Kiss and

make-up

Two days of revels, four wedding dresses, flamenco dancing and love potions - when make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury got married in September, it was "the best party since Studio 54".

  When a bride has four wedding dresses to wear, she needs a two-day event. Make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury and scriptwriter Charles Forbes started their wedding celebrations with a mojito-fuelled beachside lunch at Las Banderas, the bohemian-chic hotel in Formentera owned by her sister Leah and brother-in-law John Broekman. Some 300 guests boarded a specially chartered ferry in Ibiza for the 45-minute sail across, while others chartered boats for the jaunt. "It really brought back the childhood magic of growing up on the island in the Seventies and Eighties," says Charlotte, who kicked off celebrations in a buttery tulle halter neck gown by Alice Temperley "I felt like a shipwrecked mermaid, if there could be such a thing."

Drinking, swimming and dancing went on until the early evening. The following day, the couple were married at the church in San Carlos - after the bride kept Charlie waiting at the altar for half an hour. Escorted by her father, Lance, Charlotte wore a milky Alessandro Dell'Acqua gown with gold-rope corseting. "I wanted all my wedding dresses to have an air of Botticelli meets Jessica Rabbit meets mermaid," she said. Samantha Hillerby styled her tumbling Rapunzel hair, which twinkled with looped gold chains by Tara Agace under a tulle veil. For make-up she took the day off, employing instead her first assistant, Lucia Pica.

 Leah's daughters Bella and Sophia were bridesmaids, and Ben Elliot was the best man. (Charlotte and Charlie met go-karting at Ben's 30th birthday party "It was 35 boys and me," remembers Charlotte, who wore a jumpsuit and Jimmy Choo heels. Charlie's first words to his future wife were "Nice shoes.")

At the end of the ceremony, singer Blair MacKichan broke into a rendition of "Happy Days" as Charlotte and Charlie kissed. "This past year, I feel like I've been living a fairy tale," she gushed. "He even looks like Prince Charming!"

They led the congregation - including a dancing and clapping Kate Moss - outside the church for champagne. The bride and groom left in a vintage Mercedes convertible for the reception, held at the cliff top hotel Can Talaias. Everyone's place was set with a rose, a fan and – for the women - a bottle of "love potion". Post-dinner, flamenco dancers entertained before Blair's band performed. Charlotte and Charlie took their first dance to Barry White; then she slipped into dress number three, a Thirties-inspired champagne-coloured beaded Cavalli.

It wasn't until 5am that Charlotte - by now wearing her final gown, a Sophia Kokosalaki burnished-gold number - remembered she hadn't thrown her bouquet; Kate Moss caught it. The bride and groom retired to bed at 8.30 and revelers continued to party until 10. Charlotte awoke to a text from Mario Testino saying: "Best party since Studio 54."

"I couldn't have had a better time," the bride said. "I loved seeing so many people dance and be happy. It was like a massive love bomb; like fairy dust had been sprinkled over everything."