Culture

Stromae’s secret wedding

The singer Paul Van Haver, better known as Stromae, tied the knot on Saturday in a wedding that was kept well out of the glare of the World’s media. Stromae’s new bride is his personal stylist Coralie Barbier. Reports that the 30-year-old singer that completed a successful North American tour earlier this year had got hitched first appeared in Monday’s editions of the dallies ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ and ‘De Morgen’.

The hotel where the wedding was held has since confirmed that Paul Van Haver and Coralie Barbier held their wedding there on Saturday.

The wedding took place at Martin’s Patershof, a former church in Mechelen (Antwerp province) that has been converted into a four-star hotel. Even the 180 people invited to the wedding are reported not to have known that they were going to a wedding. They believed that they had been invited to a party. Only a very few guests knew in advance that Stromae and Coralie were going to tie the knot.

Stromae had stayed in Martin’s Paterhof before as the hotel’s guestbook shows. Then the singer wrote “Thanks for the warm welcome. Very nice location! Stromae”. According to the daily ‘Het Nieuwsblad’, the wedding ceremony was conducted by the eccentric French priest Père Gilbert. The 80-year-old clergyman also officiated at the wedding of Prince Laurent to Claire Coombs in 2003.

Stromae and Coralie Barbier have been in a relationship for the past two years. Previously he was seeing the former Miss Belgium and weatherwoman Tatiana Silva. The singer is usually very discrete about his personal life.
 

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