extravagant wedding ceremonies, including Marvin and Rochelle Humes' magical monochrome-themed nuptials that were covered exclusively in HELLO!, as well as comedian James Corden's romantic marriage to Julia Carey.Mark revealed that Marvin was determined to give Rochelle a wedding to remember. "A few weeks before the ceremony, he came to me without Rochelle knowing and said, 'Whatever Rochelle wants, she should have'," he told HELLO! Online.Mark gives us the lowdown on what's hot (and what's not) in the wedding world, the most extravagant weddings he's ever had a part in and why chair covers are an absolute no-no…
Marvin is lovely…We were working with them [Marvin and Rochelle] for about six months all in all and one of my favourite things was just a few weeks before the ceremony, he came to me without Rochelle knowing and said: 'Whatever Rochelle wants, she should have'. I think it's because Rochelle and I weren't great at keeping to budgets and we kept going to Marvin and asking if we could have things!Rochelle has amazingly good taste…She knows who she is and is so confident that she actually just gave me a theme and said 'Look, I trust you on this. I want to see it but I know you will have gotten it right.'She knew what she wanted from the start…She came to me with the idea of monochrome. Black and white – she knew what she wanted and we took it from there. I'm a big fan of breaking down a wedding into sections, so for the ceremony we went for all white – white, chairs, white flowers and white stage. Marvin was also dressed in a white jacket! The drinks reception was also all white. For the dinner, we used black framed French chairs and black tablecloths with white flowers and then guests headed to an uber-cool nightclub which was all black.The nightclub element was important…They are both still young and Marvin loves nightclubbing. At home, they have black snakeskin wallpaper in their living room so we took that and did that on the bar in the nightclub.Luckily, somebody leaked the wrong wedding date… There's a Facebook page that looks official but actually has no affiliation with Rochelle. They posted a pair of cufflinks with an October date on them, which put press off the scent! With celebrity clients, you have to hope that guests don't divulge details and when we send invites out we ask that everyone respects the couple's privacy.
The most spectacular wedding I have ever done was at Claridge's…The 180 guests were put up in Claridge's for two nights and there were three days of events culminating in a black tie reception dinner with Barry Manolo performing. The day before, we rented an English pub and served traditional pub food – roast, pies and sausage and mash. The groom was a big Tottenham fan so we got lots of Tottenham memorabilia and scarves were handed to guests as they left. They were also handed Fortnum & Mason hampers worth thousands of pounds!My favourite kind of wedding is a personal one…What makes a wedding stick in your mind is one where a couple are very confident in who they are and have never felt the need to conform. They don't come to me with an idea of recreating a wedding, for example. It's best to be inspired but just take ideas and then be original.My advice for wedding planning is to be original…What makes a wedding stick in your mind is one where a couple are very confident in who they are and have never felt the need to conform. Don't try to recreate a wedding, for example. It's best to be inspired but just take ideas and then be original. Think about where you like to eat and drink, what you like to eat and drink, where you like go travelling…Chair covers are a no-no for me…They are out. I find them a bit tacky and it's quite easy to hire lovely looking chairs that don't need covers. My pet hate is also the cravats matching the ties. It's too matchy-matchy and lacks personality. Weddings should be effortless and subtly scream the couple's personalities.Monochrome is very on trend in the wedding world right now…I'm a massive fan of monochrome colours, but mixed with grey, which is really huge right now. Done like Dior, it's very chic. You can't go wrong with monochrome for bridesmaids. You can tell them as long as it's long and black, they can do whatever they like, especially if you're on a budget. Then everybody could wear the same sash – maybe an encrusted sash from Vera Wang.Try to play on food…It's not ostentatious to do something amazing with food because you need it for a wedding. For example, for James Corden's wedding we did a' feast room' at Babington House and set up a big long table inside. We had a lots of different types of food in there, from oysters to lobsters and pie and quiche… It just kept getting replenished!
Buffets are out…I hate buffets and don't do them, because I don't think you should ever have to queue at any kind of event. Toilet queuing, food queuing – it's all a no-no. And if it is absolutely necessary to queue, somebody should bring you a glass of champagne while you wait.We try to eliminate and avoid any disasters…But I do remember getting a phone call one morning from the cake worker to say that somebody had toppled the cake over! It was all fine in the end and the couple never found out – they still don’t know!I love The Big Wedding…It's a really fabulous film and definitely Robert DeNiro's best movie! I think the mother of the bride [Muffin, played by Christine Ebersole] is brilliant and she stole the show. It's all about family politics and that's one of the most interesting aspects of a wedding. The ceremony itself was lovely, although they did use chair covers…!The Big Film, starring Amanda Seyfried, is out now.Read an interview with The Big Wedding's costume designer
