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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Victoria Johns

How Ant McPartlin's wedding to Anne-Marie is huge contrast to star-studded do with Lisa

Ant McPartlin and Anne-Marie Corbett are getting married this weekend - but don't expect the bells and whistles he had on his big day with ex-wife Lisa Armstrong.

Ant proposed to his former PA Anne-Marie on Christmas Eve after dating for two years and while there may have been a huge diamond sparkler in tow, the couple are choosing to keep their nuptials much more low key.

The wedding celebrations started today and will last all weekend with the ceremony reportedly being held at a church.

The couple apparently had plans to get married abroad but Covid restrictions made the situation too unpredictable.

Ant and Anne-Marie's wedding reception is said to be taking place at a grand stately home-turned-hotel in Hampshire, which will be attended by 100 guests.

With just family and close friends being on Ant's and Anne-Marie's guest list a source told The Sun: "Neither of them want the razzmatazz of a showbiz wedding."

The source added the pair don't want the "glare of the spotlight" on their nuptials with just their "nearest and dearest" joining them for their special day.

However while Ant and 'Amzie' may not want the spotlight, the I'm a Celeb host and ex-wife Lisa couldn't avoid it.

Ant married Lisa in 2006 (Ian West/PA Wire)
Anne-Marie and Ant got together six month after he split from Lisa (TIM ANDERSON)

If we cast our minds back to 2006 when Ant married the make-up artist, the couple's big day was incredibly glam.

With a star-studded guest list of 150, the young couple married at St Nicolas Church in Taplow, Berkshire, on July 22 2006.

Writing in their memoirs Ooh! What A Lovely Pair: Our Story, Ant opened up about "the happiest day" of his life.

Ant and Anne-Marie want their nuptials to be a low key affair (TIM ANDERSON)

"Lisa looked beautiful. She was wearing an incredible ivory satin dress with a lace bolero jacket and a tiara. She looked absolutely stunning as she walked down the aisle," he recalled three years after the big day.

The couple went on to enjoy a glitzy reception at Cliveden House Hotel in Buckinghamshire before ending the night with a bang with a huge fireworks display.

Lisa was also instrumental in making Dec Ant's best man - as Ant had accidentally forgotten to ask him.

Dec wrote in the same autobiography: "A month or two after the engagement, I was round at Ant's one day and he made a joke about something to do with the wedding, then he said, 'Well, you'd better know that you're my best man.'

Lisa is said to be flying out of the country when he ex-husband Ant gets married (Lisa Armstong/Instagram)
Dec will be Ant's best man again (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

"'Am I?' I replied, then Lisa pitched in with, 'Well have you actually asked him?', to which Ant said, 'No I just assumed... so, will you? Be my best man?' and of course I said yes.

Ant and Lisa were together for over two decades before Ant ended their marriage late last year.

He went public with their split in January - and just six months later, news of his relationship with Anne-Marie Corbett went public.

Lisa, who is now dating an electrician, James Green, is reportedly planning to escape the UK on a sunny holiday when her ex-husband marries his fiancée.

According to an insider, Lisa's best friend Craig Young invited her to stay in Los Angeles with him over the summer so she can get away from all the fuss.

"From the outset, she was clear that she did not want to be around once she found out the date," a source told heat magazine.

"While Lisa doesn't wish them any ill will and hopes the day goes well, she is keen to be far away when it takes place, which is completely understandable."

Meanwhile Ant and Dec, who is apparently his friend's best man again, announced on Instagram that they are taking a break from social media.

Their announcement comes as Ant prepares to get married for the second time with the pair writing on their joint Instagram account: "Taking a bit of a break for a couple of weeks, but we’ll see you very soon!

"Hope you manage to get away this summer and if you do, take us along with you?! Add us to your holiday snaps, tag us and use #holidaywithantanddec and we’ll share our favourites! x."

Ant is believed to have forked out over £100,000 on hotel bills to cover friends and family who wanted to attend his special day with Anne-Marie, which is sure to be magical - even without the razzmatazz.

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