Post by HerMajesty on Jul 15, 2003 21:03:56 GMT -5
Over a cappuccino, Stella McCartney and some of her closest friends are discussing a pressing project. The subject is not her next fashion collection, however, but the arrangements for one of the most important days of her life.
Sitting outside The Store organic restaurant, near her £2.5 million Notting Hill home, McCartney and friends are studying the seating plan for her forthcoming wedding.
The fashion designer is due to marry boyfriend Alasdhair Willis on Kintyre - the Scottish peninsula made famous by her father's 1977 chart-topper Mull Of Kintyre. The couple are expected to exchange vows on Saddell Beach - one of Stella's late mother Linda's favourite spots.
Like any bride-to-be, she is discovering what a minefield wedding planning can be. (Is this supposed to be a pun?)
Whether her stepmother Heather Mills McCartney - with whom she is said to have a tense relationship - will be on the guest list is still unclear. Sir Paul McCartney, 60, married 35-year-old Heather last summer and they are expecting their first child this year.
Stella's wedding will feature a flotilla of yachts anchored off Saddell Beach, which has a 16thcentury-fort as a backdrop. Guests will be ferried to the beach for the ceremony. A nearby field will serve as a helicopter landing strip for stars to fly in.
Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and partner Chris Martin of Coldplay, models Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, and Lord Of The Rings star Liv Tyler, are all expected.
One local caterer said: "If Stella gets the weather, she would be hard pushed to find a prettier place in the world. It's almost impossible to get to without a boat. There's one road and if they control access on it then they effectively have the beach to themselves. Everyone is so excited because people here have such a lot of time for Sir Paul and his family."
The wedding may take place as early as next month and caterers have been warned they will get only two days' notice.
No wedding banns have yet been posted at the nearest register office in Campbeltown, although they can be posted as late as two days before the ceremony.
McCartney and Willis, both 31, are expected to write their own vows. A spokesman for McCartney declined to comment on the plans.
Willis, a former advertising executive, met McCartney at a fashion par-tay in June 2001. She said recently: "I have never felt like this in a relationship before ... it's just a dream."
She had previously been linked to singer Lenny Kravitz.
McCartney, a graduate of Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, recently opened her flagship store in Mayfair and yesterday was awarded an honorary degree by Dundee University.
©2003 Associated New Media
) come to the wedding. 
And got to meet Paul! We're not sure whether or not to believe him or not as he's just started work there and nobody really knows him yet... but if it's true... *spreads rumours* heheh... if the wedding has already taken place, they've done pretty well to hide everything from the press. 
