Michael Clarke’s new wife, Kyly Boldy, in her wedding gown after the surprise ceremony.
Source: AdelaideNow

AUSTRALIAN cricket captain Michael Clarke’s wife Kyly Boldy’s wedding gown was four months in the making.

But designer Alex Perry didn’t even know the date or location of the ceremony.

Perry has revealed the lengths to which he, Boldy and a select few others went to keep the nuptials a secret, calling the plans Operation Snow White to ensure it truly was a fairytale wedding this week.

“She’s got a design background, so she had a really good idea of what she wanted; it was a collaboration,” Perry said.

“She just knows what she likes. It was about pinning that down and putting my own stamp on it, but making sure it was what she felt incredible in. She’s not wishy-washy in any way.”

It took an international effort to produce the $29,000 gown fit for Clarke’s princess ahead of Tuesday’s ceremony in the Blue Mountains’ Wolgan Valley Resort.

The silk organza came from Italy and Perry had Swarovski crystals flown to India, where the cricket skipper is playing in the Indian Premier League, and where the designer oversaw the early stages of beading in the same studio used by fashion house Dior.

And there was no “bridezilla” behaviour at all from Boldy, whom Perry described as “beautifully mannered” during the design process and Clarke was a “gentleman”.

“They didn’t want anybody to know. They didn’t pay any paparazzi, they didn’t sell it to anybody,” Perry said.

“The fewer people that know about it, the easier it is to keep under wraps. They looked so beautiful and so in love.”

In the past days, more details of their nuptials have emerged.

Original wedding party estimates of 70 were revised to a more intimate 40, with retired rugby league player Luke Ricketson and Kate Waterhouse, TV presenter Kelly Landry and Anthony Bell, and Shane Warne and Elizabeth Hurley among the exclusive guest list.