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Plenty of glamour but a shortage of A-listers


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Sunset vows simply perfect - BEC AND LLEYTON -- A LOVE MATCH

Daily Telegraph

Extended Metro Edition

22 July 2005

THE nation's television darling Bec Cartwright and tennis ace Lleyton Hewitt yesterday became husband and wife in a spectacular celebrity affair at the Sydney Opera House.

In a simple, elegant ceremony, the glowing bride in a stunning white flowing gown was walked down the aisle by her father as The Bridal March was played on a harp.

The couple exchanged vows before almost 200 guests just before sundown in a 30-minute ceremony guests described as "simply perfect".

The service was religious and featured a message from Reverend Brandon Chaplin about "romance and reality" and the need to articulate emotions and work hard at a relationship.

And while there was no singing at the civil ceremony, prayers and poems were read out by Hewitt's sister Jaslyn and Cartwright's brother Shaun.

Cartwright, 21, was attended by five bridesmaids; her sister Christie, Home and Away's Kate Ritchie and Ada Nicodemou, Jaslyn Hewitt and Channel 7 publicist Victoria Supple.

The girls were hard to miss in bright pink, frangipani-inspired gowns which graduated to a pale lemon colour with matching lemon wedge shoes.

Hewitt, 24, was dressed in a dark suit with matching tie with a frangipani in his buttonhole.

The couple's short engagement began the night Hewitt was beaten out of the Australian Open in January.

It came just months after his engagement to Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters ended and Cartwright's four-year relationship with fellow Home and Away star Beau Brady broke up.

Not long after they announced their engagement, Hewitt and Cartwright revealed they were expecting their first child, due in October.

The wedding of the year was shrouded in a heavy cloak of secrecy enforced by a beefed-up team of security.

Several cross-armed security men formed a human barrier as the bridal car approached the Opera House, at which point one photographer was grabbed by the neck and pushed by the group of heavies.

The circus continued at the Opera House forecourt, where hundreds of well-wishers were waiting to catch a glimpse of the couple but were left disappointed as the limos disappeared into a car park under the Opera House.

Hewitt's groomsmen, who were also in dark suits, white shirts and pink ties, included best man, Hewitt's school friend Hayden Eckermann, his former tennis coach Peter Smith's son Brett, Crows AFL footballer Tyson Edwards, Cartwright's brother Shaun and Hewitt's coach Roger Rasheed.

While Hewitt was "very handsome" and appeared relaxed throughout the ceremony, it was the bride who attracted the most admiration.

"Bec looked lovely," tennis legend John Newcombe said following the ceremony.

"She was beautiful, stunning," Davis Cup coach John Fitzgerald agreed.

While there was a smattering of sporting identities and soap stars, the couple's 190 guests were mainly family and friends.

Guests took a sunset cruise from the Opera House to Taronga Zoo while the couple went to the Club InterContinental for photographs before they joined their guests.

John Farnham was the special guest performer.

* Editorial: Page 24

* Sydney Confidential: P28-29

Sydney Confidential

Daily Telegraph

City Edition 11:30pm

22 July 2005

Plenty of glamour but a shortage of A-listers

IF Mr and Mrs Hewitt's fans were hoping to see a Logies-style red carpet affair outside the Sydney Opera House yesterday, they would have gone home disappointed.

While the Cartwright and Hewitt clan managed to pull plenty of glamours, the wedding was no Logies affair.

Most faces were in the bridal party, with Cartwright's long-term colleagues and best friends, party favourites Kate Ritchie and Ada Nicodemou leading the bridesmaid crew.

Ritchie's boyfriend, Roosters player Chris Walker, was nowhere to be seen.

Tennis legends and Hewitt's favourite footy team -- the Adelaide Crows players -- made up the rest of the celebrity list.

Todd Woodbridge and his wife Natasha, Wally Masur and his wife Susan, John Newcombe and his wife Angie and Tony Roche and his wife Sue were invited on Hewitt's side.

"They both looked extremely happy and it was a nice ceremony," Woodbridge told Confidential following the ceremony.

And while Davis Cup legend Roche agreed it was "fantastic", he was more concerned about the bridal waltz, given Hewitt's well-known two left feet teamed with Cartwright's Dancing with the Stars prowess.

Representing Summer Bay was Ray "Flaming Mongrel" Meagher, who plays Alf in the bride's former life at Home and Away, as well as Lynne McGranger, who played Bec's surrogate mother, Irene, until she left earlier this month.

"I wouldn't want to upstage the real mother of the bride, but I do feel very excited and proud of Bec today," McGranger told Confidential.

Perhaps the most notable no-show was Hewitt's former flatmate and best buddy during his recent break-up with Kim Clijsters, Crows' superstar Andrew McLeod.

His wife Rachel was not invited to the wedding, thanks to her friendship with Clijsters.

But it was also a day to spare a thought for one particular former Home and Away star, young Beau Brady, who was due to marry Cartwright before she broke it off and started seeing Hewitt just over six months ago.

