Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz threw one hell of a wedding last April. So much so that the multi-million-dollar bash has still left them with a slight hangover: a lawsuit.
Peltz’s billionaire investor father, Nelson Peltz, sued Miami wedding planners Nicole Braghin and Arianna Grijalba of Plan Design Events in December over the $159,000 deposit he paid the team after they were brought on just six weeks before the wedding. Nelson Peltz alleges that Braghin and Grijalba — who were taking over from another planner — exaggerated their experience and failed to deliver on promises, prompting the family to seek another planner nine days later.
But last week, Braghin and Grijalba hit back with their own countersuit, calling Nelson Peltz a “billionaire bully” and attaching hundreds of unflattering text exchanges between themselves, Nicola Peltz, her mother Claudia, Peltz’s personal team and Beckham.
The messages reveal a stressful behind-the-scenes look at the weeks leading up to the Palm Beach wedding, which was rapidly spiraling into a disaster. Peltz and her mom were desperate to keep the reality of the mayhem away from Spice Girls star Victoria Beckham, according to the lawsuit, and “insisted that Victoria Beckham could not know about any internal mistakes regarding the ongoing planning of her son’s wedding, including any errors with the guest list.”
Over the nine days Plan Design Events was working, a relentless stream of messages was being sent between the multiple parties, with the conversation rapidly flicking between photographers, florals, music, silk face masks for waiters, wedding pajamas, travel logistics for makeup and hair and stationary verbiage.
But amid the 1,440 texts, Brooklyn Beckham only popped up in the conversation a few times — mainly to talk about food. The 23-year-old chimed in to make sure singer Daniel Caesar’s performance was being kept a surprise and to send over a few names he spotted missing from his guest list. “It’s a mess,” he wrote. At another point, Beckham confirmed his own family’s attendance and provided their ages, guessing at 11-year-old sister Harper’s age, only for Peltz to step in and reply, “Do not trust Brooklyn with this,” before adding “U should be asking an assistant. He has no idea. And is guessing.”
Later, Beckham worried that paparazzi might find a way to sneak photos, telling the planners, “We should ask the security at the wedding to get those guns that shoots a net because there’s probably gonna be drones.”
The most input Beckham seemed to have in the group chat was his thoughts on the Wendy’s food truck that was going to serve late-night food. (Nelson Peltz is the chairman of Wendy’s.) Beckham — an aspiring chef — offered his thoughts on the menu, writing, “We should do a Brooklyn burger. Like double or single burger and a Nicola burger which is no bun and it’s lettuce instead of bun and meat for the girls.” “And normal fries,” he added, “or like truffle fries.”
“No more ‘single’ [burger],” Grijalba replied to the oversight of his upcoming marital status. “Oh shit hahaha,” Beckham responded.
A few days later, Beckham pops up again around 9 p.m. — amid a hectic day of getting the RSVP system in shape and trying to book a wedding performer — to ask, “Also what’s the Wendy’s food truck menu gonna look like? I want Frosties on it,” he wrote, adding a smiley face.”
The 669-person guest list was Peltz and Beckham’s main concern after a previous wedding planner allegedly fumbled it. Braghin and Grijalba say they were tasked with sorting through the extensive list, confirming who and who wasn’t coming, and making sure certain people — including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — were taken off the list. Peltz was adamant that any politician invited or attending needed to be pre-approved by her publicist, messages show.
Beckham and Peltz were both concerned about Lewis Hamilton’s attendance after the Formula One driver had previously told the couple he couldn’t attend, according to the messages. Peltz had also wanted to make sure director Michael Bay had been sent an invitation but didn’t want the planners to call him directly to make sure he had received it.
Complicating the matter, Braghin and Grijalba allege, was Peltz’s request for real-time updates of RSVP confirmations and their plus ones sent to her by text or email — a Google Doc or an app with access to the database wouldn’t do. “Simple, old school,” Peltz’s messages from the lawsuit reads. “Idk how many time[s] I have to ask nicely.” Braghin and Grijalba claim they tasked a staffer whose sole job was dedicated to texting Peltz separately who RSVPed yes.
At one point, Braghin and Grijalba claim, Nelson Peltz wanted to cancel the entire wedding because it was “a shit show,” but Claudia had allegedly “begged Nelson not to cancel the wedding because it would ‘destroy Nicola’s career.’” Eventually, Peltz became so frustrated with not getting accurate real-time updates of the hundreds of guests RSVPing that she left the group chat on March 4, messages show. Braghin and Grijalba claim Nelson Peltz fired them the next day.
Five days after Braghin and Grijalba were fired and Peltz had abruptly left the group chat, Beckham resurfaced to ask if they had a wedding gift list. “What should I say,” he wrote to the silent message thread.