After Nicola’s father filed a lawsuit against two of the wedding planners last year, they fired back with a countersuit of their own

By
Hedy Phillips

Published on February 24, 2023 04:03PM EST

PHOTO: PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/GETTY IMAGES

Following rumors that Brooklyn Peltz-Beckham and Nicola Peltz-Beckham’s April 2022 nuptials had been steeped in drama, their wedding planners have now filed a countersuit against Nicola’s family for breach of contract.

In December last year, Nicola’s father, billionaire Nelson Peltz, filed a lawsuit against two of the couple’s wedding planners, according to the complaint obtained by PEOPLE. Nicole Braghin and Arianna Grijalba, who were hired with just six weeks to go before the wedding, were let go after just nine days, but Nelson claimed he didn’t get his $159,000 deposit back.

“The celebrity of the wedding couple combined with the anticipated attendance of many high-profile guests required that the wedding planner have the expertise and staffing to plan, coordinate and execute a wedding event of the expected caliber and complexity,” Nelson’s lawyers claimed in lawsuit.

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In his filing, Nelson raised concerns about the wedding planning duo, who were hired after previous wedding planner Preston Bailey stepped down due to being “overcommitted” at the time, he told Page Six. In the countersuit, lawyers included alleged text messages between Nicola and the planners where she cited being “tired” of catching their mistakes and questioned the guest list they were working on.

“Peltz had presented them with the opportunity of a lifetime – to have their names associated with the wedding of two world-famous celebrities, which would undoubtedly propel PDE into wedding planning stardom,” Nelson’s lawyer wrote in the complaint.

“In reality, however, it later became clear that [Braghin and Grijalba] viewed this is as an opportunity to take advantage of Peltz by making material misrepresentations on both their website and in person regarding their experience, expertise, and capability of planning the wedding.”

In response to Nelson’s lawsuit, Braghin and Grijalba, who were hired through their company Plan Design Events, filed a countersuit against the billionaire, citing breach of contract.

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In the documents obtained by PEOPLE, the wedding planners allege that Nicola’s mother, Claudia Peltz, was hiding the amount of money spent from her billionaire husband and asked Braghin and Grijalba to keep the secret.

“It is believed that Nelson Peltz paid more than $100,000 plus travel expenses for Nicola’s hair and makeup services for the wedding,” the suit reads. “Claudia mentioned to [one of the planners] that Nelson could not know the cost of the hair and makeup, or he would ‘kill her, and be so mad.'”

Reps for the Peltz family and Braghin and Grijalba have not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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The wedding planners also allege that Nicola, 28, and Claudia didn’t want Brooklyn’s family — David Beckham and Victoria Beckham — to know how messy the process had gotten. Braghin and Grijalba claimed that the Beckham family’s guest list was in order, but the Peltz side of the family kept making changes, which made it difficult for them to keep track of and manage.

“Both Claudia and Nicola had insisted that Victoria Beckham (Brooklyn’s mother) could not know about any internal mistakes regarding the ongoing planning of her son’s wedding, including any errors with the guest list,” the complaint reads.

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In the nine days Braghin and Grijalba worked on the wedding, the process reportedly spiraled quickly, they claim, with Nicola making demands about the guest list — including saying Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was not allowed to attend — and Nelson allegedly threatening to cancel the whole thing. The suit claims he called it all a “s— show.”

However, the wedding planning duo say Claudia “begged Nelson not to cancel the wedding because it would ‘destroy Nicola’s career.'”

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Braghin and Grijalba are seeking damages in the countersuit, which was filed in South Florida where they are based and where the wedding was held.

Following their departure from the planning process, the Peltz family hired Michelle Rago of Michelle Rago Destinations to carry out the wedding. The couple tied the knot at Nicola’s family’s estate in Palm Beach in front of around 600 guests, with the bride wearing a Valentino gown — not a Victoria Beckham design — to walk down the aisle.

In the months since the wedding, Nicola has shot down rumors that there is any bad blood between her and her mother-in-law, telling Variety last year that there was no dress drama at all, it was a matter of timing and the Valentino team created dress of her dreams.