Perrie Edwards was on cloud nine as she tied the knot to hubby Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain over the weekend – but the wedding was not all smooth sailing.
The dazzling but ‘low-key’ nuptials between the Little Mix star and the pro footballer, both 32, took place in Portugal on Saturday.
The newlyweds – who share a four-year-old son, Axel and a six-month-old daughter, Alanis – were all smiles on the day as they were surrounded by their friends and family at a scenic Catholic church in the village of Estoi.
But the special day – also attended by Little Mix bandmates Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall – was almost marred by a missing valuable just hours before the pop singer was meant to be saying ‘I do’ at the altar.
Recalling the incident in a new interview, she explained that she owned a precious diamond necklace given to her by Alex after the birth of Axel, which she has worn every day since.
The day before heading to Portugal, however, she realised it had disappeared.
She shared with Vogue: ‘ I cried all day, we looked everywhere – we even checked the hoover – but it was gone. I was convinced someone had stolen it.’
Hope was all but lost until the morning of the wedding itself when her hairstylist, Aaron Carlo, saved the day.
‘He was sorting through my hair extensions, and he said: “Okay, Perrie: what I’m about to show you is your something old, your something new, your everything in one, and you’re going to cry.”
‘Sure enough, upon seeing the precious locket he’d found caught up in the hair.’
The reaction was instant, and she was ‘sobbing’ all over again, this time from happiness.
‘I was so happy and so relieved. It set the tone – I knew from that moment it was gonna be the best day ever,’ she added.
And she certainly wasn’t the only one switching on the waterworks that day. As she recalled: ‘Alex isn’t a crier – he doesn’t get emotional that often. But when he turned around at the altar and saw me for the first time, we both just cried our eyes out.
‘I thought: “I’ll never forget this moment right here. It was beautiful. I’ve never experienced a room so full of love.”‘
Although Jade had to jet off early to attend the Primavera Sound festival in Porto, Leigh-Anne stuck around to dance the night away.
‘We were absolutely going off to En Vogue… we still remembered all of our harmonies and the choreography!’ Perrie joked.
Perrie and Alex have been together since 2017 and got engaged in 2022, and the wedding comes during a big year for the music artist.
After dropping her debut self-titled solo album in September, she welcomed her baby daughter, Alanis, in January and has now ticked off yet another milestone with this wedding.
Even in January, when discussing the two major life events, she said: ‘Yes! I have the birth of my album and the birth of my child coming, and I can’t believe it’s all fallen at the same time. It’s wild.
‘Obviously, it wasn’t planned, but I feel like it’s worked out to be good, because I can promote the album, I can work my ass off, get the album out there, and then the industry kind of switches off at Christmas and January. So really, the timing works out perfectly. I’m excited, I love a challenge!’