The Peltz family have been criticised by a British wedding planner as “egomaniacs” for their lawsuit against wedding planners Nicola Braghin and Arianna Grijalba.
Braghin and Grijalba, of Plan Design Events, were the second wedding planners to have been hired by billionaire Nelson Peltz to coordinate his daughter Nicola’s nuptials with Brooklyn Beckham last year.
Peltz is now suing them for allegedly refusing to refund his US$159,000 (£132,000) deposit after they were fired.
The wedding coordinators have now filed a countersuit against the billionaire, accusing the Peltz family of poor communication, including a bride who was “too busy” to speak on the phone, and of making difficult demands on short notice.
Plan Design Events were hired by Peltz just six weeks before the wedding was due to take place on 9 April 2022, after their first wedding planner Preston Bailey stepped down because he was “overcommitted”. He claims they were fired on 4 March 2022 and that he asked them to return the deposit multiple times, but they allegedly refused to do so.
The lawsuit has revealed terse messages reportedly sent between Nicola and Grijalba, with the bride complaining she was “tired of catching mistakes” and describing the guest list as a “murder scene”. It comes less than a year after the couple were married at Peltz’s Palm Beach estate in an extravagant ceremony believed to have cost upwards of £3 million.
Celebrity wedding planner Mark Niemierko, who has planned the nuptials of James and Julia Corden as well as Rochelle and Marvin Humes, has said that the lawsuit has shown the Peltzes up as “absolutely privileged egomaniacs” and “spoilt”.
He told The Independent that he would not have taken on the Peltz-Beckham wedding after two wedding planners had already been hired and fired, adding: “That is just sending alarm bells.”
“I’ve worked for a similar clientele, very, very wealthy individuals, but also, we’re quite particular about what we take on. I think – to be clear, not the Beckhams – I think the Peltzes are showing themselves up to be the absolute privileged egomaniacs they are.”
Niemierko, who has also overseen weddings with members of the royal family in attendance, such as the Duke of Sussex, sympathised with Grijalba and Braghin and said they had been “hung out to dry” and appeared to have been “treated quite badly” according to the evidence that has emerged from the lawsuit and countersuit.
He also claimed that the family’s text messages to the wedding planners were “verging on bullying”, echoing Grijalba and Braghin’s accusations that Nelson was “acting like a billionaire bully” after they asked why they had been fired by his wife, Claudia.
One messaged that is alleged to have come from Peltz reportedly read: “Arianna, I don’t want to keep talking to you, this is clearly not going to work. I will have my people call you. I don’t like to have these types of conversations.”
In another text exchange, Nicola appeared to become increasingly frustrated over the guestlist. One message to the planners from Nicola reportedly read: “This is not what I asked for. I ASKED FOR OUR INVITE LIST. IN. VITE. NOT. RSVP. Can u [sic] manage to send that to me.
After Beckham adds in the group chat that the guestlist was “a mess”, Nicola allegedly replied: “Omg, more like A MURDER SCENE.” In his lawsuit, Peltz claimed that the wedding planners were unable to handle the expectations of the VIP guestlist, which included “more than 500 people, including numerous celebrities, athletes, dignitaries, and other influential individuals, who travelled from all around the globe to attend”.
The wedding was eventually coordinated by Michelle Rago pf Michelle Rago Destiantions, a wedding planner based in New York City.
Peltz claimed that because of the last-minute hiring, he had to pay Rago a “substantially higher fee than what the Rago Destinations would have charged under normal circumstances”.
Niemierko called on couples who have hired wedding planners to trust them and not to “make it hard for them to do their job”.
“You’ve never been married before, you’re coming a professional with your big day,” he said. “It takes time to build that trust, yes, but we have plenty of experience and want to give you our very best… I just think, we should’ve learned through Covid and everything that’s going on in the world, to be a bit nicer.”
The Independent has contacted the Peltzes’ representatives and Grijalba and Braghin for comment.
