Spice Girl keeps her big day private

Guests were last night celebrating Britain's showbiz wedding of the year after Spice Girl Mel B married dancer Jimmy Gulzar.

Guests were last night celebrating Britain's showbiz wedding of the year after Spice Girl Mel B married dancer Jimmy Gulzar.

Scary Spice Mel B became Mel G in a 40-minute service at St John the Baptist Church in the village of Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

A champagne reception was held after the wedding in a giant marquee pitched in the eight-acre garden of the singer's £2.5 million mansion next door to the church.

There were chaotic scenes in the sleepy village before the wedding, as several hundred fans lined the road leading to the church.

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A white vintage Cadillac carrying the 23-year-old bridegroom was mobbed by photographers and fans, as was a Range Rover carrying Posh Spice Victoria Adams and driven by her Manchester United footballer fiance, David Beckham. The bride had arrived an hour and a half before the groom, slipping past fans and reporters in a car with dark tinted windows.

Baby Spice Emma Bunton and Sporty Spice Mel C arrived separately by car.

Despite the crowds the 23-year-old Spice Girl bride had gone to great lengths to shield her big day from the public eye. The garden of her mansion - known as "the manor" to Little Marlow's 100 residents - was hung with large white sheets and guarded by security men in dinner jackets.

A white canvas tunnel had been constructed from a gate in the mansion garden wall to the church door, completely shielding guests from view.

OK magazine is reported to have secured rights to the wedding pictures.

But the secrecy left many fans who had waited outside frustrated. Seven-year-old Brittany Stallwood had waited since 8 a.m. without seeing a single Spice Girl. "I'm disappointed I didn't see any of them, but I have still enjoyed the day," she said.

Her father, David, who had brought Brittany and her sister, Chelsea (5), from nearby Marlow, was more understanding. "You can understand her wanting to keep her big day private," he said.