{"id":13372,"date":"2025-07-21T16:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/13372\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T16:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:44:15","slug":"celebs-flock-to-carlisle-as-phats-smalls-ben-ofoedu-ties-the-knot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/13372\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebs flock to Carlisle as Phats &#038; Small&#8217;s Ben Ofoedu ties the knot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  The three-day wedding, held at the historic 13th-century Rose Castle\u00a0in Dalston, brought celebrities\u00a0to Cumbria as the Phats &amp; Small frontman tied the knot with Vanessa, a local entrepreneur and founder of the award-winning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsandstar.co.uk\/news\/24642521.carlisle-entrepreneur-named-businesswoman-year\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">VL Aesthetics clinic on Kingmoor Road.<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The couple\u2019s story came full circle in Carlisle, where they first met at the Carlisle\u00a0Elite Awards,\u00a0where Ben was performing as part of supergroup\u00a0Boyz on Block.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWe met in Carlisle, so it was only right that we got married here,\u201d said Vanessa.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThis city has given us so much: community, memories, love, and we wanted to show the world just how amazing it is,&#8221; she said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Guests were welcomed to the wedding, which has been reported to have cost \u00a3100,000, by Dumfries\u00a0bagpiper Callum Watson.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The grounds were transformed with floral displays by local florist Vandella Flowers, while Carlisle\u2019s Shades of Sax delivered a\u00a0soulful soundtrack during the cocktail hour on the castle lawn.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"The couple exchanged vows in Rose Castle\u2019s private chapel. \" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>The couple exchanged vows in Rose Castle\u2019s private chapel. (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The real showstopper came when Ben\u2019s fellow Boyz on Block members, Dane Bowers (Another Level), Shane Lynch (Boyzone), Abz Love (Five) and Ben himself\u00a0joined forces with S Club 7\u2019s Bradley McIntosh\u00a0and Boyzone&#8217;s\u00a0Keith Duffy\u00a0for an impromptu set of their greatest hits.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThere was no plan to perform &#8211; it just happened,\u201d said Ben.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWe were surrounded by our best mates, so when the music started and the vibe was right, we all just jumped in. It was pure joy.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The couple exchanged vows in Rose Castle\u2019s private chapel before hosting a sunset cocktail hour and an evening of dancing and celebration.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"The stunning Rose Castle near Dalston\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>The stunning Rose Castle near Dalston (Image: Jenny Woolgar Photography)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThis wasn\u2019t just a wedding, it was a reflection of our story, our values, and the incredible community we\u2019re proud to be part of,\u201d said Vanessa.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cCarlisle gave us our beginning and now it\u2019s part of our forever.&#8221;\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The happy couple praised the support of local businesses in making their special day a success, highlighting the role of Cumbrian Marquees for the marquee setup, Explosive Productions for staging and sound, Print Point for the custom wedding stationery, and makeup artist Hailey Williamson for preparing the bridal party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The three-day wedding, held at the historic 13th-century Rose Castle\u00a0in Dalston, brought celebrities\u00a0to Cumbria as the Phats &amp;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-13372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}