The verdict

FOR a girl who usually favours a pair of cargos, singlet and trademark hoop earrings, Bec Cartwright resembled a highly styled bride straight out of Vogue.

The Summer Bay girl traded in her beach babe attire for a glamorous floor-length baby doll gown and became a poster pin-up bride in the process.

Forget the daggy maternity frock to hide her growing baby bump, Cartwright -- carrying a simple bouquet of pink and white Singapore orchids -- was a picture of elegance in a $6500 flowing, silk gown original by celebrity designer Alex Perry.

Cartwright's jewellery was minimal, but a pair of white and pink diamond and pearl earrings offset a very now hair-do of soft, cascading curls.

But no soapie star bridesmaids were going to upstage this glamour girl.

Confidential gave the five bridesmaids' frangipani-inspired pink and yellow frocks top marks for originality but they failed to rate on the style-o-meter.

The groom and his men were traditionally smart in dark suits and pink ties added a splash of colour.

The mothers of the bride and groom donned bright frocks that were far from frumpy.

THEIR WEDDING SECRETS

The schedule:

* 2.45pm Guests to be at InterContinental Hotel

* 3pm Guests arrive at Sydney Opera House

* 3.20pm Bride driven to Sydney Opera House

* 3.30pm Ceremony starts

* 4.30pm Guests gather at Man O'War steps at Opera House.

* 4.45pm Guests leave on Majestic cruise

* 5.30pm Harbourview Terrace room at Taronga Zoo, final check

* Waitstaff on stand-by and tables pre-set with bread

* Bathroom attendants on stand-by

* Security on stand-by

* 6pm Majestic cruise arrives at Athol Wharf

* Guests board coaches to Taronga Centre

* 6.15pm Guests arrive at Harbourview Terrace

* DJ Scott Pullen starts

* Guests take their seats

* Beverage service starts at tables

* Menu orders are taken

* 6.45pm Bridal party arrive

* MC Craig Willis to announce bridal party

* Bridal party take their seats - menu orders are taken

* 7 to 7.15pm Entree is served

* 7.45pm Entree cleared - Speeches (first half) commence

* MC welcomes guests and introduces married couple

* Best man Hayden Eckermann speaks

* Groomsmen and Bec's brother Shaun Cartwright speak

* Lleyton's coach Roger Rasheed speaks

* 8.03pm Speeches end. Main course is served

* 8.45pm Main course is cleared - Speeches (second half) commence

* Groom's father Glynn Hewitt speaks

* Bride's father Darrel Cartwright speaks

* Mr Cartwright to dance with Bec

* Lleyton Hewitt speaks

* 9.00pm Downstairs set and ready

* Bar on standby

* Dessert station on standby

* Bathroom attendants ready - bathrooms checked

* Food and Beverage for entertainment delivered and set dressing rooms

* 9pm John Farnham and band collected from hotels - transfer venue

* 9.05pm MC to invite Bec and Lleyton to cut the cake

* 9.20pm MC to introduce the bridal waltz

* 9.45pm John Farnham (below) performs

* 10.30pm John Farnham performance ends

* 10.40pm John Farnham and band collected from venue - transfer to hotels

* 11pm Dessert service concludes

* 12am Bar closes and final guests depart

* Final coach shuttles return guests to the InterContinental Hotel

The long march

Edited by Andrew Hornery with Ben Cubby

July 22, 2005

For all the secrecy, the Bec and Lleyton wedding became a very public affair. Despite the choppers, hundreds of fans, armies of security guards and a sea of photographers, the couple stuck by their top secret edict.

It was an almighty trek for the 180 guests who started arriving around 2pm at the 32nd floor Club InterContinental cocktail bar for "pre-nuptial" drinks. From Spike's lofty vantage point, we saw the Woodies and a few TV types.

The room was decorated with giant bunches of flowers. On a floor below two bridesmaids, still in white bathrobes, could be seen taking self-portraits.

Guests brave enough to venture onto the terrace found themselves targets for photographers hovering in four news helicopters - some rented at $1500 an hour. To thwart the media, guests were herded inside.

About 45 minutes later a convoy of buses took the group to the Opera House for stage two. They were greeted by ominous looking security guards along with a heavy police presence. The choppers soon followed, while on the harbour boats filled with photographers bobbed about. Inside the northern forecourt, decorated in huge white fabric sheaths, a giant harp and pink and white flowers, the couple were married in a brief civil ceremony.

Bec Cartwright's grandfather Alan Dunstan, wearing a gold lapel badge inscribed with the letters L and B, reported it was a "magical" ceremony without any tears.

Afterwards guests boarded a $5 million catamaran for a one-hour cruise that ended up at Taronga Zoo for stage three. By now the media and choppers had descended on the zoo where guests boarded yet more buses to be taken to the after party to be reunited with the newlyweds.

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I saw a small b&w pic of bec in the paper today in her dress and she looked beautiful as always. Can't wait for the New Idea to come out. Apparently it is likely that Bec, who is a traditionalist, may take on the Hewitt name so she will be Bec or Rebecca Hewitt not Cartwright. That would be kinda weird since we have know her for a while as Cartwright.

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