As Posh and Becks’ firstborn, Brooklyn Beckham was always going to have big shoes to fill. Or, in the case of his wedding to American heiress Nicola Peltz, big gold thrones.
His parents’ 1999 nuptials were the kind of lavish spectacle which makes Lady Gaga’s Superbowl halftime show look sedate by comparison. Covered in breathless detail by OK magazine – in a record breaking £1m deal – it featured costume changes, live doves, six-foot silk flames, flags bearing a specially designed Beckham crest and four-month-old Brooklyn as the ring bearer (complete with tiny cowboy hat).
With such pedigree, Brooklyn’s own wedding ceremony was never going to involve the local registry office, a cash bar or a sweaty prawn ring. Still, this past weekend’s event eclipsed his parents’ big day – and Posh and Becks aren’t even the richest in-laws. Brooklyn’s fiancé Nicola Peltz, 27, is the daughter of financier Nelson Peltz, reported to be worth upwards of £1.3 billion. With an estimated fortune of £380million, the Beckhams are officially the poor side of the family.
Having met through mutual friends in late 2019, Brooklyn proposed to Nicola with a £350,000 diamond ring in summer 2020. Nicola diplomatically opted to wear a Victoria Beckham outfit for the pair’s engagement photos, but chose a Valentino bridal gown for the big day. The bride called her custom-made Valentino wedding gown her “dream dress” in one Instagram post, while British Vogue noted that the “romantic, traditional-with-a-twist gown is the culmination of a year’s worth of conversations between the bride, Peltz’s stylist and Valentino creative director’s team.” The dress also featured an evil eye as a talisman as well as a message from her mother, former model Claudia Peltz, that was stitched into the dress using blue thread.
Announcing their engagement on Instagram, Brooklyn, 22, wrote, "I asked my soulmate to marry me and she said yes xx I am the luckiest man in the world." In the lead up to the wedding he continued to demonstrate his devotion to Nicola by creating a heart-shaped pizza on his Instagram cookery show and adorning himself with no less than five tattoo tributes. These include: Nicola’s name, Nicola’s late grandmother’s name (Gina), Nicola’s eyes, Nicola’s mum’s rosary beads (she’s Catholic), and a passage of a love letter from Nicola (‘Read this anytime you feel anxious,’ somewhat unhelpfully printed on the back of his neck).
According to Lucie Cave, former Editor-in-Chief of Heat magazine, Brooklyn and Nicola represent a perfect match. “They’re cute, kooky and a tiny bit simple,” she says. “We know the wedding is going to be like Gen Z on steroids – but they still seem like any other pair of goofy young kids who can’t stop gushing over each other.” Meanwhile, the circus around Brooklyn’s wedding is the latest installment in a twenty five-year tabloid obsession with his family. “Posh and Becks combined star wattage made them a media dream - the full package of sport and entertainment. No other celeb couple could command column inches at the front and back of a newspaper. They were the epitome of ‘extra’ and behaved like two normals who were suddenly given all the money in the world and didn’t have a clue how to spend it properly. The media called them ‘royalty’ enough times that they believed it - and so it only followed they would get hitched on thrones.”
Brooklyn and Nicola’s own ceremony took place at the £76 million Peltz family home in Palm Beach, Florida – although they may have wanted to sage it first. In February 2020 it was the site of a £40,000-per-couple re-election fundraiser for Donald Trump, hosted by Nelson, who finally withdrew his public support for Trump following the Capitol riot in January 2021. While it no longer welcomes bottle blonde ex-Presidents, the mansion (nicknamed Montsorrel) is home to a flock of albino peacocks.
Wedding guests reportedly included Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria, fashion designer Nicole Ritchie, Madonna’s son Rocco Ritchie, former footballer Phil Neville, Victoria’s Spice Girls bandmates and TV chef Gordon Ramsay – although Brooklyn’s godfather Elton John was reportedly absent as he is touring. The 300 guests were reportedly treated to “limitless” bottles of £200 Bollinger champagne, while the food came courtesy of renowned chef Thierry Isambert, who used to cook for former US President Bill Clinton.
