She’s been getting wedding-ready for two years – and as Closer went to press, Stacey Solomon was finally due to marry her long-term partner Joe Swash in a ceremony held at the couple’s home, lovingly dubbed “Pickle Cottage”.
Initially set for 2021, their big day was postponed after Stacey discovered she was pregnant with daughter Rose. The pair later undertook some “crazy rearranging” to change their wedding location to their garden – which they decked out with stunning flower arrangements and “Mr and Mrs” decor, as well as a makeshift wedding aisle.
And while Stacey and Joe were in harmony on plans for the ceremony, insiders say they were facing drama as they struggled to finalise their honeymoon.
A source says, “Stacey has been in a real dilemma about her honeymoon and what they should do, and add that to the wedding build-up, it’s been quite a stressful time. At the beginning of the year, she thought it’d be a great idea to take all the kids along considering that she didn’t want to leave Rose. But Stacey knew it would also be nice for her and Joe to go away together by themselves just to get over the wedding stress and have some downtime. She’s been really torn.”
Stacey and Joe, 40 – who began dating in 2016 and got engaged in 2020 – live in a blended household of seven, which includes Joe’s son Harry, 15, Stacey’s sons Zachary, 14, and Leighton, 10,and the couple’s biological children, Rex, three, and their nine-month-old daughter Rose.
Her fans have been well in the loop on her wedding plans over the years, with the former X Factor star sharing everything from finding her perfect dress to decorating her garden.
And now the source says that given their home is always so busy – having also been the venue for their wedding – Joe is determined for the couple to get away and spend some quality time just the two of them.
The source adds, “Joe’s worried that they might end up getting a bit of cabin fever if they don’t get away, as they’ve doing so much at home with the wedding and everything. He thinks it would be healthy to have a change of scenery. Joe’s said he wants to be abroad, just the two of them, and do something they’ll never forget – even if it’s just for a long weekend.”
Stacey recently showed off Pickle Cottage’s new swimming pool, which was installed in June, and during last week’s heatwave, she posted a video of her neighbours cooling off in it, captioning it “the village lido”.
And the source adds, “Stacey’s leaning towards staying at home, and really believes they have everything they need at Pickle Cottage – with the pool and the hot weather. Considering the current travel chaos, as well as the planning a holiday would take, it’s putting her off. As a compromise, she’s said she’ll do up the cottage to make it feel like they’re abroad, by creating exotic touches like a cocktail bar. They’re still at loggerheads over it, but they’ll have to decide over the next few weeks or they both know it will never happen.”
