Former The Only way Is Essex star Kate Wright hosted an extravagant bash yesterday to ask her "favourite girls" to be her bridesmaids, for her upcoming wedding.
27-year-old Kate is engaged to retired footballer Rio Ferdinand, 39, following a proposal with a £400,000 engagement ring on a skyscraper in Abu Dhabi last October.
Kate's "favourite girls": Victoria, Melissa, Sarah, Nadia and Lucy
The ex-reality star took to Instagram on Sunday posting photos of the luxurious party she hosted, asking nine of her besties to be her bridesmaids. Held at a tapas and wine bar in Orpington, Kent, the event included a glamourous flower wall for selfies and a flower-framed board filled with dougnuts.
Kate wrote, “What a special day, the day I asked my favourite girls to be my bridesmaids. The most perfect day in every way, overwhelmed with emotion, love you all to bits.”
One of Kate's younger bridesmaids inspects the doughnut wall
Each woman invited was given a personalised poem, candles and flowers in boxes, before being given a role at the wedding. Kate thanked the people who supplied the props at the party and said, “I had a vision of just how I wanted it to be, and it was just absolutely perfect”.
Kate’s bridal party will include Rio’s seven-year old daughter, Tia. Rio has three children from his previous marriage to Rebecca Ellison, who sadly died in 2015 following a battle with breast cancer.
Kate's friends read their personalised poems and take a look at their boxed flowers
The children saw their father get down on one knee in Abu Dhabi last year, when he proposed to Kate at the top of the St. Regis Hotel, with a little help from them. On his Instagram post annoucing their enagement, Rio wrote "how these three kids kept [this] a secret I’ll never know."
Rio hired a photographer to capture his proposal to Kate