Melanie Chisholm did not grow up fantasizing about her wedding day. “Absolutely not,” she says, subtly sunkissed chestnut waves swishing as she shakes her head for emphasis. “I love weddings,” she reassures me, “when I go to other people’s I always have good craic. But I wasn’t a girl who grew up dreaming about her dress. I was always just focused on my career—I think even relationships took a backseat for me because I’ve been so driven to do what I love, which is performing.”
It hardly needs saying that her single-mindedness paid off. As the high-kicking, high-ponytailed, permanently tracksuit-clad Sporty Spice, Mel C was one fifth of the biggest girl group of all time. Just 20 years old when the Spice Girls formed in 1994, the aspiring pop star’s wildest dreams were realized overnight when their song “Wannabe” was released two years later, and promptly became a global phenomenon. Some 30 years on, the band’s run of UK number one hits is still unmatched.
Melanie has enjoyed plenty of post-Spice solo success in the intervening years, too, and she’s still making music at 52 (her ninth album, the dance-infused Sweat, was released in May). She’s also mom to a teenage daughter, Scarlet, with a former partner. But as for walking down the aisle? “I’d gotten to the point in my life where I just didn’t think it was going to be a part of my story,” she says now. Then, along came Chris Dingwall.
“The spark was immediate,” confirms Melanie, who first connected with the Australian model and producer on Raya. “I was 49 when I met Chris and I was in a really good place. We had a date in Australia, and it’s been difficult to separate us ever since.” Chris has a “very calming energy”, the singer says. “He’s been such a beautiful addition to mine and my daughter’s life. Because, you know, I’m a single mom. My daughter is 17, and we’re pretty resilient the two of us, we’re a team. For anybody coming into our world… it was going to be tough, and he just fits perfectly. It’s a beautiful dynamic.”
Despite having found her happily ever after, the idea of marriage still hadn’t occurred to Melanie. But it had definitely occurred to Chris, who surprised his partner by popping the question during a holiday in Mallorca last July. “We were staying in a beautiful hotel and we’d had the tasting menu, with the wine pairing, so this meal was taking forever,” Melanie remembers. “Even the staff were like, ‘You’re nearly there!’” Afterwards, the couple headed back to their suite “a bit drunk and a bit full,” where Melanie found the room had been filled with candles. “It was beautiful, just the two of us,” she says, beaming happily. “He couldn’t believe I was surprised, but I was floored.”
The couple set about planning a relaxed summer celebration at a friend’s lakeside property in Cumbria, preceded by a legal ceremony in the groom’s native Australia, and though Melanie “didn’t feel like a big traditional wedding was right for me”, she did end up observing certain bridal customs. Her “something borrowed” for the Sydney ceremony, for example, came from the wardrobe of none other than her friend and fellow Spice Girl, fashion designer Victoria Beckham.
