Melanie C Is Married! And The Bride Wore Victoria Beckham

Melanie Chisholm did not grow up fantasizing about her wedding day. “Absolutely not,” she says, subtly sunkissed chestnut waves swishing as she shakes her head for emphasis. “I love weddings,” she reassures me, “when I go to other people’s I always have good craic. But I wasn’t a girl who grew up dreaming about her dress. I was always just focused on my career—I think even relationships took a backseat for me because I’ve been so driven to do what I love, which is performing.”

It hardly needs saying that her single-mindedness paid off. As the high-kicking, high-ponytailed, permanently tracksuit-clad Sporty Spice, Mel C was one fifth of the biggest girl group of all time. Just 20 years old when the Spice Girls formed in 1994, the aspiring pop star’s wildest dreams were realized overnight when their song “Wannabe” was released two years later, and promptly became a global phenomenon. Some 30 years on, the band’s run of UK number one hits is still unmatched.

Melanie has enjoyed plenty of post-Spice solo success in the intervening years, too, and she’s still making music at 52 (her ninth album, the dance-infused Sweat, was released in May). She’s also mom to a teenage daughter, Scarlet, with a former partner. But as for walking down the aisle? “I’d gotten to the point in my life where I just didn’t think it was going to be a part of my story,” she says now. Then, along came Chris Dingwall.

“The spark was immediate,” confirms Melanie, who first connected with the Australian model and producer on Raya. “I was 49 when I met Chris and I was in a really good place. We had a date in Australia, and it’s been difficult to separate us ever since.” Chris has a “very calming energy”, the singer says. “He’s been such a beautiful addition to mine and my daughter’s life. Because, you know, I’m a single mom. My daughter is 17, and we’re pretty resilient the two of us, we’re a team. For anybody coming into our world… it was going to be tough, and he just fits perfectly. It’s a beautiful dynamic.”

Despite having found her happily ever after, the idea of marriage still hadn’t occurred to Melanie. But it had definitely occurred to Chris, who surprised his partner by popping the question during a holiday in Mallorca last July. “We were staying in a beautiful hotel and we’d had the tasting menu, with the wine pairing, so this meal was taking forever,” Melanie remembers. “Even the staff were like, ‘You’re nearly there!’” Afterwards, the couple headed back to their suite “a bit drunk and a bit full,” where Melanie found the room had been filled with candles. “It was beautiful, just the two of us,” she says, beaming happily. “He couldn’t believe I was surprised, but I was floored.”

The couple set about planning a relaxed summer celebration at a friend’s lakeside property in Cumbria, preceded by a legal ceremony in the groom’s native Australia, and though Melanie “didn’t feel like a big traditional wedding was right for me”, she did end up observing certain bridal customs. Her “something borrowed” for the Sydney ceremony, for example, came from the wardrobe of none other than her friend and fellow Spice Girl, fashion designer Victoria Beckham.

“I was actually having dinner with Melanie and asked her what she was up to,” reveals Beckham, whose own post-Spice journey has seen her go from pop music to showing on the schedule at Paris Fashion Week. “She very casually told me she was leaving for Australia in two days and getting married! When I asked what she was wearing, she mentioned she had actually ordered one of my dresses but that it didn’t quite fit, and she didn’t have time to get it altered before leaving,” says the designer. “I happened to have that exact dress in my own wardrobe and offered to lend it to her.”

The Lace Cami Dress had been one of a number of pieces Melanie’s stylist had pulled ahead of the wedding, the bride explains. The VB number was “the best, hands down. There’s just something about her clothes… they have a real simplicity, especially the slip dresses. They’re really feminine, but in a way that feels comfortable, and very me.” So, once her bandmate had stepped in to resolve the sizing issue, Melanie boarded her flight to Australia with an especially sentimental ivory slip in her suitcase. “Victoria’s dress was my something borrowed,” Melanie says with a smile. “It was very special, having her there.”

The bridal fashion fairytale didn’t end there. Once Beckham learned that a bigger celebration here in the UK was also in the works, “I obviously offered to make her dream dress”, she says. The designer used the original Lace Cami for the legal ceremony as a starting point, “because I loved it so much”, Melanie explains. “Victoria wanted to make it much more personal to me. She found some gorgeous vintage lace, and everything was really delicately dyed to the perfect shade. It’s very flattering, open at the back.” A subtle train was also added as a final flourish. “My daughter was at the first fitting, and she wanted a bit more drama in the length. The line from Scarlet has been, ‘It’s my wedding too!’” the bride jokes.

For Beckham, the whole process was a natural fit. “Melanie is quite minimalist and didn’t want anything too fussy, conceptual, or overly complicated—this is all very aligned with what I do.” The lace pattern was designed from two motifs of floral Lyon lace, from premium lacemaker Jean Bracq, that were carefully cut out and hand-placed onto the dress to create a bespoke pattern, which was then hand-stitched onto the satin slip.

The fittings at the Victoria Beckham atelier in London were predictably emotional. “Victoria was so excited about being able to do this for me, and having her and Scarlet there… every step of the way has been very special,” Melanie says. “Plus, I just love her clothes.”

Just like her understated satin dress, Melanie wanted the wedding itself to be “quite low-key. Relaxed, romantic, and chic.” Though she didn’t see it coming, when Chris proposed, “I just knew immediately it was the right thing to do,” she continues. “I’ve had this awakening in my 50s – I’m very comfortable in my skin. I thought, you know what, this is a part of my story. When you’re my age, you’re like… I actually want to experience all of the things.”

Melanie C’s Victoria Beckham wedding dress.

The lace appliqué was hand-stitched onto the slip.

The happy bride at a fitting at the Victoria Beckham atelier.

Melanie’s daughter, Scarlet, suggested a train for added drama.

Victoria Beckham’s Dorian East West Clutch bag and Harlow heels, both in champagne satin, completed the bridal look.

“I’m lucky to have my parents still around, and it’s made me really excited to get married for me, but also my parents and my daughter.”

“I’m not really a girly girl. Victoria’s clothes are really feminine in a way that feels comfortable and very me.”

Girl power! Mel B, Geri, and Emma were all there on Melanie’s big day.

The bride’s hair was styled by Carl Bembridge and her make-up artist was Bekki Mitchell. The groom wore a suit by Zegna.

“He just soothes me,” the bride says of her new husband.

The couple exchanged vows at a friend’s property in the Lake District.

Melanie, who was styled by Graham Cruz, wanted a day that felt “relaxed, romantic, and chic.”

“I’m so excited for the world to know that he’s my husband.”

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