Geoffrey and Brynne Edelsten: Inside Australia’s most expensive, extravagant $3.3 million wedding

This year marks ten years since Australia’s most expensive $3.3 million wedding. Now, Brynne Edelsten has spoken of her lavish nuptials.

EXCLUSIVE

Not many people can say they had Margot Robbie, Jason Alexander and Fran Drescher at their wedding — but Brynne Edelsten did.

On November 29, it will be 10 years since Brynne’s over the top and extravagant wedding at Melbourne’s Crown Casino to Geoffrey Edelsten.

It’s a night the 500 guests at The Palladium room — many who had never met Geoffrey or Brynne — will never forget.

Robbie was working on Neighbours at the time and attended with her co-star Pippa Black, while both Alexander and Drescher were flown out especially by Edelsten to speak on the night.

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Geoffrey Edelsten and his new bride posed for photographers after the wedding in 2009. Picture: Great Expectations Foundation Ltd/Getty Images

A who’s who of Australian celebrity, sporting and society were at the $3.3 million wedding, including Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, Kerri-Anne Kennerley, champion footballer Chris Judd, Tottie Goldsmith and social doyennes Jeanne Pratt and Lillian Frank.

“I didn’t realise Margot was there,” Brynne told news.com.au.

“At that point, I was just starting to get familiar with Australia in general, let alone know who the people were at the wedding.

“I didn’t actually understand, let alone appreciate how lucky I was to have those people there. I didn’t realise how big a deal it was.

“Now I look at some of the guest list, and it’s actually really impressive. I was a bit oblivious to it all at the time.”

Looking back, Seinfeld star Jason Alexander made more of an impression than The Nanny.

“We met them briefly when they flew into Melbourne,” Brynne said.

“They were both lovely. Jason especially was very funny. Geoff had them at the wedding because he wanted people who were Jewish, because he is Jewish.

“When they spoke at the wedding I remember thinking that Jason was absolutely hilarious.

“Fran was lovely, but I thought she would be a little bit funnier I guess.”

Fran Drescher making her red-carpet arrival at the wedding. Picture: Supplied.

A few months earlier there were audible gasps at Melbourne’s Million Dollar Lunch, also at the Palladium Room at Crown, when Geoffrey and Brynne made their debut at a high-profile celebrity function.

It was the charity event of the year, but it was Geoffrey and his new squeeze that everyone was talking about.

Leading up to the wedding after that first event, Geoffrey and Brynne were everywhere, with Brynne becoming an overnight media sensation.

Perhaps it was her age — when they got married Brynne was 26 and Geoffrey was 66 — or the healthy appetite for news about Geoffrey’s love life. Everyone wanted a piece of the pair.

So when it came to the wedding, the invitation was the hottest ticket in town, a strange thing as no one actually really knew the bride or groom.

Everyone was vying for an invite to the event.

The couple’s wedding invite was a production, helped along by director Garry Marshall. Picture: Supplied.

The invite was a production. Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall produced a short film with the lovebirds filmed in the United States, with voice overs from Drescher and Alexander.

That video was sent as part of the invitation for guests to watch.

“It was definitely creative,” Brynne recalls of the invite.

“It was fun making it and filming it, and Geoff always had a way of doing things differently to other people.

“It was a lot of fun doing it, I wouldn’t have thought about it myself.”

What about the glitzy wedding dress?

Brynne didn’t know anyone in Melbourne, let alone a contact on sometimes-snooty High St in Armadale, the society wedding dress capital of the city.

Some of the shops refused to take Brynne’s appointment or even serve her.

Their loss really as, at the time, her future husband was cashed up with money to spend.

“Geoff told me to go up High St to all the shops, and I didn’t make appointments, and some of the shops wouldn’t even see me,” she said.

“I had no idea, as I hadn’t bought a wedding dress before. I got turned down at quite a few places.

“I ended up finding a dress in the last shop I went to by Baccini and Hill.”

The bride and groom with maid of honour Katie Eagle (back left), mother of the bride Mariela Gordon, flower girls (left to right) Kelsey, Aislyn and Alexis and mother of the groom Esther Edelsten (far right). Picture: Great Expectations Foundation Ltd/Getty Images

Upon arrival, guests were greeted in the foyer by a helicopter that had to be put together at Crown and one of Geoffrey’s luxury cars.

It would turn out Brynne would step out of the helicopter on her way to walk down the aisle.

Brynne has bizarre memories of that hour before she stepped out of the helicopter.

“There was press everywhere,” she said.

“Going into Crown right before the ceremony, I had to be taken through the Crown kitchen and we had to cover ourselves with paper bags because people were trying to get photos.

“It was a lot of chaos in an already overwhelming moment.”

Brynne’s father got her out of the helicopter, but her mother Mariela walked her down the aisle.

It was a Jewish wedding and male guests were given the opportunity to wear a specially made yarmulke in the colours of either the Australian flag or the Carlton Football Club, which Geoffrey is a passionate supporter of.

Leading up to the wedding, Geoffrey and Brynne were everywhere. Picture: Supplied.

At the ceremony, both Anthony Callea and Daryl Braithwaite performed and the married couple did their wedding dance to the Etta James classic At Last.

The wedding, which initially had a budget of $100,000 but ended up around $3.3 million, was put together by celebrity wedding planner Xen, who also worked on the wedding of Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness.

“There wasn’t anything in the wedding that wasn’t overseen by both Geoff and myself. But at the same time, there was no way I could have planned not even a small wedding on my own, not knowing anyone in Australia or anything about getting married,” Brynne said.

“That’s how I met Xen. I remember the day he came to the Docklands. I think Crown put us on to him and we went with him.

“We clicked really well, and he became a very good friend of mine. He is so creative with what he does.”

Looking back, although she and Geoffrey are no longer together, splitting up officially at the start of 2014, Brynne has fond memories of that full-on night.

“You know what, it was crazy,” she said.

“It was a massive night and a huge event. It was definitely overwhelming. I think for anyone getting married it is overwhelming.

“It’s a big day for anyone, but that was crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it, but it was beautiful.”

Despite their epic wedding, Geoffrey and Brynne’s marriage ended in 2014.

Sadly, she has no contact with Geoffrey. The pair — while divorced — have not settled things financially.

“We don’t really talk anymore,” she said.

“If there is something we need to message each other, then we could. But there is no reason to.

“After separating we didn’t have any contact for a couple of years, and then after about two years in court, I got his number off one of the paps, and I asked to meet him for coffee, so maybe we could quit fighting.

“However, there has been no settlement still. It has drawn out so long now. It’s something in the back of my mind, but I have to keep living my life.

“We’ve been separated for five years now, almost as long as we were married.”

Brynne now lives with her partner Leno Cachia in the Melbourne suburbs.

She is very grateful for the past 10 years after the crazy wedding, becoming famous, appearing on Dancing With The Stars and her own reality show My Bedazzled Life.

“I can’t complain,” she said. “I’ve had the best time the past 10 years.

“I’ve been so lucky to have all these opportunities, and I guess it’s one of those things. I never saw it coming, and it’s not something I set out to do. I just went with it and had so much fun doing all of it.”

Luke Dennehy is a freelance journalist. Continue the conversation via @LukeDennehy

Originally published as Geoffrey and Brynne Edelsten: Inside Australia’s most expensive, extravagant $3.3 million wedding