British show jumper Ben Maher is to marry his girlfriend Kathleen Baker tomorrow.
The Olympic rider proposed while the couple were on holiday in the Maldives last December. They will be tying the knot in church on Thursday (3 September), followed by a reception at Gosfield Hall in Essex.
“I’m so excited,” Kathleen told H&H. “It’s all a bit manic now though, we’re doing the last-minute decorations and making sure everything is organised.”
Kathleen added she will be wearing an ivory dress studded with Swarovski crystals designed by Ian Stuart which she described as “high fashion rather than traditional”.
“I know every bride says their dress is amazing, but this is so beautiful, I loved it straight away,” she said.
“We are having a four tier cake — two fruit layers and two chocolate, at Ben’s insistence. It is decorated with roses, hydrangeas and twinkly lights and will be very unique, it was actually the first thing we decided on.”
Seventy people have been invited to the ceremony and 200 will be attending the evening reception, including former and present H&H show jumping editors, and Kathleen will be arriving in a glass coach pulled by white horses.
But Kathleen does not know where the couple will be going on honeymoon.
“Ben’s booked a surprise and won’t even tell me what to pack, so I have no clue,” she said. “He just said bring a couple of nice dresses.”
But the newlyweds are only going for a couple of days as they have to be back for Calgary [the Spruce Meadows Masters] on 9 September.
Ben finished best of the Brits at last weekend’s European Championships at Windsor, finishing 15th on Robin Hood W.
He was lying in silver medal position coming into Sunday’s final but unfortunately notched up eight faults in each round, plus a time fault.
Last October Ben and Kathleen were both found not guilty of charges of actual bodily harm brought against the pair at Brighton Crown Court.
