It's hard to look past the professional facade put forward by the Dragons Den millionaires, who are known for making entrepreneurs shake in their boots.
But a little dig through the archives and we've found behind their intimidating personas, they do have softer sides. While the youngest investor Steven Bartlett is currently dating Melanie Lopes and Touker Suleyman is a father to two daughters, they are not married like some of their fellow dragons.
Take a look back at rare photos of Sara Davies' princess wedding dress, Duncan Bannatyne's beach ceremony and more…
Sara Davies
Sara Davies and her childhood sweetheart Simon said 'I do' in 2007. While she may have amassed a fortune over the years, she admitted she did not have a big budget for her wedding.
Speaking of her compromises, she told The Telegraph: "We didn’t have much money at the time. I just wanted it to be the best party, so I blew our budget on things like bumper cars and a casino. I scrimped on things like wedding favours; we bought Millie’s Cookies and piped names on them. We did some things on the cheap so we could spend big amounts of money on the things that mattered.”
In rare throwback photos to mark her anniversary, Sara revealed she wore a strapless white gown with her hair in curls finished with a floral headpiece.
"Tomorrow is our 13th wedding anniversary..... I've been looking back through the photos today and it wasn’t the traditional ‘posed’ images that had me reminiscing, but the ones that really captured the spirit of the day..... thought I’d share a few with you," she wrote.
Deborah Meaden
Deborah Meaden and her husband Paul tied the knot in 1993 after dating on and off since 1985, but their romance was not smooth sailing. The second-longest-serving Dragon on the show, Deborah met Paul when she was in her early twenties while he was working at Weststar.
However, they had different ideas for their future, with Deborah admitting she wasn't interested in marriage and stating Paul "forced" her to walk down the aisle.
"We split up before we got married. He wanted to get married and I absolutely didn’t," she told The Guardian. "You know, we’d go round and round in circles. I still say to this day, he made me, he forced me. I was literally standing there outside the church, saying, 'I’m doing this for Paul’. He knows this! But I also say, and he knows this, too, that it’s the best thing I ever did."
However, Deborah was all smiles in throwback photos she shared on X, formerly known as Twitter. The beautiful bride wore an unconventional outfit, with a red skirt and gold embroidered off-the-shoulder top which tied into her bouquet made up of red roses and white flowers.
Duncan Bannatyne
Duncan Bannatyne, who bowed out of the show in 2015 after ten years, married Nigora Whitehorn in a romantic beach ceremony in Portugal in 2017. Photos show Nigora looking stunning in a floor-length white dress with intricate floral detail, while Duncan wore his national Scottish dress of a kilt with a red bow tie.
Appearing on This Morning via video link, the former Dragons Den star opened up about the big day. "There [were] 140 people there on both days and the first day of course I wore a kilt and my best man wore a kilt," he shared. "Nigora wore the traditional white wedding dress. It was just a beautiful magical day. We got married, conducted the ceremony on the beach beside the lake and then we had dinner and partied until 2am."
Duncan previously married ex-wife Gail Brodie in 1983 and welcomed daughters Hollie, Abigail, Jennifer and Eve before they got divorced in 1994. He then married Joanne McCue in 2006, mother of his kids Emily and Thomas, but they split in 2012.
Peter Jones
© Danny MartindalePeter Jones CBE is in a relationship with his long-term partner Tara Capp, but he was previously married to his ex-wife Caroline. The couple tied the knot when Peter was 21 but they divorced in 2008. They have kept details of their wedding day under wraps.
Tej Lalvani
© Dave Benett2021 marked a big milestone in Tej Lalvani's relationship with his wife Tara Ruby, with the pair celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary.
Back in 2011, the couple got married in a Sikh ceremony in London which reportedly included a ceremony at the Central Gurdwara, a sit-down dinner at the Natural History Museum and a reception at the Hurlingham Club in Putney.
While it sounds like a show-stopping event, Tej, who quit Dragons Den in 2021, has not shared any photos of his big day.
DISCOVER: Prince George's godfather, the Duke of Westminster, shares major news ahead of society wedding
