Dawn French has married her partner Mark Bignell at a lavish eco-hotel, with Alison Moyet providing entertainment for the guests. The comedienne has been dating Bignell for just over a year, following the break-up of her marriage to fellow comedian Lenny Henry three years ago. The ceremony took place at hotel on the Cornish coast, The Daily Mail reports and guests included the screenwriter Richard Curtis, as well as Jennifer Saunders, Sue Perkins and Kathy Burke.

Scarlet Hotel, near Newquay, played host to the happy couple and their guests and the 37 bedrooms were reportedly decorated with custom-made floral jam jar arrangements of Lily of the valley and peonies. After the ceremony, the guests attended a firework display on the beach in the evening. A source told the newspaper “The wedding was up in the lounge with the white leather seats, looking out over the water. At about 9.30pm everyone went outside and watched fireworks from the hotel. They were on the beach below, big shells that went up to 400ft high in all different colours. Inside in the hotel garden there was a red heart, five foot wide and high, with the letters M and D in white in the heart. They all let off lanterns later. It was quite small – probably about 100 people there – but it was a proper celebrity wedding.”

French and Bignell began dating just over a year ago and the comedienne has claimed previously that he did not know who she was when they met. “I'm not boasting, but you'd actually have to have not watched television for the past 20 years to have avoided me, and he'd managed to do just that,” she joked. 

Dawn French
Dawn French - the comedienne has married her new partner Mark Bignell