Match of the Day star Gary Lineker will marry Danielle Bux a Ravello Amalfi Coast on the Italian Riviera – at the same place where he proposed on Positano Amalfi Ravello costiera amalfitana
Former England footballer Gary has booked all 48 rooms at the five-star Hotel Caruso in Ravello – at a cost of £110,000 – to guarantee they get exclusive use of the former palace for their big day in three weeks.
And, although Gary might be the face of Walkers crisps, it will be a “golden wonder” day for the couple.
Model Danielle, 30, will wear a satin couture gown by designer Suzanne Neville for the ceremony, which will take place in the magnificent grounds of the clifftop hotel, set in lemon groves overlooking the Mediterranean.
In front of 60 guests, model Danielle will be given away by her wheelchair-bound brother Kaid, who suffered a broken neck after escaping from a nightclub fight. Her seven-year-old daughter Ella will be a flower girl.
The couple will spend their wedding night in the luxurious three-room bridal suite, which has a huge circular bathtub looking out over the Mediterranean.
But despite the cost of the wedding – which, with hiring the hotel, the meal and drinks, flights and honeymoon, is likely to reach
nearly £250,000 – the couple are determined it won’t be a WAG-style event.
A source said last night: “It’s almost exactly a year after Gary popped the question and in the same place. They chose it because Gary knows Italy is her favourite place in the world.
“He doesn’t want it to be as over-the-top as some footballers’ weddings and they have only invited family and close friends.”
The couple are expected to have a formal ceremony in the local civic hall before their guests watch the marriage blessing in a lavish ceremony at the hotel next month.
They have asked for champagne cocktails and canapes to be served on the terrace next to the hotel’s infinity pool.
Guests will later sit down to a £20,000 dinner with fine wines in an open-air restaurant.
The six-course menu is likely to include the hotel’s specialities such as medallion of lobster and Sorrento orange, ravioli pasta filled with seabass, veal loin fillet and, for dessert, black and white chocolate with morello cherries.
After the ceremony they will have the use of the hotel’s helicopter and a motor-cruiser for trips around the Med. Celebs expected to attend include Gary’s TV colleague Alan Hansen, 53, and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, 37, who filmed Walkers crisps adverts with him.
The view from Ravello over the Med has been described as “the most beautiful in the world”.
The town is famous for its annual music festival and the gardens where Greta Garbo famously tried to escape from the paparazzi with the words: “I want to be alone.”
Earlier this year Danielle, who has a solitaire diamond engagement ring, described how Gary proposed to her there. “We were on the Amalfi Coast in late August and it was a total shock,” she said.
“We want something small and intimate. I wouldn’t want a massive wedding where I barely know some people and don’t get to spend decent time with friends and family.”
The hotel, set in an 11th Century palace, has been a celeb favourite for years, with Humphrey Bogart, Jackie Kennedy, Rod Stewart and Dustin Hoffman all staying there.
The £250,000 cost of the wedding still falls far short of WAG weddings such as Wayne and Coleen Rooney’s in nearby Portifino in June, on which they spent a reported £5million.
Mrs Neville – who created Coronation Street star Lucy-Jo Hudson’s dress for her wedding to fellow actor Alan Halsall – has confirmed she’s making Danielle’s gown. And the bridesmaid’s dresses are from high street store LK Bennett.
Gary and ex-wife Michelle divorced in 2006 after 20 years of marriage. They had four sons – George, Harry, Tobias and Angus.
sarah.arnold@sundaymirror.co.uk
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