'MARRYING DONNA WAS BETTER THAN SCORING ANY GOAL FOR ENGLAND'

JERMAIN DEFOE AND HIS BRIDE DONNA INVITE OK! TO THEIR THREE-DAY WEDDING EXTRAVAGANZA COMPLETE WITH FIRE-EATERS, FOOTBALL LEGENDS AND SUPER-POSH CHICKEN KIEV

- NICOLA FAHEY

As the sun beat down on the terrace of Cliveden House, Jermain Defoe fought back the tears as he watched his bride emerge from a mirrored walkway.

Surrounded by 360 friends and family and with her proud father, Charlie, by her side, Donna looked stunning in a bespoke lace-sleeved regal gown that was eight months in the making.

And as she headed down the walkway, her granddad's favourite song, What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, rang out.

"When I turned around and saw her from a distance, my eyes just started welling up. I tried to compose myself, but I'm an emotional person. When she came up to me, I turned around and it was just so special. She held my hand and she was shaking. I remember saying to her, 'Just relax,"" says Jermain.

"As soon as I locked eyes with Jermain I just felt the calmness," adds Donna, 40, who has now changed her surname from Tierney to Defoe. "It was so special. It felt like a fairy tale."

The three-day celebrations at the 376-acre Berkshire hotel estate on the River Thames - where Meghan Markle stayed the night before she married Prince Harry - began with a barbecue for 150 friends and family. It was the first time the couple's families had met. "Everyone just got up and mixed like they'd known each other for years," smiles former England player Jermain. "I'm now getting phone calls from my cousins, saying, 'Scottish people are so warm and lovely."

"Jermain, 39, and his groomsmen stayed in a cottage by the estate's lake, while Donna spent the night in the main hotel with her attendants, who wore bespoke dresses by Anna Cirignaco of Eleganza Sposa in Glasgow.