By Lucy Manly
Heiress and actress Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn Beckham, the son of David and Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice).Credit: German Larkin/British Vogue
The wedding of Brooklyn Beckham and billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz last week marked the union of two powerful dynasties from either side of the pond. Brooklyn, 23, is the eldest son of footballer David Beckham and pop-star-turned-designer Victoria Beckham. American actress Nicola is the 27-year-old daughter of billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz and his former model wife, Claudia Heffner Peltz.
Closer to home, Sydney society has just witnessed a similar merger of two influential families when Louise ‘Lou’ Hay and property developer Jake O’Neil tied the knot at heritage-listed Carthona mansion in Darling Point.
Jake is the son of multimillion-dollar superyacht broker and owner of the Rose Bay Marina, Denis O’Neil, while Lou is daughter of multimillionaire brush pioneer and founder of Hayco, the late Donald Hay.
The couple are eastern suburbs mainstays with plenty of ultra-wealthy and powerful friends in their private inner circle. Their marriage is just one of the unions to have merged some of Sydney’s most influential dynasties.
Fellow heiress Deborah ‘Deb’ Symond O’Neil, the daughter of Aussie Home Loans founder John Symonds, now counts Lou as a sister-in-law having tied the knot with Jake’s older brother Ned in 2018.
Deborah made headlines in Sydney’s society pages in 2018 when she married Ned O’Neil in a lavish ceremony on Hamilton Island.Credit: Instagram
The pair hired out the entire Qualia resort on Queensland’s Hamilton Island for the three-day extravaganza, exchanging vows in front of 120 of their family and friends.
Deb, now a mother-of-two, founded luxury clothing boutique Mode Sportif in 2015 enlisting the interior design expertise of her sister-in-law Poppy Tzaneros (nee O’Neil, sister to Ned and Jake) when she was fitting out the Double Bay boutique.
Like her brothers, Poppy’s marriage has also forged links between two powerful Sydney families. She wed Anthony Tzaneros, son of freight boss Terry and Anne Tzaneros who own the country’s largest privately held freight logistics company ACFS Port Logistics. The couple wed in a New York Met Gala-themed wedding in 2020.
Anthony is not the only Tzaneros offspring to marry a Sydney blueblood. Silver Party chair Maree Andrews (nee Tzaneros) is married to Peter Andrews, CEO of Haverick Meats, while sister Barbara Coombes (nee Tzaneros) is married to property tycoon Michael Coombes.
Marriage has also united the Waterhouse racing clan with the Vakili family.
Tom Waterhouse, son of Gai and Robbie Waterhouse, tied the knot with his university sweetheart Hoda Waterhouse (nee Vakili) in 2012.
Hoda is the daughter of Harry (Hassan) Vakili and Jilla, who are founders of IT service platform mcrIT and active property developers.
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