While David and Victoria entered their wedding reception to a pianist playing the theme tune from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (we’ll leave you to ponder who was which), Brooklyn and Nicola chose Snoop Dogg to DJ. “David has been my boy for over ten years,” said the rapper. “And I am tight with his family. Brooklyn’s wedding is going to be a big affair and my gift to him and his wife-to-be is I will come down and do a set for them on their big day.” London DJ Fat Tony also spun tunes on the night, taking to Instagram to declare, “Sometimes I love my job” alongside a photo of him and his partner filmmaker Stavros Agapiou. The couple had their first dance to “Only Fools Rush In”, performed by rising South African artist Lloyiso, with guests joining them on the dance floor until the early morning. In fact, tennis legend Serena Williams posted a mirror selfie to Instagram stating that she needed “a sleep intervention” after partying at the lavish bash until 4am.
Though not renowned for his oratory prowess, David Beckham (who used his own wedding speech to thank his parents “who have bought me up from a young age”) is said to have volunteered to act as master of ceremonies and delivered a teary speech where he had to “stop to take a breather”. That’s not all, the former football star also gifted the two a £350,000 vintage Jaguar E-type, which the couple was spotted driving to their wedding brunch yesterday.
He wasn’t the only member of he famous family to play a role in the day, with Brooklyn’s brothers Romeo, 19, and Cruz, 17, chosen as best men, and sister Harper, 10, a bridesmaid. Nicola has picked her maternal grandma, or “Naunnie”, as Maid of Honour, and her ice-hockey player brother Brad, 32, as ‘Man of Honour’. As is tradition, the bride and groom reportedly spent their wedding eve apart. Brooklyn was said to be planning a ‘boys slumber party’ with his father, siblings and prospective father and brothers in law. Nicola spent it with her mother and sisters, though no word on whether Victoria donned a sheet mask and cucumber slices. According to Nicola, she and Brooklyn were ‘panicking’ about spending a night apart.
Raised in Westchester County, an affluent area in rural New York, Nicola is the youngest daughter of seven children born to her mogul father and model mother, Claudia Heffner Peltz (she also has two half-siblings from Nelson’s first marriage). A college dropout, Nelson turned his family’s frozen food business into a £114 million empire in the 1970s, before founding investment firm Trian Fund Management. He’s since worked with corporations from Procter & Gamble to Heinz, and is described by his impending son-in-law as "the most loveliest man" (double superlative, Brooklyn’s own). According to reports, Brooklyn and Nicola have signed a prenuptial agreement stipulating that they will each retain their own assets and properties should they divorce.
Aside from belonging to a billionaire dynasty, Nicola is best known for starring in Bates Motel, as Bradley Martin, a love interest for the young Norman Bates. She is also the writer and director of upcoming indie film, Lola James, in which she will star alongside her brother, Will. “The brilliant thing is that Nicole is more famous than Brooklyn in the US,” says Cave. “One interviewer chatting to them on the red carpet at the Met Gala didn’t even know who he was, and asked ‘where are you from?”
There can be no doubt that Brooklyn has struggled to gain a foothold in the media landscape which his parents helped create. His football career was cut short after Arsenal’s youth academy released him aged 16, and a pivot to photography proved equally perilous. His 2017 book of photography, What I See, was met with universal derision. One image of an elephant taken in full shadow was captioned: “so hard to photograph but incredible to see.” Another blurry scene was presented alongside the observation that, “It’s out of focus but you can tell there’s a lot going on.” His more recent culinary career, helmed by a show, Cookin’ with Brooklyn, contains similarly astute pronouncements. “I love cheese,” he revealed during one segment, “it’s like butter.” Each eight minute episode, which streams on Facebook and Instagram, requires a 62-person team and costs £76,000 to produce.
It seems whether planning a wedding or attempting a career as an influencer, one thing Brooklyn has inherited is the ability to spend it like Beckham.
