A former Canadian prime minister and the host of Dragons Den were among the guests as Island-bred music producer David Foster wed for the fifth time in a private ceremony in London, England, that was shrouded in secrecy.
Foster, 69, married singer-actor Katharine McPhee, 35, last Friday before close friends and family.
The nuptials at the Church of Saint Yeghiche were officiated by Victoria’s Mike Ravenhill, CEO of the David Foster Foundation.
“It was very intimate and they wanted it that way,” Ravenhill said. “That’s probably a good reason why it was in London. In Los Angeles [where the couple lives], it would have just been huge.”
It was the second wedding for McPhee. Vogue magazine shared exclusive photos of the event Wednesday — the first wedding of Foster’s to take place in a church — and the couple took to Instagram to share the news.
Foster called it “a magical day,” while Broadway star McPhee described the wedding as “the most perfect day with the most perfect husband.”
The couple met in 2006 when Foster was a guest mentor on singing competition American Idol and McPhee was a contestant.
Guests were whisked around London in cars for hours leading up to the event, in an effort to thwart celebrity paparazzi. “People who weren’t there and saw pictures with umbrellas, they thought the weather was inclement,” Ravenhill said with a laugh.
“It was 33 degrees and stinking hot. The big golf umbrellas were to obstruct the view.”
A guest list of 130 took in the ceremony, including former prime minister Brian Mulroney, Dragons’ Den host Jim Treliving, talk-show host Dr. Phil McGraw, music industry executive L.A. Reid, tennis greats Roger Federer and Tommy Haas and Foster’s five daughters.
McPhee wore a custom-made wedding dress by fashion designer and former Project Runway judge Zac Posen.
McPhee noted on social media that the wedding took place on the very day, 13 years earlier, that her first single, Somewhere Over the Rainbow — which Foster produced when the two were merely professional acquaintances — was released to the public.
Foster even played piano at McPhee’s 2008 wedding to her first husband, Nick Cokas.
“Life is full of beautiful coincidences, isn’t it?” McPhee wrote. “Thank you for taking me over the rainbow, David.”
The newlyweds are spending their honeymoon in Capri, Italy, which is where Foster proposed to McPhee in 2018.
“Katharine brings out the youth in David, Ravenhill said. “He’s enjoying life, and she just likes to have fun, in a very great way. She’s the life of the party.”
