How Brooklyn Beckham & Nicola Peltz’ wedding was ‘nearly called off’ as texts reveal secrets kept from Victoria
MARRYING into the Beckham family in a glossy £3million wedding featured in Vogue magazine should have sent Nicola Peltz’s acting career into the stratosphere.
But now there are fears that the 28-year-old’s behaviour — laid bare in excruciating detail in a shocking new 188-page lawsuit — could tarnish her reputation and reignite rumours of a feud between her and mother-in-law Victoria Beckham.
Nicola’s wedding planners Nicole Braghin and Arianna Grijalba are suing the bride, her mum Claudia and wedding designer Rishi Patel for damages of at least £41,000, plus costs that could run into thousands.
It comes after Nicola’s dad Nelson launched a lawsuit against the planners this month, demanding his £132,000 deposit back, claiming they were fired over alleged “mistakes” weeks before the three-day event at the Peltzes’ £76million Florida home.
Last week the planners filed a counter-claim in a Miami court for breach of contract and “interference” with a business deal, calling Nelson a “billionaire bully”
Their lawsuit claims Nelson, 80, called Nicola’s wedding to Brooklyn Beckham a “s**tshow” and wanted to cancel it altogether until his wife “begged” him not to — for fear of “destroying Nicola’s career” — and that the family were adamant Victoria was kept in the dark about the “mistakes” in the planning.
It also alleges Nicola spent £83,000 on hair and make-up alone, had a long list of demands — and petty complaints that flowers “weren’t white enough”.
A source told The Sun: “Nicola must be worried what a spoiled diva reputation will do for her career.”
It’s a major blow to the Transformers actress, who recently had her first role since the April 2022 wedding, in Disney’s TV drama Welcome To Chippendales.
In February 2022 Nicole and Arianna’s firm, Plan Design Events, was hired for £264,000 — of which Nelson paid half as a deposit — just six weeks before the wedding.
They took over from planner Preston Bailey, who left “by mutual agreement” after a year due to his “overcommitted” schedule, and claim to have worked 17-hour days on the project.
Nicole and Arianna allege things were chaotic from the moment they took over, with error-strewn WhatsApp messages providing evidence of incomplete guest lists and travel arrangements.
Key elements, including the flowers, cake, photographer, videographer and hair and make-up artists, were also up in the air.
Tellingly, the court file states: “Both Claudia and Nicola had insisted that Victoria Beckham could not know about any internal mistakes regarding the ongoing planning of her son’s wedding, including any errors with the guest list.”
Rumours of a rift between Victoria, 48, and her new daughter-in-law swirled after Nicola wore a Valentino wedding dress instead of a VB design, which was seen as a snub.
Nicola has insisted “there is no feud” but in an interview with The Sunday Times, made the cryptic comment that “no family is perfect”.
Her and Brooklyn’s big day was attended by 500 celebrity pals, but WhatsApp messages in the court files show Nicola repeatedly losing her temper over the guest list in the weeks before the wedding.
After finding out Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton had not confirmed his attendance, she texted her planners: “Lewis Hamilton did NOT RSVP.
“So explain why his names on the list please. We spoke to him.
“He can’t come so explain why you said he RSVPd yes.”
As Arianna tried to explain, Nicola argued back: “That’s not true.
“He didn’t rsvp AT ALL . . . I’m tired of catching mistakes on this rsvp list honestly.
“When will I get a straight answer on this”.
Even Brooklyn did not escape Nicola’s wrath.
While discussing the Beckham family’s side of the guest list, Nicola said: “I do not trust Brooklyn with this.
“U should be asking an assistant.
“He has no idea. And is guessing.”
The texts lay bare Nicola’s demanding decor requests, which included an all-pink lounge with an orb light for the after-party.
The message to her planners read: “Who is going to make sure this happen for after party.
“This light instead of disco ball and the mixes of peaches, apricot and baby pink.”
She also demanded a “water aisle and matching water dance floor”.
And after seeing pictures of peonies and cabbage roses, she complained that her flowers were not the right shade.
“They should be more white,” she wrote. “I didn’t realise the second picture [of roses] were cream.”
When a planner suggested a “slight colour variation so you can make out individual roses,” Nicola replied: “What do u mean.”
Choosing the entertainment apparently didn’t come easy for her either.
She claimed that the magician David Blaine had offered to entertain guests for free at a dinner the day before the wedding, because “he’s [her] friend”.
But when it came to the band that the planners had suggested, Nicola dubbed them “very cheesy” and said she only wanted the lead singer, adding: “No other back up singers, they’re way too much.”
The band’s manager eventually agreed to assemble a group around the one member she liked.
Nicola then insisted on a uniform of “plain chic tuxes” and she even had full say on the music they played, opting for “early 2000s hip-hop”, and rejecting the more traditional wedding songs.
While Brooklyn mostly kept quiet during group texts, the budding chef seemed keen to be involved with the food.
Guests were apparently offered grub from a Wendy’s fast food truck, including a “Nicola and Brooklyn Combo” and a “Bag It Like Beckham”.
Brooklyn wrote: “We should do a brooklyn burger.
“Like double or single burger and a nicola burger witch is no bun and it’s lettuce instead of Bun and meat for the girls.”
When Arianna suggested serving a single burger would not go down well with guests,
Brooklyn agreed, adding: “Oh s**t hahaha”.
Meanwhile when Nicola had doubts about the “embarrassing” names of the meals, one of the planners tried to persuade her, saying: “After all the formality, fun is good and for some people would be like wow!
“Why did they do that? And the answer is: because you can.”
But Nicola replied: “I don’t love it. I like personalised but not that,” followed by a vomiting emoji.
Despite the “mutual agreement” to part ways with previous planner Bailey and his team, the papers show Nicola demanding that previously hired staff be “cut off”.
In a group chat with the new planners, she added: “I hate them” and “can we fire them yet”.
Nicola referred to one worker as “slow”, and said: “He doesn’t work weekend and when the suns down he won’t work.
“Ya honestly he kinda sucks Truth be told.”
During a meeting on March 1 last year, Nelson apparently said in front of the wedding planners that he wanted to cancel the event because it was “a s**tshow”.
Claudia also expressed frustration about the “EXTRA” cost of hiring new wedding planners just six weeks before the wedding.
In a text, she wrote: “This is certainly not what I expected at this point!!!”
Despite this — and the fact Nelson paid a reported £3million for the event — court papers allege there were huge bills that Claudia and Nicola kept from Nelson.
“It is believed that Nelson Peltz paid more than $100,000 (£83,000) plus travel expenses for Nicola’s hair and make-up services for the wedding,” the court papers read.
“Claudia mentioned to Braghin that Nelson could not know the cost or he would ‘kill her and be so mad’.”
A spokesman for Nelson said Nicole and Arianna’s complaint “is replete with inaccuracies and their claims have no merit”.
NICOLA ON THE GUEST LIST:
Lewis Hamilton did NOT RSVP. So explain why his names on the list please. We spoke to him. He can’t come so explain why you said he rsvpd yes
I do not trust Brooklyn with this [on which Beckhams to invite]. U should be asking an assistant. He has no idea. And is guessing.
NICOLA ON THE FLOWERS:
They should be more white,” she barks. “I didn’t realise the second picture [of roses] were cream.”
NICOLA ON PERSONALISED MEAL NAMES:
I don’t love it. I like personalised but not that
BROOKLYN ON THE FOOD:
We should do a brooklyn burger. Like a double or single burger and a nicola burger witch is no bun and it’s lettuce instead of Bun and meat for the girls