It was a world away from the lavish wedding with hundreds of guests and million-dollar magazine deal that she’d once planned for her big day.
But the intimate ceremony that actually took place, with just her family and closest friends present (and sworn to secrecy), reflects Nicole Richie’s new approach to life.
As Grazia can reveal, Nicole, 28, and her boyfriend of three years, Joel Madden, 30, married in mid-October in the garden of her father Lionel’s Beverly Hills home.
A friend of the reality show star turned design mogul says: “A few years back we were talking about weddings and Nicole said she wanted hers to be massive, with 250 guests, turtle doves being released and every extravagance possible. But she’s changed so much since meeting Joel and having children – and realised what she wanted was a small ceremony that was about them and their family.
“Lionel made a little speech after the ceremony and joked that he’d been dreading her original plan because as father of the bride he’d be expected to foot the bill, and that the new Nicole was much more to his liking.”
Having given birth to son Sparrow a few weeks earlier, on September 9, Nicole wore a flowing cream shift dress she had designed herself and flowers in her hair, which she wore loose.
The couple wrote their own vows, which they exchanged in front of the celebrant with about 20 close relatives and friends present.
Joel had Sparrow in his arms and Nicole held their 22-month-old daughter Harlow’s hand as they exchanged rings.
“The wedding was legal, but for Nicole and Joel it was more about making a commitment to each other,” says a friend. “Whenever people ask her about whether they are married or not, she just smiles and says, ‘We’re committed to each other’ because that’s what the ceremony was all about.
“Their rings are more like eternity rings than wedding bands, because Nicole says she feels like she’s found her soulmate in Joel.”
But the couple's efforts to keep their wedding under wraps unravelled last week. In court to ask for a restraining order against two paparazzi, Nicole's lawyer repeatedly referred to her and Joel as husband and wife.
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