|
You're Squired: E!'s Giuliana Weds Apprentice
2007-09-02
There's a new male anchor in Giuliana DePandi's life. Sorry, Ryan Seacrest. The E! News anchor tied the knot with original Apprentice winner Bill Rancic in a fairy tale ceremony in her native Italy Saturday evening. The camera-ready couple tied the knot at 5 p.m. local time at the more than five-century-old Santa Sophia Church in Anacapri. As expected, the bride and groom's sartorial cues were in keeping with her red carpet credentials: For her "I do's," DePandi donned a custom fit two-piece white silk Monique Lhuillier gown, boasting a tight strapless lace bodice, full skirt and satin sash. Rancic, meanwhile, cut a classic figure in a custom tux designed by Giuliana's father, Eduardo DePandi, who is a master tailor. Eduardo also walked DePandi down the aisle during the ceremony. Keeping with the familial theme, DePandi's sister, Monica, served as maid of honor for the Naples-born beauty's big day, while immediately following the vow swap, DePandi's brother, opera singer Pasquale DePandi, sang "Ave Maria" for the newlyweds. Monica, along with DePandi's four other bridesmaids—among them Style network personality and In Touch Weekly editor Bobbie Thomas—all wore butter yellow strapless BCBG chiffon gowns for their trip down the aisle. Rancic's groomsmen, meanwhile—who outnumbered DePandi's bridemaids two to one—all wore matching Ted Baker penguin suits and shoes, gifted to them by the groom. Rancic's childhood priest, Father Michael O'Connell from Chicago, handily fluent in both English and Italian, performed the service. The idyllic vow swap is the first marriage for both stars and while the getting-hitched day went off without, well, a hitch, the run-up to the ceremony did suffer a slight setback. Turns out, location isn't everything. The ceremony was initially set to take place in the nearby hilltop town of Ravello, located on the Amalfi Coast, but was eventually detoured when the area wasn't able to accommodate the party's guests. On Friday night, the duo prepped for their big day with a rehearsal dinner at Lido di Faro on Anacapri. Nearly 200 guests turned out to enjoy the meal at the oceanfront restaurant while relatives of both DePandi and Rancic offered toasts to the young couple, with DePandi's mother delivering hers in Italian. Throughout dinner, local guitar players strummed for the crowd and the group joined in with Italian songs. "We Americans struggled to remember the words to 'Volare,'" a guest at the dinner told E! Online. "Giuliana has the most beautiful family...all of her male cousins could be on the cover of GQ." While the camera-ready couple first met in April 2004, when DePandi interviewed Rancic in the wake of his reality show win, the pair didn't get romantic until early 2006. During an interview for a Boys & Girls Club charity event, DePandi asked Rancic on air if he was dating anyone. He said no, and asked her out once the cameras stopped rolling. Rancic eventually popped the question on Dec. 15, after slightly less than a year of dating, by taking his newsreader honey for a cozy helicopter ride above his own native Chicago. "At first, I thought Bill was surprising me with a helicopter ride over downtown Chicago to see the Christmas lights," DePandi said. "Then, suddenly he pulled out the most beautiful ring I have ever seen and asked me to marry him. I was so excited I could barely speak." "When we got back to his house, he had roses and rose petals scattered everywhere and a big chocolate cake sitting next to a bottle of our favorite wine. It was the best night of my life." Rancic, 35, shot to fame after being the first, and arguably most successful, hand-picked Apprentice in 2004. The self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneur" has worked in the Trump Organization in various capacities since his reality show win and in 2005 branched off to kick start his own business. Corporate relations, however, stayed strong, as he appeared as one of Trump's sidekicks on the show in 2006. The 31-year-old DePandi, meanwhile, joined the E! News team as a correspondent in 2002 and by 2005 had risen the ranks to become both an anchor and Managing Editor of the broadcast, which she helms nightly along with Seacrest. All the behind the scenes planning drama for DePandi and Rancic's big day was chronicled for the Style network special, Marry Me in Capri, which airs Oct. 23.
You're Squired: E!'s Giuliana Weds Apprentice (2007-09-02)E! Reporter Rubs Some Celebs Wrong Way (2006-01-21)2 (11285)
| 
