{"id":242166,"date":"2025-10-26T14:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T14:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/242166\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T14:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T14:24:11","slug":"marcus-bontempelli-afl-superstar-ties-the-knot-with-canadian-neila-brenning-in-stunning-california-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/242166\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Bontempelli: AFL superstar ties the knot with Canadian Neila Brenning in stunning California wedding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Western Bulldogs champion Marcus Bontempelli has married Canadian Neila Brenning in a stunning Californian wedding surrounded by family and friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Held in the sunny Napa Valley wine region, more than a hundred guests joined the pair on Friday as they tied the knot in Rancho Las Lomas \u2014 a luxurious ranch that hosts lavish weddings and private events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">With football faces at every turn, the invite list featured a host of Bontempelli\u2019s past and present teammates including Ed Richards, Taylor Duryea, Aaron Naughton, Cody Weightman, and Jason Johannisen, as well as premiership-winning coach Luke Beveridge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Florals for the occasion were curated by Melbourne-based florist <a class=\"css-445i33-StyledTextLink ezegcyi0\" data-link-type=\"article-inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DQNZL7zEowF\/?img_index=5\">The Petal Edition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cWe are over the moon with the beauty we sprinkled in California for two gorgeous humans.Neila &amp; Marcus, thank you so much for having us, so honoured to have been a part of your special day. Congratulations darlings,\u201d the florist posted to Instagram.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761488650_141_3d303022e98dd47cc8a7edf9a29b23d82d317af2.jpg\" alt=\"Neila Brenning in her wedding dress, as Marcus Bontempelli watches on.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconNeila Brenning in her wedding dress, as Marcus Bontempelli watches on. Credit: Neila Brenning\/IG\/IG<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The high-profile event was coordinated by Beau &amp; Blanc \u2014 an Australian boutique planning service behind the weddings of former Melbourne star Christian Petracca, and Aussie NBA export Jock Landale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Bontempelli, 29, and Brenning met following the Bulldogs\u2019 2021 AFL grand final loss in Perth in 2021, with Brenning believed to have been holidaying in WA at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The Canadian is a talented sportswoman herself, having represented ice hockey sides Melbourne Ice and Melbourne Reds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The captain popped the question in Tuscany during the off-season last year, with the couple sharing cute snaps to social media of their engagement which depicted their travels around Florence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201c(Fi) Yonceee\u00e9 all on his mouth like liqua,\u201d Brenning captioned the post, invoking a Beyonce tune.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4368186b78f78b8e757c2b27f59a79a43357eb92.jpg\" alt=\"Ed Richards and fiance Elleni Neofytou, with former Docker and Bulldog Hayden Crozier (back left).\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconEd Richards and fiance Elleni Neofytou, with former Docker and Bulldog Hayden Crozier (back left). Credit: Elle Neofytou\/IG\/IG<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">Both frequent visitors to North America, Brenning attended the wedding of a friend in Ontario, Canada, in September, with the Herald Sun reporting the pair had enjoyed their respective bucks and hens nights in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">A seven-time All-Australian, Bontempelli signed on in July with the Bulldogs to remain at the club until at least the end of 2029.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761488651_525_8840432fb1dfaa7d9ed831a04938a86d05eadfef.png\" alt=\"Weightman and Beveridge enjoyed the wedding of Marcus and Neila.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconWeightman and Beveridge enjoyed the wedding of Marcus and Neila. Credit: Instagram<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">The Dogs midfielder paid tribute to Brenning in 2023 when he was awarded his second Leigh Matthews Trophy and was adjudged by his peers as the league\u2019s most valuable player.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/826e6963e146f9f8d1852281c1760a4f1e12a2be.jpg\" alt=\"Marcus Bontempelli and Neila Brenning announced their engagement during the AFL off-season last year.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconMarcus Bontempelli and Neila Brenning announced their engagement during the AFL off-season last year. Credit: Neila Brenning\/IG\/IG<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cI\u2019ll start with where it all begins and finishes, and that\u2019s with my family, the support you get from people in your corner: my folks, three sisters and their partners, and especially my partner Neila,\u2019\u2019 Bontempelli said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">\u201cThrough all the good things and also the challenges at times, I\u2019m so lucky to be so well supported through thick and thin, and family is one thing you can always rely on no matter what. Thank you to my family; it\u2019s a special experience to have you all here with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9cqv6l-StyledPNParagraph e8utp6u0\">A further sign of the pair\u2019s commitment was the opening of their cafe Arthur\u2019s Milk Bar in Melbourne, which was unveiled in April this year.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Bulldogs champion Marcus Bontempelli has married Canadian Neila Brenning in a stunning Californian wedding surrounded by family&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[638,64,63,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-242166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-sport","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}