Love match for model Claudia
Supermodel Claudia Schiffer and fiance Matthew Vaughn are planning a traditional English wedding with a difference - it's going to end with a football match.
Invitations to their 300 guests were received this morning along with a call to join the fitness-loving couple for a friendly football match the morning after. Guests are also invited to brunch and other " sporting activities" the following day.
The cards from the 31-year-old model's parents, lawyer Karl-Heinz and wife Gudrun, are inscribed with the words: "Mrs & Dr Heinz Schiffer request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Claudia to Mr Matthew Vaughn on Saturday 25th May 2002 at 5pm". The couple have been granted a Church of England special licence to marry at a church in rural Suffolk as they do not yet live in the local parish.
Guests will be informed of the venue nearer the date. The reception will be at their newly-acquired £5 million Elizabethan home, Coldham Hall, in nearby Lawshall in Suffolk. Set in 40 acres, the grounds, home to wild deer, make a perfect romantic setting.
Mr Vaughn, who produced Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, has invited Madonna and Guy Ritchie, for whom Vaughn was best man, Sir Elton John, Sting and wife Trudie Styler, and Boris Becker.
Society caterers Mustard will be providing a traditional English country wedding "with strictly no razzmatazz".
Staff at the firm, which has handled the weddings of Jemima Goldsmith, media tycoon Kerry Packer and Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones, have signed agreements not to discuss details .
The Evening Standard can reveal, however, that the couple are paying £150-a-head, for a menu of canap?s and " traditional English fare".
Managing director Glynn Woodin said: "I don't normally do celebrity weddings, but mostly those of important people. We are a very private society caterer and have been told not to say anything. I don't even know where the church is.
"Miss Schiffer doesn't want any razzmatazz. She is adamant about that." Guests have been asked to leave their cameras at home and requested to wear cocktail dress. Miss Schiffer will wear a Valentino gown and there are instructions for no one else to wear white.
Vinnie Jones, star of the gangster movie which made 31-year-old Vaughn's career, will be an usher. "The other ushers are the Lock Stock boys Jason Flemyng, Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie," he said. "It's the old team back together again and it should be a right laugh."
There are rumours that the couple have already fired one firm of party planners for being indiscreet.
A source said: "She wants to try to have a private wedding with her friends and family without all the media attention."
Miss Schiffer and Mr Vaughn are currently enjoying a short break in Majorca in an attempt to avoid the press frenzy.
